Stop chasing personality-driven solutions: Category management instills a think-bigger approach to buying for enterprise-level efficiencies.

by Brig. Gen. Christine A. Beeler

Leveraging the disciplined buying power of the Army enterprise in lieu of fractured or decentralized one-off solutions offers a smarter, more creative approach to delivering strategic readiness and results in higher-value outcomes for Soldiers and more resources for Army priorities such as infrastructure, barracks and support services.

Legislation outlined in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016 launched far-reaching measures to streamline requirements development, acquisition and budget processes. Follow-on legislation from 2016 to 2019, along with the President’s Management Agenda, sought to make smarter use of common contract solutions and drive a transition from incohesive practices by the government to a disciplined managed approach. Category management entails the business practice of buying common goods and services at an enterprise level to eliminate redundancies, use industry standards, increase efficiency and deliver more value and savings to government.

One of the 11 cross-agency priority goals of the President’s Management Agenda calls for the use of category management as a means for making better buying decisions, developing common levels of support and reducing the number of contracts, resulting in savings, both in terms of resources and costs. Agencies across the federal government award contracts for similar requirements in a fragmented manner. Buying common goods and services in an enterprise approach allows those agencies to leverage common contracts and quality standards at the best value for the taxpayer while reducing redundancies and personality-based performance requirements.

The Department of the Army directed the implementation of category management in April 2019 to improve its services contracting processes and supporting data analytics, and to enable the Army to save time, money and manpower for higher priorities.

The Army directive names the commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) as the co-category manager for logistics and facilities. The commander, Gen. Gustave F. Perna, has designated his G-8 as the lead for category management responsibilities. The AMC G-8 is working closely with the subordinate U.S. Army Contracting Command and its Category Management and Strategic Sources cell to manage data analysis, provide visualization and track the milestones associated with the initiative.

PORTFOLIO APPROACH

Efforts over the last 18 months place the Contracting Operations Directorate of the U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC), a subordinate command to Army Contracting Command, on the frontlines of category management. Team MICC, in lockstep with Army Contracting Command and AMC, is analyzing the buying environment, the totality of common services and the delivery methods to reduce cost drivers, highlight redundancies, and provide commanders with options to implement this critical initiative. Contract standardization efforts by MICC and its mission partners to buy services as a portfolio were developed in concert with the 2016 NDAA, ahead of category management initiatives announced by the Army. The command’s efforts to standardize similar contracts at an enterprise level using a portfolio concept parallel category management efforts at the local level. Rather than awarding similar, recurring services as one-of–a-kind efforts at the local installation, the portfolio approach pulls a whole portfolio to an enterprise buying center with standardized quality levels of performance, pricing and contract award execution processes to foster efficiencies in the acquisition process, meet performance expectations and drive contract savings.

Among Army commands with whom MICC has partnered on category management initiatives are the U.S. Army Installation Management Command and U.S. Army Sustainment Command. They represent two of MICC’s largest supported mission partners for contract dollars awarded. Of the $5.4 billion in contracts executed by MICC across the Army in fiscal year 2019, more than $2.4 billion was in support of these two commands.

MICC contracts are responsible for feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day. The command took steps in 2017 to standardize full food service contracts following a pilot for Fort Lee, Virginia, that yielded increased competition from industry and government savings of approximately $16 million over five years. Historically, MICC received two proposals on average for full food services contracts. Including the Fort Lee pilot, proposals received for similar contracts average five proposals, according to MICC data. This process involved standardizing performance work statements, contract type, contract line item number structure necessary for reporting and billing purposes, source selection approach, and quality assurance. In addition to the standardizing processes, MICC established a functional center at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to execute all pre-award actions for food services. Following award, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston transfers administration of the requirement to one of MICC’s 30 field offices for the duration of the contract’s period of performance. Not including the Fort Lee pilot, MICC has awarded eight contracts to date, saving the government 16.8 percent or $5.8 million annually.

MICC took steps to standardize food service contracts after a successful pilot program in Virginia that led to savings for the government and increased competition from industry. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy)

WAY AHEAD

Leveraging these successes, MICC developed a similar approach for base operations contracts, one of the command’s largest categories of spending. Base operations contracts support many of the Army’s installation services, and include facilities and grounds maintenance, pavement clearance, heating and cooling services, and unaccompanied furnishings management. The base operations requirements for Fort Belvoir, Virginia, were selected as the pilot test. In September 2018, MICC acquisition members at the headquarters and Fort Belvoir teamed with the Installation Management Command and industry representatives to award the contract. The standardized enterprise approach was first used for base operations at Fort Bliss, Texas, with award anticipated in November 2019. Together, the pilot at Fort Belvoir and imminent award of the Fort Bliss base operations requirements are projected to save the Army 19.2 percent or $15.2 million annually.

This pilot realized additional savings for the government by reducing the time it takes to execute a contract from initial planning to award. The standardized approach greatly reduced the procurement action lead time, a critical element in the delivery of mission-essential requirements, from 250 days to approximately 130 days for the Fort Belvoir pilot contract award.

Analysis underway seeks to expand the food service functional center to include base operations requirements and evolve the organization into the premier installation acquisition readiness center. The analysis process is considering a similar standardization approach with contracts in support of Soldier and Family readiness and institutional training in support of Army major commands.

CONCLUSION

Changing the way we do business to deliver better performance outcomes, gain efficiencies in the acquisition process and maximize the value of every dollar entrusted to us is the principle underlying the Army’s acquisition transformation and reform efforts. Actions in support of these efforts are well underway, from the service’s highest echelons to contracting organizations working hand-in-hand with mission partners at the installation level to develop and deliver essential requirements.

We need to evolve our industrial age local acquisition processes to harness the power of the information age and the collaborative virtual work space.  As MICC continues to implement comprehensive category management initiatives and synchronize its efforts with AMC, it will continue to develop its process and research further opportunities across common services and supply requirements to maximize savings for the Army.

For more information, go to www.army.mil/micc.

BRIG. GEN. CHRISTINE A. BEELER is the commanding general of MICC, headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas. She graduated from the Army ROTC program at Boston University as a distinguished military graduate and was commissioned in the Ordnance Corps in 1991. She holds an M.S. in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, an MBA from Webster University, a Master of Public Administration in environmental management from Jacksonville State University, an M.A. in administration and management from Bowie State University and a B.S. in business administration and management from Boston University. She is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Beeler entered the Army Acquisition Corps in 1998 and is Level III certified in contracting and in program management.

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The Rapid Innovation Fund enables the military and nontraditional contractors to work together.

by Kathryn Bailey

As DOD seeks to spur development of new technology, its Rapid Innovation Fund provides the financial backing for the military to work with nontraditional defense contractors to bring promising capabilities to fruition. Lt. Col. Brian Wong, chief of market research for the U.S. Army Network Cross-Functional Team (N-CFT), and Dr. Sayeed Hasan, chief engineer for Product Manager Waveforms, assigned to the U.S. Army Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T), explained the process and preliminary outcome of their first Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF 2017) effort during a conversation conducted before the contract award.

The cross-functional team and PEO C3T are using DOD’s Rapid Innovation Fund, which is intended to rapidly prototype and experiment with novel ideas from industry, and then deliver those capabilities into the hands of Soldiers in fewer than 12 months. They are currently implementing four separate Rapid Innovation Fund efforts.

The fund is administered by the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and the DOD Office of Small Business Programs to provide a program for nontraditional vendors to work with Army programs of record to rapidly insert their technologies into acquisition programs to meet specific defense needs.

PEO C3T and the cross-functional team recently culminated RIF 2017, where they teamed with the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (1-504 PIR), 1st Brigade Combat Team, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, to assess several commercial waveforms as part of an automated failover primary, alternate, contingency and emergency plan for Soldiers (automated failover is the process of automatically moving an application to a standby server in the event of a system compromise). Wong provided oversight of the entire operation, while Hasan coordinated radio training and operations. 

Dr. Sayeed Hasan, PEO C3T chief engineer, and a Soldier from the 1-504 Parachute Infantry Regiment, pause during a break in the Rapid Innovation Fund capstone event at Yakima Training Facility, Washington on Sept. 14. PEO C3T, along with the Network CFT, assessed three separate commercial waveforms designed to enhance the PACE [primary, alternate, contingency and emergency] plan for Soldiers who are confronted with contested or congested environments.

