ABSTRACT
During the days of the Cold War, the needs of the DoD dominated the spending of the U.S. government. Technology opportunities drove the investments of the United States and the Soviet Union, and U.S. leaders relied heavily upon the recommendations of analysts to determine solution needs. Most of these analysts worked at FFRDCs, and the RAND (Research and Development) Corporation, formed in 1948 to provide the Air Force with decision support, is one of the first FFRDCs [1]. The Navy sponsored the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) with more operations focus, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) sponsored the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) with more strategic focus [2,3]. Over time, more FFRDCs were formed through congressional funding with individual missions to produce objective analysis for the military services and other federal agencies. In addition to RAND, for example, the Air Force formed the Aerospace Corporation, MITRE, and ANSER. These FFRDCs then also became not-for-profit companies, each with a division that managed its FFRDC component and other divisions that allowed the company to grow. As the FFRDCs expanded their roles as trusted advisors to the government, for-profit consulting firms started to provide studies and analysis, decision support, and program management assistance services that were similar to the capabilities of the FFRDCs.
