Acquisition Legend Vern Edwards Visits Space Systems Command; Asserts Key to Acquisition Excellence Is Mastery

Published June 23, 2025
By Alex Chang, Space Systems Command Public Affairs

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Vern Edwards, a legendary figure in government contracting, visited Los Angeles Air Force Base May 29, 2025, to deliver a speech to acquisition professionals at Space Systems Command (SSC) in which he maintained that the key to overcoming today’s challenges within the nation’s acquisition system is an unrelenting, personal pursuit of mastery.

Addressing a packed room at Los Angeles Air Force Base, the Vietnam veteran and UCLA graduate, who famously rose from a GS-5 to a GS-15 in the statutory minimum of eight years, argued that personal competency is the driving factor in improving systemic issues within acquisitions.

“My message here is that it's the competence of the workforce that matters.”

Edwards defined mastery as the “comprehensive knowledge and command of the concepts, principles, rules, processes, procedures, methods, techniques, tools, and materials of your professional domain.” He lamented that the field has become a “cut and paste culture,” where the same approaches are often endlessly recycled often without an understanding the foundational concepts.

The path to becoming a competent contract specialist – to this level of expertise, he explained, is arduous and cannot be achieved through on-the-job training alone. The real work, he insisted, is done outside the office.

“To become a master, which is what every contracting officer should be, but very, very few actually are, you're going to have to spend the next 10 years reading 200 to 300 pages a week,” Edwards challenged the audience. “And I'm not talking about your phone. I'm talking about the science and knowledge that you must possess in order to serve your program offices and the Space Force.”

He urged the civilian and military personnel to cultivate curiosity, ask fundamental questions, and dedicate themselves to relentless self-education, just as he did when he encountered a term or concept that he didn’t fully understand.

“The journey to truly superior performance is neither for the faint of heart nor for the impatient,” he said, quoting from a Harvard Business Review article. “It requires struggle, sacrifice, and honest—often painful—self-assessment.”

Edwards concluded by presenting a choice to the next generation of acquisition professionals: settle for mediocrity… or commit to the difficult but essential road to mastery.