Kathryn Bailey: Please explain primary, alternate, contingency and emergency plans, and how commercial waveforms fit into the equation.

Lt. Col. Brian Wong: PACE [primary, alternate, contingency and emergency] plans are created to provide continuity of communications from user to user, or Soldier to Soldier. Commercial waveforms are a set of software instructions that dictate things such as wavelengths, encryption and rapid frequency changes. Even though the enemy can jam one or more of these waveforms, it would be nearly impossible to jam every single one. If we provide multiple wavelengths, or pathways, we can ensure redundant communications in congested or contested environments—both of which can degrade or deny Soldier communications. Automated failover is critical since most Soldiers are not trained to manipulate complex network configurations. When we provide automated failover PACE plans, we are seamlessly routing data to the unjammed wavelengths. Soldiers are unaware of what is happening in the background and are therefore able to concentrate on the mission.

Bailey: What is meant by nontraditional vendors?

Dr. Sayeed Hasan: Nontraditional vendors are those who may have mature, relevant technologies, but they have not typically been embedded in a program of record. They are just looking for an opportunity, and guidance, on how to introduce their technologies to the government. In this case, they had to explain to us how they would integrate their technologies into the tactical network. However; there is one caveat—the vendor’s capability must have been tested in a relevant environment. OSD makes occasional exceptions if the capability is deemed “game-changing” and if it meets other strict criteria. During the RIF effort we leveraged an OTA [other-transaction authority] process, which is tied to the RIF process, to award contracts for prototype capability and experimentation.

Bailey: How are PEO C3T and the Network Cross-Functional Team implementing the Rapid Innovation Fund process?

Wong: We began our RIF 2017 process in April 2018 by posting a request from the Network Cross-Functional Team for white papers on the National Spectrum Consortium site and FedBizOpps, where we solicited novel ideas from industry on how to automate PACE [primary, alternate, contingency and emergency] plans using commercial waveforms. We received a total of 30 whitepapers and selected the three we felt were most promising for PACE plans. In less than a month we solidified agreements, and then requested prototype equipment deliveries followed by Soldier experimentation.

It is also important to note that the Network Cross-Functional Team coordinates with FORSCOM [U.S. Army Forces Command] to source all maneuver unit experimentation.

Bailey: What did some of the initial experiments entail?

Hasan: We conducted three field-based risk reduction events, using one vendor capability at each event, in three separate states from the spring through the early fall of 2019. The first event took place in New York City, where we tested a new commercial waveform designed to act as a mobile ad-hoc network for situations where Soldiers’ missions take place in environments not conducive to signal transmission. What better place than New York, where we could test the waveforms on the subway, the midtown tunnel and among the skyscrapers?

We also travelled to Burneyville, Oklahoma, to assess network connectivity in dense foliage and then to Southern California, where we obtained an ad-hoc network using a commercial waveform to stream video and voice from the 15th floor of an L.A. [Los Angeles] building to its underground garage. We used the same waveform to travel across many kilometers of vegetation throughout areas of the Santa Monica Mountains.

PEO C3T and N-CFT team members gather in Southern California on July 24 as part of their Rapid Innovation Fund field-based risk-reduction effort, designed to identify commercial waveforms that provide multiple pathways for Soldier communications when encountering contested or congested environments.

Bailey: How did you conduct the Rapid Innovation Fund capstone event?

Hasan: This September we gathered all of the vendors and their respective capabilities for a capstone event at Yakima Training Center, Washington. Following training from their home base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Soldiers from the 1-504 PIR jumped into Yakima for their joint forcible entry and further situational training exercises. All three vendors operated their waveforms and networks over a 36-hour mission, where Soldiers formed three companies—two friendly and one opposing force—to assess the radio waveforms. We monitored network connectivity, number of nodes and positioning location information.

Wong: As part of our data collection process, ATEC [U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command] joined PEO C3T and the N-CFT at Yakima to engage with Soldiers during pauses in the exercise, where they gathered valuable user feedback on radio versatility, operation, strength of voice quality, strength of signal quality, reliability and ergonomics to inform the next generation of radio requirements and acquisitions.

Bailey: What method do you use to ensure you successfully extract the right type of feedback and then quickly use that feedback to develop a relevant capability?

Hasan: The network modernization effort continues to embrace the developmental operations, or DevOps, model to rapidly mature capabilities. DevOps puts Soldiers and developers side by side throughout the entire process. It provides an opportunity for Soldiers to assess and experiment with the technology early in the process and provide feedback to inform the next generation of radio requirements. Vendors are taking that and fixing software, looking at Soldier usability, design, form, fit and function.

Wong: We have found that the DevOps process has proven to be a great success in terms of rapidly getting the right technology into the hands of Soldiers. Even though we think of DevOps as field-based experimentation, we had also much collaboration on the back end between the developers and vendors in both the lab and the field prior to the actual Soldier experimentation. By doing so, we were able to identify and correct issues before a Soldier even touched the waveform capability.

Members of the 1-504 Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, receive training on a MANET [mobile ad-hoc network] radio on Aug. 28 at their home station, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The 1-504 is the participating unit for the PEO C3T and N-CFT Rapid Integration Fund effort, designed to identify commercial waveform technologies that will operate in contested and congested environments.

Bailey: What are the Soldiers and vendors saying about working within the DevOps process?

Wong: As a Soldier, I know firsthand this a tremendous morale booster. We are talking to units differently, demonstrating that we are listening to them so that we can return with a better product. They have told me they are thrilled to have the opportunity to assess performance issues and have them repaired on the spot, or see firsthand how their feedback yields a better design a few months versus a few years down the road, or when they have moved on or the technology is obsolete.

Our vendor feedback is just as positive; they have a huge desire and willingness to learn about the conventional Army side of business, including situations such as what it means to be a company commander and maneuvering or a battalion commander leading an airborne exercise. Each of the vendors collaborated very well with the unit.

Bailey: How are you consolidating the feedback to make an informed fielding decision?

Wong: We have a close working relationship with ATEC. Their representatives engaged with Soldiers during pauses in the exercise to gain valuable user feedback on radio versatility, operation, reliability and ergonomics to inform the next generation of radio requirements and acquisitions. We are still consolidating the data, and we know that it is critical that we turn this feedback around and deliver the product they want and need.

Bailey: What was the outcome of the experiments?

Wong: We are in the process of analyzing the Soldier feedback and ATEC data to help inform potential network design for our upcoming network capability sets. We have also provided feedback to the vendors who participated in the [Rapid Innovation Fund] effort so they can continue to operationalize and improve their products.

Bailey: What topics are you addressing for RIFs 18, 19 and 20?

Wong: [Rapid Innovation Fund] 18 is supporting Project Manager Mission Command’s Joint Battle Command – Platform, where we are looking at anti-jam and multipath blue force tracker antennas. For [Rapid Innovation Fund] 19 we are finalizing vendor selections for capabilities that provide next-generation high frequency, high-bandwidth SATCOM [satellite communications] on helicopters, AI-enabled radios and a protected SATCOM chipset. We expect to make a final award in early 2020.

We will spin these technologies into viable prototypes and Soldier experimentation in 12 to 18 months.

Bailey: What advice could you pass on to other organizations—acquisition, industry and Army units, who are considering using the [Rapid Innovation Fund] for their rapid fielding efforts?

Hasan: I have been working at the forefront of engineering for many years and have had the opportunity to work with technology leaders, radio developers, Soldiers and Army leaders. This is one of the first times I was able to work in the field with Soldiers and vendors during a 48-hour mission. Support from our leadership, partnering with N-CFT and 82nd Airborne, combined with our team’s commitments helped us to accomplish [Rapid Innovation Fund] goals and objectives. At the end of the effort, we found that Soldiers truly appreciated these technologies, and that is my greatest satisfaction.

Wong: The [Rapid Innovation Fund] and DevOps has been a game changer for us and I am certain it would be for other organizations seeking to rapidly insert the products Soldiers need, and expect, to enhance their missions. Our goals are always the same; deliver capabilities that are simple, support the mission, are user friendly and provide our Soldiers with the confidence they deserve.

For more information, go to: https://business.defense.gov/Programs/RIF/.

