Reinventing Government Research and Development: A Status Report on Management Initiatives and Reinvention Efforts at the Army Research Laboratory

Abstract : The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) was activated at the beginning of fiscal year 1993. Since then, ARL has operated in an environment of continuing stress, caused by a variety of factors. Like many other "corporate" research laboratories, it has been subject to economic constraints and pressures, leading to downsizing, consolidation, infrastructure reduction, and outsourcing. As a military laboratory, it has also been significantly affected by the end of the Cold War. To cope with this changing environment, ARL has undertaken a variety of management initiatives: in the current jargon, it has been reinventing itself. This report summarizes the current status of these ongoing initiatives. It begins with a discussion of the fundamental reinvention of the research effort at ARL-the Federated Laboratory-and then discusses several others that directly or indirectly support it. The report concludes with a summary appraisal, in "report card" form, of the reinvention efforts over the past five years.