Over 55% of the Department of Defense’s budget went for service spending in FY’14, with similar numbers expected for FY’15.  Over $156 billion was spent on total service acquisitions, with Knowledge Based Services leading the way at $32.5 billion, or 21% of the total service spend.  It should be no surprise, then, that DOD leaders are trying to get a better handle on service spending.  A new “Instruction” to this effect was issued January 5^th titled “Defense Acquisition of Services”.  The agency is creating Functional Domain Experts (FDEs) for services acquisition management of each service category.  These will be appointed by the office of Acquisition Technology & Logistics to provide effective strategic oversight of contract service acquisitions. Further, Component Level Leads will be appointed by DOD component heads to assist the FDE in actively overseeing the life-cycle process of contracted services acquisitions.  Service contractors need to be familiar with this new policy and how it could impact their approach to DOD business.  A copy of the memo can be found here:  http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/500074p.pdf