Kathryn Bailey is a public communications specialist for Bowhead Business and Technologies Solutions, assigned to PEO C3T. She holds a B.A. in communications studies from the University of Maryland University College.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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DASA(P) joins forces with GSA to get federal agencies to share solutions to similar strategic acquisition challenges.

by Elizabeth Chirico and John Burchill

Over the past year, within both government and industry, there has been a great deal of buzz surrounding new and emerging technologies that have the power to speed up business processes and give valuable time back to professional workforces. Key benefits include, in addition to streamlined processes, improved data transparency, security and accuracy; reduction in workforce time spent on administrative tasks; fewer administrative errors and as a result, an increase in compliance; lower operating costs, and quicker access to accurate, timely information.

In fiscal year 2019, Stuart Hazlett, the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement (DASA(P)) reorganized the Office of the DASA(P) into several reform initiative teams to better support top Army and DOD priorities—lethality, readiness and modernization. The charter of one of those initiatives, Acquisition Innovation through Technology, explores new and emerging technology capabilities that will shift focus from lower-value administrative work to higher-value work requiring critical thinking that will help contracting professionals save time and make better-informed decisions.

In support of the Acquisition Innovation through Technology mission, Becky Weirick, executive services director of ODASA(P), partnered with the General Services Administration (GSA) and brought together DOD and federal government leaders on Aug. 15 to collaborate and discuss current technology innovations in acquisition. GSA’s mission—to improve the way that federal agencies buy, build and use technology—dovetailed perfectly with Weirick’s vision to bring a variety of acquisition and technical experts together from across the federal government to look for ways to drive innovation through technology in business processes and to leverage each other’s tools, strategies and best practices. Many federal agencies face similar acquisition challenges, such as various procurement systems producing unstructured data, and require similar solutions. Instead of operating in stovepipes, Weirick wanted to bring agencies together at the inception of deploying new and emerging technologies in acquisition. This inclusive, collaborative vision enables federal agencies to leverage each other’s resources and to communicate more effectively.

Elizabeth Chirico, ODASA(P) Acquisition Innovation Lead, along with Jannine Wilkinson and John Burchill, GSA’s Army national account managers, coordinated and facilitated the meeting at GSA headquarters in Washington, providing a forum for sharing acquisition technology ideas, progress and resources. Federal government leaders from a variety of technical backgrounds participated, including data scientists, acquisition policy chiefs, senior procurement executives, contracting chiefs, chief technology officers, chief information officers and resource management leads. Several federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Defense Logistics Agency and GSA are exploring and piloting a variety of technologies in the acquisition process, including robotic process automation, to improve acquisition business processes. Group members discussed current and future initiatives designed to enhance and streamline the acquisition process by reducing redundancy, saving time and taxpayer dollars, eliminating administrative tasks from the contracting process and freeing up valuable contracting resources to perform critical analysis.

MODERNIZATION THROUGH COLLABORATION

If technology enables us to deliver capability faster, collaboration allows us to increase our collective impact. DASA(P) leadership, in conjunction with GSA, led the charge to partner across federal agencies to leverage technology solutions that one or two agencies individually piloted in order to exponentially increase our collective impact to every federal workforce member. Since robotic process automation is a fairly mature technology, it is particularly interesting to the Army and other members of the group. Robotic process automation has the power to easily automate straightforward, repeatable processes traditionally executed by a human and ultimately streamline processes, increase compliance and save time and resources. Robotic automation solutions may differ slightly, but since each federal agency shares key common denominators—the use of the same or similar acquisition systems and processes—the success of one pilot or proof of concept sends ripples across the entire federal space and enables all to accelerate change.

SHIFTING THE CULTURE

One of the most challenging parts of introducing new technology is combating a resistance to change in the workplace. Often, professionals are skeptical of how new technology processes work, or whether they really will produce accurate results and ultimately be helpful. Sometimes, professionals even see the benefit of a new technology or process but are still resistant to using it, because it is outside of their normal process and feels unfamiliar to them. Often, the best way to prove to professionals that a technology like robotic process automation really works is to make sure that they are actively involved in the change process. A pilot or proof-of-concept of the new technology allows the workforce to see firsthand how the technology works. The true benefit of a pilot program is to allow the technology’s capability to speak for itself. That way the workforce has the opportunity to experience how the technology saves them time and improves accuracy. Once the technology demonstrates value—even if just in a few targeted locations—word will spread about the benefits, and then others will clamor to adopt the technology, too. As with all things, adapting to even small or incremental changes takes time.

Two civilian agencies have individually piloted similar “contractor responsibility determination” solutions using robotic process automation. This robotic process automation—or “bot” for short—is able to pull information from public websites such as the System for Award Management (SAM) and the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) just like a human would—except much faster. In order for a bot to work effectively, a bot technician simply enters, or records, the exact process that a contracting professional would ordinarily take, right down to mouse clicks, typing of data, screenshots and pulling of reports. In this case, the process entails navigating to the SAM.gov and FAPIIS.gov websites, typing in a unique vendor number, also known as a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, and checking each website’s database for results and information indicating whether the contractor is registered in each system in order to do business with the federal government, does not have any active exclusions (such as suspension or debarment) and is otherwise capable of receiving a federal contract award. In order to launch this process with the bot, a contracting professional provides a DUNS number for each contractor to the bot (via email or other electronic means), then the bot takes over the task from there: It enters each DUNS number into both the SAM and FAPIIS websites, creates screenshot reports from the information listed in the sites, populates a document with the results for each vendor that it finds, and sends the results to a contracting specialist—in no more than four minutes.

In September 2019, the Army awarded a contract to procure a “contractor responsibility determination” bot to enable contracting professionals to shift their focus from low-value administrative tasks like checking SAM.gov for a given contractor’s registration, to high-value, critical-thinking areas of their work such as negotiations and cost analysis. Once the Army demonstrates success of the bot, it plans to extend use of the bot to other DOD and federal agencies as well. That way, multiple federal agencies will have the opportunity to leverage and share in the Army’s success of a streamlined process. Federal agencies are banding together to divide and conquer other aspects of acquisition ripe for automation, such as searching government systems for contractors’ past performance information, or auto-populating required Federal Acquisition Regulation clauses for specific types of requirements.

SAVE THE SPECIALISTS AND DELIVER CAPABILITY

Contract specialists and contracting officers often manage critical and diverse portfolios of contract requirements for various customers, stakeholders and requiring activities. Usually, each requiring activity and stakeholder views the contracting aspect of the acquisition process as the final speed bump to delivering capability or completing the mission. Delivering capability in the Army means delivering lethality and readiness to our Soldiers. Most contracting professionals are used to an urgent, high-tempo work environment. Robotic process automation has the power to dramatically cut time and reduce unnecessary stress in an often cumbersome acquisition process. In this case, robotic process automation enables contracting professionals to be more productive with their time by allowing them to use their critical-thinking skills on complex cost analysis for procuring weapon systems or conducting multifaceted negotiations, rather than spending time waiting for multiple websites to load or to re-enter the same information into several forms or systems.

For example, when a contracting professional completes a contractor responsibility determination process on their own, it could take up to an hour. This tedious task is a required part of the acquisition process that a contracting professional must complete multiple times throughout the course of awarding a new contract. This check is required during three stages of an acquisition:

• The market research stage: When the acquisition team is looking for contractors that will be able to perform the type of work that they are looking for.
• The competitive range stage: Once the team requests and receives contractors’ proposals, in order to determine if the top contractors, or “competitive range,” that submitted proposals are capable of receiving a federal award.
• At the time of final award: To make sure that the selected contractor is still capable of receiving an award from the federal government (no suspensions, debarments or violations of federal law have taken place since the last check).

As you can imagine, over the course of a year contracting professionals perform many responsibility determination checks. A DASA(P) internal report showed that on average, the Army issues approximately 250,000 contract actions per year, requiring contracting professionals to determine if a contractor is responsible in each stage of the action. Based on initial estimates, using an Army bot in the contractor responsibility determination process will save up to 13 days of time annually for each contracting professional (over 7,000 total) across the Army. Thirteen days saved per contracting professional would drastically help to reduce procurement administrative lead time across the board for all acquisitions, just by speeding up one small, administrative task. Imagine if we applied robotic process automation solutions to other areas of the acquisition process: We could deliver capability to our Soldiers much faster.

WE WANT YOU TO JOIN US!

