The good news in government acquisition right now is that, despite coming to the close of an 8 year Presidential Administration, there’s still lots of energy and new initiatives being rolled out.  Category Management and the Acquisition Gateway are just two recent examples of how fresher perspectives can bring potentially market-changing initiatives into play.  While there’s benefit in new ideas, though, veterans must also play a role in the acquisition “reform” debate.  Some ideas aren’t really new, it’s just that the people in OMB, GSA and elsewhere haven’t been in the arena long enough to remember why some things were tried and then abandoned.  Last year, for example, there was draft legislation that would have required federal agencies to go through GSA for IT acquisitions or get a waiver.  Veterans surely remember the late, but certainly not lamented Brooks Act, that required exactly such an approach.  Anyone who’s been in government acquisition ten years or longer has more experience than many of the well-intentioned leaders at GSA and OFPP today.  It is absolutely incumbent among veterans to share their experiences so that the good ideas receive the attention, while old ones long-ago consigned to the acquisition toy box, stay there.  Industry, generally, should adopt a more pro-active stance because yes, in some cases, we do know better.  We can save everyone a lot of time and frustration by helping today’s leaders focus on ideas that actually have a chance of working.