Is there an area of the contracting process that is a rote or repeatable process that you think is ripe for automation? Is your command, office or agency currently piloting or interested in piloting a new or emerging technology to streamline the contracting process? We would like to hear from you! We invite interested federal government agency leaders to provide information or demonstrations on acquisition innovation technologies that they are currently using. Please reach out to Liz Chirico, acquisition innovation lead at ODASA(P) at elizabeth.a.chirico.civ@mail.mil,, or John Burchill, national account manager at GSA, at john.burchill@gsa.gov, to be included in future meetings and information sharing.

CONCLUSION

DASA(P) led the charge in acquisition modernization efforts by strategically collaborating with other federal agencies using technology enablers in the acquisition arena, piloting a contractor responsibility determination bot across the Army contracting enterprise, and by extending the bot capability and success of the pilot to other DOD and federal agencies to use.

By leveraging these new and emerging technologies, we can drive productivity, increase quality and save time—and everyone wants the ability to work more efficiently. Every generation of new technology enables new business processes, often improving quality of life in ways once unimaginable. Automation in acquisition is no different. Leveraging emerging technology and innovation within the federal space aligns with both the President’s Management Agenda as well as the National Defense Strategy. Both documents highlight the critical need for government agencies and the DOD to enhance mission effectiveness through the modernization of systems, processes and capabilities.

Federal acquisition leaders should continue to coordinate and collaborate, sharing successes and thinking of creative ways to use rapidly evolving technology to streamline acquisition and business processes. Together, we can change the shape of acquisition by employing technology to better enable the federal workforce to deliver capability more efficiently and effectively.

For more information, go to the Office of the DASA(P) website: https://spcs3.kc.army.mil/asaalt/procurement/SitePages/PAMHome; or contact Liz Chirico, at elizabeth.a.chirico.civ@mail.milor John Burchill, at john.burchill@gsa.gov.

ELIZABETH CHIRICO is the acquisition innovation lead in the ODASA(P). She holds an M.S. in acquisition and contract management from the Florida Institute of Technology and a B.A in English from the University of Mary Washington. She is Level III certified in contracting and is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps.

JOHN BURCHILL is the Army national account manager at the GSA. He holds an MBA from Binghamton University and a B.S. in marketing and management from Ithaca College. He has Level 2 Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting Officer’s Representatives, an ITIL Foundations Certification and a Master’s Certificate in Federal Project Management.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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The contracting pendulum has swung from complex to streamlined contracts to provide efficient and rapid acquisition in support of the Soldier.

by Veronica Alexander and Dr. Linda R. Herbert

Contracting methods have evolved over time, from three-page, performance-based contracts to specification-based contracts hundreds of pages in length, and now appear set to shift back to shorter contracts. The implementation of statutes, regulations and policies designed to ensure fair and equitable treatment for industry became burdensome and increased the time and complexity of the acquisition process. This resulted in an ineffective procurement process that influenced mission readiness. Since that time, the contracting pendulum has swung to agile, streamlined initiatives.

These initiatives have been spearheaded by several important regulations, including the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016, which was implemented by the Section 809 Panel, secretary of the Army initiatives and strategic reforms from the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement. One streamlining initiative embraced by Stuart Hazlett, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement, is “data-driven contracting.” Data-driven contracting will facilitate analytics on raw data that can influence factors such as requirements, money spent, talent management, and procurement acquisition lead time.

SIGNIFICANT CONTRACTING CHANGES

Historically, there have been significant regulatory changes that have influenced DOD contracting processes. These regulatory changes are the springboard to many contracting initiatives used today. In 1962, Congress passed Public Law 87-653, the Truth in Negotiations Act. That law specifies that when dealing in a sole-source environment, each procurement-contracting officer must certify cost as accurate, completed and current for all cost and pricing data. The Truth in Negotiations Act has been a cornerstone for ensuring that prices paid by the government are considered “fair and reasonable.”

In 1974, Congress passed legislation to establish the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) within the Office of Management and Budget. OFPP provides direction for government-wide procurement policies, regulations and procedures; it also promotes economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the acquisition process. One way in which OFPP provides this direction is through the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

The FAR, implemented in 1984, provides uniform policies and procedures for governing federal government contracts. Accompanied by the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), these regulatory policies inundate contracting professionals and industry partners. In 1984, Congress also passed the Competition in Contracting Act. That act requires competition for award of all government contracts. The theory is that more competition for procurements would reduce costs and allow more small businesses to win federal government contracts. It also established that if there is a protest submitted to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) before contract award, the awarding of the contract will be suspended until GAO rules on the protest.

In 1994, Congress passed the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act. That legislation established a preference for the use of commercial products and exempted commercial products from various statutory and regulatory requirements. It raised the ceiling for the use of “simplified purchase procedures” and raised the threshold for issuance synopsis. It exempted the micro-purchase from virtually all statutory requirements, and it required that paper-based contracting systems be replaced with an electronic contracting system within five years.

One of several efforts to make acquisition quicker and simpler, the Simplified Acquisition Threshold Supply Procurement Program was designed to require minimal training by customers to navigate the online marketplace. (Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kevin McClatchey)

CONTRACTING REFORM INITIATIVES

Acquisition reform is important and provides a check and a balance between regulatory accountability and agile acquisition. Because of recent reform initiatives, the contracting pendulum has swung from complex to streamlined contracting processes providing for efficient and rapid acquisition in support of the warfighter.

In 2005, OMB asked the OFPP to identify goods and services the government can purchase more effectively and efficiently through strategic sourcing. Strategic sourcing is an approach to supply chain management that formalizes the way information is gathered and used so that an organization can leverage its consolidated purchasing power to find the best possible values in the marketplace. As a result, the General Services Administration and the U.S. Department of the Treasury established the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative to address government-wide opportunities to strategically source commonly purchased goods and services and eliminate duplication of efforts across agencies. An example of strategic sourcing for the Army is in the procurement of commercial hardware and software purchases under the CHESS (Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions) program.

Then, in December 2014, OFPP issued a memorandum that directed agencies to take specific actions to implement category management, an approach based on industry leading practices, to further streamline and manage entire categories of spending across government more like a single enterprise. (See “The Power of the Purchase,” Page XX.) This approach includes strategic sourcing along with a broader set of strategies, such as developing common standards in practices and contracts, and improving data analysis and information sharing to better leverage the government’s buying power and reduce unnecessary contract duplication.

The NDAA passed in 2016 streamlined the acquisition process and eliminated redundant and duplicative requirements. Section 809 of the NDAA required that the secretary of defense establish a nine-member advisory panel consisting of experts in acquisition and procurement policy. The objective of the panel is to review DOD’s acquisition regulations and provide recommendations for streamlining procurement.

Some of the significant recommendations made by the panel include expanding and clarifying the use of other-transaction authority for production. Other-transaction authority is the term commonly used to refer to DOD’s authority to carry out “certain prototype, research and production projects” other than contracts. Such authority gives DOD the flexibility necessary to adopt and incorporate business practices that reflect commercial industry standards into its award instruments. DOD currently has permanent authority to award other-transaction agreements for research, prototype and production purposes. This kind of agreement allows nontraditional vendors a pathway for doing business with the government and introducing new and innovative ideas. In fiscal year 2019, the Army awarded 854 other-transaction agreements valued at roughly $4.9 billion.

FAR and DFARS contract clauses that are required to “flow down” from prime contractors to subcontractors, especially commercial subcontractors, are excessive and create additional burdens on DOD’s supply chain. In response, the Section 809 panel updated the FAR and DFARS to reduce burdens on DOD’s commercial supply chain, to decrease cost, prevent delays, remove barriers and encourage innovation in the military services.

The panel recommended minimizing the number of government-unique terms in commercial buying. The panel noted that when the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act was established in 1994, there were only 57 FAR and DFARS clauses applicable to commercial buying. Today there are 165, according to the panel. The proliferation of clauses applicable to commercial buying at the prime contract level directly affects the number of government-unique clauses to subcontractors offering commercial products and services.

The 2018 NDAA amended the Truth in Negotiations Act to increase the threshold for contractors submitting certified cost and pricing data from $750,000 to $2 million. Contracting officers may still require cost or pricing data without certification as they are tasked with ensuring the cost or pricing data is fair and reasonable. However, this change is widely embraced by contractors doing business with the government.

Finally, the 2018 NDAA made changes to the bid and protest procedures relative to the Competition in Contracting Act and allows for enhanced post-award debriefing rights for DOD. What that means for DOD acquisitions is that, when a protest is filed, the “five-day period” to file a bid protest to trigger an automatic stay of award does not start until after the government delivers a written response to the offeror. Per the NDAA, “within two business days after receiving a post-award debriefing, additional questions related to the debriefing … [t]he agency shall respond in writing to any additional question … within five business days” and “the agency shall not consider the debriefing is to be concluded until the agency delivers its written responses.”

ARMY CONTRACTING REFORM

The Army awards thousands of contracts yearly to support military forces worldwide. In FY19, the Army awarded 212,094 contract actions estimated at $94.59 billion. This does not include grants, government purchase-card buys, cooperative agreements or other authorized transactions that increased the estimate to $104.89 billion.

In 2017, the secretary of the Army directed initiatives to reform Army contracting, issuing Army Directive 2017-32 (Acquisition Reform Initiative #6) that mandated streamlining practices within Army contracting to reduce the time it takes to develop and award a contract.

In accordance with this reform initiative, the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Procurement (DASA(P)) embarked on extensive reformation initiatives. They include:

• Developed a centralized policy to standardize contracting policy across the Army.

• Created a range of policies and procedures that will facilitate the efficient implementation of category management. One policy, currently in coordination, aligns contracting activities to categories. This policy will promote habitual relationships between the contracting centers, category managers, and customers. The draft policy stipulates that customers shall only submit their requirement to the designated contracting office. Aligning contracting activities with categories will assist in enforcing standard levels of services (SLS), limit SLS end run actions, and limit contract action shopping between contracting centers.

• Of 312 authorities identified in the FAR and DFARS, the Army delegated 159 authorities to a level lower than the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)). This increased efficiency and eliminated the requirement to staff packages to ASA(ALT) for signature and approval, thereby saving time, money and resources.

• Established “reform managers” to lead changes to contracting process and develop new streamlined procedures, e.g., source selection, pricing cell, etc.

DASA(P) is also embracing “data-driven decision making in contracting.” This type of contracting involves making decisions based on actual raw data derived from the automated contract systems. Data-driven decision-making positivity affects how requirements are communicated between major stakeholders such as financial managers, program managers, requirements activities, and industry partners. The bottom line is everybody wins through increased productivity in procuring goods and services for the warfighter.

CONCLUSION

On Sept. 30, 2019, in a message to the Army force, Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy said, “We must maintain a sustainable level of readiness to meet current demands while executing an aggressive modernization strategy to ensure the total Army remains the most lethal ground combat force in the world.”

To achieve that end, the contracting pendulum must swing towards less restrictive acquisition policies and procedures.

For more information, go to https://spcs3.kc.army.mil/asaalt/procurement/SitePages/PAMHome.aspx#&panel1-3.

VERONICA ALEXANDER is the director of the Procurement Support Pillar in the office of the DASA(P). She holds a master’s degree from Clark Atlanta University and a B.A. from Southern University. She is Level III certified in contracting and manufacturing.

DR. LINDA R. HERBERT is a procurement analyst in the Procurement Support Pillar in the office of the DASA(P). She has a Ph.D. from Regent University and holds four master’s degrees, including in acquisition materiel management from the Naval Postgraduate School, and in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. She is Level III certified in contracting and in program management.

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Sixth in a series of articles on how the Combat Capabilities Development Command is supporting the Army’s “six plus two” modernization priorities.

 by Maj. Gen. John A. George

Maj. Gen. John A. George assumed command of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command on Nov. 1, 2019. He continues this series of articles on the Army’s modernization priorities.

Today’s Soldiers require advanced capabilities to be effective on future battlefields. Advances in technology have produced better weapon optics, imaging devices and body armor, as well as many other specialized protective and offensive gear. Body armor that could protect Soldiers against rifle fire, for example, was not available during World War II, the Korean War or Operation Desert Storm. Today’s Soldiers have body armor that includes front, rear and side ballistic plates to protect them against small-arms fire as well as flexible groin and collar panels that provide protection against shrapnel and debris. While the body armor provides an added lifesaving layer of protection for Soldiers, it weighs 30 pounds.

On average, a Soldier carries at least 60 pounds of gear, but that weight often doubles depending on the length of the mission and the Soldier’s job. A 72-hour mission in Afghanistan, for example, requires an Airborne Soldier to carry seven types of batteries that collectively weigh 16 pounds to power optics, flashlights, night vision devices, GPS and a radio. In addition to the base uniform, a Soldier wears protective gloves, boots and glasses, as well as body armor and a helmet.

Reducing the amount of weight Soldiers wear and carry, while also keeping them safe, is critical to the Army. As part of the future force modernization enterprise, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) supports this mission, which is key to the Soldier lethality modernization priority as well as other efforts to ensure that Soldiers can survive and operate in any environment. While the CCDC Soldier Center leads the Soldier lethality modernization effort for the command, other CCDC centers, including Aviation and Missile; Data and Analysis; Armaments; and Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR), round out the team.

CCDC relies heavily on academia, industry and international partners to develop and demonstrate new technologies that will increase protection, lethality, agility and mission flexibility. The command works closely with small businesses by communicating its strategic direction in support of the Soldier lethality modernization priority and investing in emerging commercial technologies. CCDC also works closely with the cross-functional teams on research and innovation projects that support the Army’s modernization priorities. These collaborations drive innovation and strengthen the Soldiers’ performance, increasing readiness to meet the Army’s critical thresholds—a force capable of  by 2028 and 2035.

CCDC is developing technologies that support Soldier lethality, including a host of capabilities that enable a Soldier to shoot, move, communicate, protect, sustain and train. In treating the Soldier as a weapon system, each technology must work together to enable the Soldier to perform tasks and reach a destination faster and with greater lethality and efficiency. To avoid the historical norm of adding each new piece of equipment to the Soldier’s gear and increasing weight, we are leveraging multifunctional materials and capability integration in our portfolio planning.

Mechanical engineer Dr. Nathan Sharpes demonstrates a power and data rail for the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The C5ISR Center is developing a centralized power source for targeting technologies on the weapon, which currently requires separate batteries for scopes, range finders and thermal sights. With a power and data rail, one battery will power any device. (Photo by Dan Lafontaine, CCDC C5ISR Center Public Affairs)

FUELING SOLDIERS

Food is the “fuel” of the Soldier weapon system. Just as reducing the weight of a vehicle can increase its fuel economy, we are increasing the nutritional density of the food Soldiers eat, and that high-octane fuel will increase the Soldiers’ lethality. The CCDC Soldier Center Combat Feeding Directorate is developing the Close Combat Assault Ration, a lightweight ration that’s energy- and nutrient-dense and designed to sustain small units in remote sites up to seven days without resupply. The logistical footprint of the Close Combat Assault Ration is compatible with the service’s autonomous aerial and ground delivery of food and supplies for expeditionary operations.

The Soldier Center uses emerging food processing technologies, including vacuum microwave drying and ultrasonic agglomeration, to reduce the weight and volume of military rations. Vacuum microwave drying uniformly removes water with both vacuum and microwave techniques, and can result in physically compressed food that remains moist. Ultrasonic agglomeration uses vibration to instantly compress food without fillers or binders, reducing the meal by 30 to 50 percent of its original size with the same ingredients and nutrition. The Soldier Center targets a reduction in weight for a seven-day supply of food from 18 to 12 pounds and plans to deliver final specifications for the Close Combat Assault Ration by 2022.

As part of the combat rations development process, our researchers worked with Soldiers and Marines in the 10th Special Forces Group, Fort Carson, Colorado; 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; and the 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, New York, to gather feedback to refine technical and operational information, evaluate prototypes and determine tradeoff analysis.

We rely heavily on input from Soldier touch points, training and testing events where Soldiers test technology and provide feedback. One such touch point that we use on a continuous basis is the Human Research Volunteer Program, located at the CCDC Soldier Center in Natick, Massachusetts. The Soldier Center recruits 30 to 40 Soldiers for approximately 120 days to serve as a baseline model for human research and provide user feedback on tests, studies and evaluations. A cadre of experienced Soldiers, including a company commander, first sergeant and several noncommissioned officers in the infantry military occupational specialty are part of the program. These Soldiers provide valuable insight and serve as in-house tactical experts for science and technology research at the Soldier Center. The program recently completed several rounds of data collection with Soldiers that will be used to transition the next generation of combat boots.

POWERING UP WITH STRONGER BATTERIES

As the Army modernizes the current force and prepares for multidomain operations, the quantity and capabilities of Soldier-worn technologies are expected to increase significantly, and Soldiers will need more power and energy sources to operate them. CCDC’s Soldier Center and the C5ISR Center are increasing Soldier lethality and survivability by researching and developing batteries that are lighter and have more power and extended runtimes.

Researchers at the C5ISR Center are exploring improvements in silicon anode technologies to support lightweight batteries, including the Conformal Wearable Battery, a thin, flexible, lightweight battery that can be worn on a Soldier’s vest to power electronics. Silicon anode technologies can double the performance and duration of currently fielded batteries for dismounted Soldiers. Early prototypes of the updated silicon-anode battery delivered the same amount of energy with a 29 percent reduction in volume and weight.

Our researchers are integrating the silicon-anode battery with the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), a high-priority battlefield heads-up display that uses augmented reality to help Soldiers train. The C5ISR Center plans to use 200 silicon-anode battery prototypes during an IVAS Soldier touch point exercise in July 2020, which will be the first operational demonstration to showcase the battery.

The C5ISR Center is developing a centralized power source for small-arms weapons for the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program. The new weapon will have increased capabilities and as a result will require more power than the current baseline system. A power and data rail will enable Soldiers to power any weapon-mounted device, similar to a cellphone charging pad. Electricity will run along the rail and enable power to go to standardized contacts, eliminating the need for Soldiers to manage or carry multiple power sources. Currently, separate batteries are required for each device, including scopes, range finders and thermal sights; with a power and data rail, Soldiers will not have to manage battery swaps since one battery will provide the necessary power for any device.

DELIVERING SOLDIER LETHALITY

The CCDC Armaments Center is the center for lethality in munitions, systems to deliver the munitions and fire control. The center’s main projects are aimed at increasing Soldier lethality by reducing load and decision-making while increasing capability in a multidomain environment. Together, these projects prove what is within the realm of possible in science and technology for Soldier overmatch on the battlefield.

The Next Generation Squad Weapon project consolidates ammunition and weapons as well as a power and data rail for integration of next generation fire control systems. The overall system, which was designed to show advanced technologies and serve as a replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, provides a lightweight cased and telescoped cartridge with greater lethality than the current, fielded squad automatic weapons and at a much lighter weight than the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. The 6.8 mm bullet, designed in-house, provides greater lethality and range than the Army’s current 5.56 mm bullets. This technology was transitioned to the Project Manager (PM) for Soldier Lethality (formerly the Project Manager for Soldier Weapons) within the Program Executive Office for Soldier in fiscal year 2019. The Armaments Center will continue to design follow-on bullet types in direct support of Soldier operations in its Next Generation Family of Ammunition project, which has multiple technology transitions through fiscal year 2023.

The Squad Combat Optic Performance Enhancement science and technology project is the Armaments Center’s solution for a next-generation primary optic and fire control, similar in capability to a targeting system on a combat vehicle but at a fraction of the size. The system consists of a direct-view optic with an augmented reality overlay, a steerable laser range finder, a daylight and thermal digital weapons camera, and a controller designed to reduce aim error and increase probability of hit. The Armaments Center will use data collected from various Soldier touch points to influence follow-on designs with industry. This technology is slated to transfer to PM Soldier Lethality in mid-fiscal year 2020.

The Next Generation Squad Weapon Science and Technology prototype consolidates both ammunition and weapons, as well as a power and data rail for integration of next generation fire control systems. The overall system was designed to show what was in the realm of possible to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and is much lighter and more lethal. (Photo by Daniel Cler, CCDC Armament Center)

 
ROBOTICS AND AI FOR SOLDIER PROTECTION

The Soldier Center’s Protection and Survivability Directorate is developing directed energy protective ensembles, head-borne integration platforms and concealment. Together, these will enable Soldiers to operate and dominate in any climate or location by remaining undetected from enemy eyes and sensors, and provide protection from battlefield threats if engaged. Directed energy, which is microwave energy, is an emerging battlefield threat that may be used for anti-access and area denial. Head-borne integration will bring together the protection, sensors and information displays that Soldiers need for multidomain operations into a helmet-based system that will reduce weight and complexity while enabling enhanced lethality.

At the dismounted squad level, CCDC Soldier Center is looking at robotics and autonomous systems to increase situational awareness during combat operations. Small unmanned aerial systems, such as the Soldier Borne Sensor or Short Range Reconnaissance platforms, will provide dismounted squads and platoons remote reconnaissance for improved stand-off protection and improved situational understanding of the environment.

KEEPING IT VIRTUAL

Early synthetic prototyping uses virtual modeling and simulation to test best ideas and concepts from Soldiers and industry for rapid capability development and force modernization. Early synthetic prototyping uses a government-owned software platform: a virtual sandbox developed by the Systems Simulation, Software and Integration Directorate’s Army Game Studio, within CCDC’s Aviation and Missile Center, that leverages modular commercial game technology; Army-owned assets, such as 3D models, sounds and sound effects; and other features to create and test concepts in a virtual operational environment and thereby produce data-driven capability requirements.

Early synthetic prototyping experiments allow Soldiers to virtually conduct mission rehearsals using future equipment, doctrine and force structure in a simulated future operational environment against a future enemy. During a squad (up to future company) exercise, Soldiers control simulated systems and use the same operational decision-making they would use on tactical equipment and combat platforms, including mobility, fires, sensors, communications, obscurants and electronic warfare.

The Ground Vehicle Soldier Center Design Studio held a four-day virtual experiment demonstration using early synthetic prototyping in September. Thirty Soldiers from 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division participated in the demonstration and provided feedback on the Robotic Combat Vehicle’s crew configuration, formations, vehicle capabilities, enabling technologies and networked capabilities. During testing, Soldiers used the Robotic Combat Vehicle as a mobile shield in urban terrain and noted that they preferred the higher level of protection from the heavier robotic combat vehicle over the maneuverability of its lighter counterpart. These types of events will continue throughout fiscal year 2020 with each virtual experiment increasing in capability and fidelity.

The Measuring and Advancing Soldier Tactical Readiness and Effectiveness program, which is led by the Soldier Center, will enable the Army to objectively and holistically measure Soldier and squad performance. The program, a collaborative effort with experts in human science research, sensor development, and data acquisition and analysis, will monitor, predict and enhance performance in close combat.

ANALYZING TECHNOLOGY FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE

As the Army’s largest in-house analytical capability, the CCDC Data and Analysis Center supports the Soldier lethality modernization priority by providing lethality analysis, modeling and simulation, cyber and electronic warfare, and vulnerability and weapon prototype testing for the Next Generation Squad Weapon. The Data and Analysis Center also performs electronic warfare and electronic-optical, electronic-infrared vulnerability analysis and assessment for IVAS and the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binoculars.

Cybersecurity analysts at the Data and Analysis Center work alongside Microsoft experts to set up a development environment suitable for the robust operations of IVAS, which is planned for fielding in fiscal year 2021. CCDC also provides modeling and simulation tools to predict and assess degradation of Soldier performance because of battlefield injuries.

The Data and Analysis Center is also working on the Soldier and squad trade space analysis framework (SSTAF), an architecture for evaluating the positive and negative effects of Soldier equipment on individual Soldier performance. The framework, which treats the Soldier as a unified system, will integrate several human performance models and simulations into one system. This will allow the Army to gather the necessary data to perform trade analysis for Soldier equipment and help inform Army leadership on acquisition decisions. A trade analysis compares different options, such as cost, effectiveness, weight, power, lethality and survivability, and then uses the information to make recommendations to senior leaders so they can make informed decisions. The first SSTAF prototype was completed at the end of fiscal year 2019, with additional capabilities to be added in 2020. It will provide timely, affordable trade analysis at the squad level for Army leaders who make investment decisions.

CONCLUSION

CCDC works with academia, industry and international partners to improve Soldier lethality modernization efforts. The Soldier Center partners with the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Worcester Polytechnic Institute on various projects. We steer research to relevant military technologies through our membership with the Center for Advanced Research in Drying, which includes academic and industry partners.

We also participate in and lead communities of practice with partners in Army science and technology, industry and academia. Since 2010, CCDC Soldier Center’s Soldier Protection and Survivability Directorate has used the community of practice model successfully for individual ballistic and blast protection projects. The teams meet regularly to set research goals and monitor progress. The directorate recently added two communities of practice—one for Soldier camouflage and concealment and one for Soldier hydration and protection from environmental conditions.

We also work closely with small businesses by investing in emerging technologies and reaching out to military industrial bases to ensure that the technologies can be produced to supply military rations. Typically, more than 20 percent of the Army’s contracting budget is awarded to small businesses.

Keeping Soldiers safe without increasing the weight they wear or carry is an ongoing challenge for the Army. CCDC works closely with academia, industry and international partners to discover and develop the best technology to support this mission. Using information gathered from continuous experimentation and Soldier touch points, CCDC refines technology and focuses on research and engineering projects that will make Soldiers more lethal and increase combat readiness.

For more information, go to www.army.mil/ccdc.

MAJ. GEN. JOHN A. GEORGE is the commanding general of CCDC. He most recently served as the deputy director and chief of staff of the U.S. Army Futures Command Futures and Concepts Center. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and was commissioned into the Army in 1988. He has an M.S. in social psychology from Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

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New OTA seeks to speed capabilities to warfighters while also developing the U.S. industrial base.

by Kyle Thalmann and Tara Sarruda

Using the relatively new Cornerstone Other-Transaction Authority (OTA) provided the Project Manager for Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS) with two big gains: development of the vital XM1128 artillery projectile moved more quickly, and the industrial base received a welcome boost.

The XM1128, a 155 mm high-explosive extended-range unitary cannon projectile, has been identified as an important munition for Army modernization under the Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team. Long-range precision fires is the Army’s top modernization priority. Currently, the Army has requirements to deliver 155 mm ammunition that extends range from 22 kilometers to 30 kilometers, and the XM1128 projectile can meet that objective. However, the process of ramping up availability of the XM1128 posed challenges for PM CAS, part of the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.

The 155 mm XM1128, shown here before testing, has an expected range of more than 30 kilometers. (Photo courtesy of JPEO A&A)

There is a critical need for the capability to load, assemble and pack the XM1128, but there is no current capability in the industrial base to perform those tasks. Similar 155 mm projectiles—such as the M864 extended-range cluster munition and M549A1 high-explosive, rocket-assisted projectile—have been out of production for decades. Against that backdrop, the use of the Cornerstone OTA was an opportunity to accelerate achievement of a critical objective within an acquisition system that is often beset with procedural headwinds.

Lengthy Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) acquisition timelines can delay capabilities from reaching warfighters in the time they’re needed. However, OTAs under the Title 10 U.S.C. 2371b provide DOD the flexibility to adopt and incorporate business practices that reflect commercial industry standards and best practices; and to reduce acquisition timelines from years to months. In parallel, DOD leaders want to improve the U.S. industrial base in order to be prepared for conflicts today and in the future.

The solution to both of these problems is the Cornerstone OTA, a government-managed vehicle supported by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Chemical Biological Center (CBC) and awarded by the U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI). Under the Cornerstone OTA, the acquisition timeline for execution is reduced to 55-100 business days, depending on which of three standardized solicitation processes are used. Additionally, the Cornerstone OTA fast-tracks research, development, prototyping, demonstration, qualification and integration of manufacturing capabilities and capacities into the U.S. industrial base by using several industry sectors, which a standard OTA does not provide.

The Cornerstone OTA differs from other OTAs as there is no third party involved and it is strictly government-managed. The CBC manages the Cornerstone consortium and works with program offices to develop the acquisition approach, while ACC-RI handles contracting responsibilities, including pricing, negotiations and award. This approach allows for reduced acquisition timelines while keeping costs low.

CORNERSTONE OTA BACKGROUND

Cornerstone was established by the Office of Industrial Policy through the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, and was launched in February 2018 under the Title 10 U.S.C 2508 Industrial Base Analysis Sustainment Program.

Cornerstone creates a flexible mechanism for a public-private partnership across a range of industrial base sectors in order to strengthen the U.S. industrial base and improve U.S. competitiveness in support of DOD. It provides a way to bring together industry and government stakeholders through a structured engagement forum. Cornerstone consists of multilevel consortiums, and consortium members are encouraged to collaborate within their selected sector, across sectors, and with other approved interested parties.

Cornerstone’s aim is to bring together industry and government stakeholders in the diverse and currently fragmented sectors to ensure industrial base resiliency and a robust manufacturing innovation ecosystem. Cornerstone OTAs can be used in 19 technical sectors, ranging from munitions and missiles to space. Sectors can be added or removed by the government, when there are requirements that are not categorized in one of the established sectors. Cornerstone is available to all DOD military services that require OTA assistance to strengthen the industrial base for their production needs.

For PM CAS, use of the Cornerstone OTA enables an efficient and streamlined award process that will allow for the production of the extended-range projectile. It will help mitigate range and effectiveness gaps for the Army in both legacy and future cannon artillery systems, while maturing a much needed, modernized production capability that has not been available domestically for decades.

CORNERSTONE OTA ELIGIBILITY, SCHEDULE

Companies that support the industrial base under Cornerstone apply to become members of the Cornerstone Consortium, and are then eligible to bid on Cornerstone OTA initiatives. Cornerstone agreements can include cost type agreements, firm fixed-price agreements and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity agreements, as well as base agreements and options agreements.

Unlike a FAR-based contract, the Cornerstone OTA can reduce award timelines to as little as 55 business days, once an agreements officer approves the documentation package.

The three standardized solicitation processes under Cornerstone are:

• Open 1-step solicitation (default process)—The target is 80-100 business days. Competitive request for full proposals is open to all consortium members.
• Open 2-step solicitation—The target is 90-100 business days. There is a competitive request for white papers, followed by a down-select and the request for full proposals from selected candidates.
• Closed solicitation (sole source)—The target is 55 business days. The solicitation is directed to a single offeror. It requires justification for why this approach is necessary.

The Cornerstone OTA streamlines the acquisition process, using one of three solicitation approaches that keep the award process as short as 55 business days. (Graphic courtesy of the Industrial Base Analysis Sustainment Program)

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION

“Communication is key” is a common phrase among top program management officials. With that principle in mind, PM CAS reached out to the Cornerstone team at ACC-RI in order to use its OTA. Although the Cornerstone OTA was new to both Picatinny Arsenal and PM CAS, the information provided by the ACC-RI team helped PM CAS better define and understand the requirements in order to see how this OTA could be used with the XM1128 project.

PM CAS’ integrated product team, which included stakeholders from PM CAS, ACC-RI and CBC, was enormously proactive and initiated meetings to understand the process and documentation requirements for the Cornerstone OTA. The team kept communication lines open throughout the OTA award process, whether it was PM CAS asking questions regarding the Cornerstone OTA process or ACC-RI requesting information from PM CAS on the technical requirements for the XM1128 load, assemble and pack effort.

All integrated product team members worked toward a common goal and held each other accountable by professionally closing out action items within the planned timelines, which culminated in an accelerated award of the load, assemble and pack for the new prototyped XM1128 projectile.

The OTA was awarded July 31 to American Ordnance LLC, located at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant. The work will help strengthen the industrial base as this projectile will include propellant grains, which provide drag reduction to achieve the extended ranges for the XM1128. Currently, there is no capability existing in the industrial base to perform load, assembly and packing of a 155 mm artillery projectile with propellant grains.

With the help of the Cornerstone OTA team and the communications it had with PM CAS, PM CAS’s initiative for the XM1128 load, assemble and pack was Picatinny Arsenal’s first award under the Cornerstone OTA and only took 75 business days—from late March through the end of July 2019. That time compression helped to give impetus to the eventual goal of providing an extended-range projectile.

Among the components of the XM1128 is propellant grain, which reduces drag and allows the projectile to travel longer distances. Before issuing the Cornerstone OTA, the industrial base lacked the capacity to load, assemble and pack projectiles with that feature. (Graphic courtesy of the authors)

CONCLUSION

Compared to the FAR process, the Cornerstone OTA is flexible, facilitated a shorter acquisition time to award the contract for XM1128 loading, assembly and packing, and enabled industrial base development.

With the successful use of the Cornerstone OTA for the XM1128 effort, PM CAS plans to use it to improve both artillery and mortar industrial base capabilities.

Industrial base capabilities are more than setting up factories and production lines. They include new technologies, new processes, materials, prototypes and other technologies to increase the capabilities of the U.S. industrial base to ensure modernization of production capabilities. The Cornerstone OTA is unique in that its setup allows it to streamline the acquisition process to address critical industrial base issues across a multitude of industry sectors. With DOD and program managers needing to modernize existing weapons and create prototypes for new complex requirements to fight future conflicts, the Cornerstone OTA is the future of OTAs.

For more information relating to the Cornerstone OTA, please visit https://ibasp-public.ria.army.mil/cornerstone/.

KYLE THALMANN is an acquisition analyst for Artillery and Mortar Programs, including the XM1128 Program, for PM CAS’ Business Management Division. He holds an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology and a B.A. in accounting with a minor in international business from Penn State University. He is Level III certified in contracting and Level I certified in program management, and is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps. 

TARA SARRUDA works for the Cannon Artillery Division at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center, and serves as the project officer for the XM1128. She holds an M.S. in mechanical engineering manufacturing systems from Stevens Institute of Technology and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Lafayette College. She is Level III certified in systems engineering.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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The Training With Industry program expands and enhances officers’ knowledge of industry practices.

by Jacqueline M. Hames

Military and corporate business best practices are fundamentally different, and the barrier to effective collaboration between the military and industry can often be found in that space. The Training With Industry (TWI) program aims to close that gap, one TWI fellow at a time.

The program helps to develop a strong relationship between the Army and industry partners, enabling both to learn each other’s methods of operations, said Lt. Gen. Paul A. Ostrowski, principal military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)). “This understanding will secure a better glide path between the Army and our industry partners by creating new bonds that allow us to minimize future obstacles,” he said.

COMMUNITY AND CURIOSITY

The TWI program is a work-experience program for Army officers, from captain to lieutenant colonel, that provides exposure to managerial techniques and industrial procedures in corporate America. “The program matches highly qualified acquisition officers with a wide array of businesses from inside and outside the defense sector,” Ostrowski said. Acceptance into the program is fairly competitive, and the Army selects the best from the acquisition community to represent not only ASA(ALT), but also the Army and DOD as a whole.

“Industry spends a great deal of time and money on streamlining how they do business to be more efficient and effective,” Ostrowski said. After their TWI rotation, officers are expected to identify industry best practices and implement them at their next duty station, he said.

This past year, the program expanded from 12 positions to more than 30. Program fellows could be placed with one of many big-name corporations, such as Lockheed Martin Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Amazon.com Inc.—or smaller, nontraditional technology-based firms—where they can educate industry on how the Army runs and learn about industry best practices. “This mutual exchange of knowledge is vital to the enduring relationship between the Army and our industry partners,” Ostrowski said.

But don’t just take his word for it.

“Some of the key things that Army Soldiers and all of our fellows bring to the program are leadership, community and curiosity,” said Sarah Martin, military affairs program manager for Amazon. “They are great additions to their teams because they know how to establish connections and community very quickly. We enjoy learning from their leadership skills just as much as they learn from us.”

Martin manages the defense and government fellowships and exchanges for Amazon; her responsibility is to make sure fellows are set up for success from their first day through the end of their program. “The goal for their fellowship is to learn innovative best practices from Amazon that they can apply when they return to their military or government organization,” she said.

Typically, fellows are placed on teams across the company so that they can learn by doing, she added, and there are regular events where fellows can interact with company leadership. Each program participant is given a specialized treatment, she said. “There is really no one-size-fits-all solution. The scope, scale and rotation of projects in the fellowship program truly depend on the fellow,” Martin said. “For example, some fellows are strategic leaders in supply chain or logistics, and it may make the most sense for that fellow to work on one large program or project for the whole year.” Other fellows may benefit from multiple projects to give them greater perspective on emerging technology or leadership development, she said.

THE FORD EXPERIENCE

TWI graduate Lt. Col. Thomas Monaghan was the first fellow placed at Ford Motor Co. in Detroit. At first, Ford didn’t quite know what to do with him, but after looking at all the acquisition certifications on his resume, the company zeroed in on Monaghan’s status as “a former mechanized Bradley guy” with experience with rail operations. Ford assigned him to work shipping and receiving and physical shipping problem sets, and to visit plants to look at the internal processes and see where they could develop efficiencies.

“And that was my first day. The first couple of hours I was there, there was a complete shift on what they thought I was supposed to do,” Monaghan said.

As a car enthusiast, the assignment with Ford was “pretty cool” for Monaghan. He spent roughly three months helping to improve the build process at the Mustang plant, and he was able to test a GT350R right off of the assembly line—in fact, Monaghan became certified to test vehicles at Ford while completing project rotations.

“I rotated around, working with what they called problem-solving teams. So I went to the different plants—I did 187 individual projects over the year,” he said. Some projects were short, maybe a few hours in duration, while others were longer, spanning months.

Since Ford started sponsoring TWI fellows, it has hosted Soldiers consistently. Lt. Col. Christopher Orlowski is on assignment with the company now. “I was placed into engineering manufacturing operations for North America, which is primarily responsible for Ford’s engine manufacturing operations in Canada and the United States,” he said. Orlowski is the first Army officer to work in engine manufacturing, and the third TWI fellow placed at Ford. With this placement, he didn’t really know what to expect, but feels the assignment is a great learning opportunity. Although Orlowski doesn’t have much experience with engine manufacturing, he does have a doctorate in aerospace engineering and spent time as a program manager with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Orlowski is working with the director of North American Engine Manufacturing Operations, Kevin Bicking, and will help support the launch of some of Ford’s new engine programs for the 2021 model year. He hopes to learn how Ford does business-forecasting and drives efficiencies such as reducing cost while reducing consumption. Ford is focusing on reducing the consumption of energy, material usage, the amount of trash going to landfills, and water usage. “Part of that is because it has a cost, part of it is because Ford is pushing for increasing environmental friendliness and environmental advocacy,” Orlowski said.

Orlowski wants to bring to his next program management position a deeper awareness of how competing priorities are tied together. “Design decisions impact manufacturing, which impacts efficiency, which impacts the supply base, and all of those things need to be considered and taken into account, and not just what makes the system performance better,” he said.

Lt. Col. Thomas Monaghan poses with Ford’s Wounded Warrior Support vehicle at a Veterans Day celebration. Ford employees and celebrities alike sign the car as a sign of thanks to service members. (Photo courtesy of Lt. Col. Thomas Monaghan)

Rapid decision-making skills were the key thing that Monaghan learned while at Ford. “I watched them make multimillion-dollar decisions based off of a 15-minute conversation,” he said. Ford employees came to a meeting ready to make decisions; they were well-educated on the subject at hand and ready to address courses of action because they realized “a good decision now is better than the best decision three years from now,” otherwise they would lose the competitive edge, Monaghan said. He believes the Army would benefit from that philosophy—right now, it can take a long time to make decisions on divestiture or procurement; adopting Ford’s philosophy may improve production timelines for the Army.

No matter what lessons TWI fellows learn from industry, Monaghan encourages them to be active participants in the program. “If you think the TWI year is a year to take off and take a knee and relax, you’re totally wrong,” he said. A year goes by quickly if you’re still on the command track and obligated to take pre-command courses; it’s more like 10 months. “You are a future leader of the Acquisition Corps—you need to go out there and understand as much about that industry you’re working in” as possible, he said.

Martin reminds the fellows to ask for help when they need it, and to cultivate a willingness to learn. For other industry partners like Amazon, she encourages them to better understand the military. “One of the most helpful suggestions was to read the NDS [National Defense Strategy]—and, from there, I was able to work backwards and build out an entire training and education program to meet the needs of military fellows,” she said.

FROM TWI MANAGER TO FELLOW

Lt. Col. Shelia Howell’s experience with the TWI program is a little different than other participants’—she used to be a TWI program manager. Supporting the warfighter has been her mission since she started her Army career as human resources officer in 2003, and she wanted to continue that support throughout her career. The TWI program let her continue a service role as a program manager. Howell saw firsthand what a great opportunity the program was for Soldiers. “It is a tremendous opportunity that the program offers to really build your business acumen and have a deeper understanding of industry,” she said.  “It was priceless, and I really wanted to have the opportunity as well.”

Even though she was a program manager for TWI, she still had to undergo the normal application process. “They hold a board, and they create an OML [order of merit list]…but I think that one of the main requirements is that you’re at a point in your career where it works out for you,” she said. The program should not be detrimental to a Soldier’s career, and the candidate should be a good representative of the Army as well as the Acquisition Corps when with industry, because sometimes the TWI program is the only contact that company may have with a military member, she added.

Lt. Col. Sheila Howell, left, learning the ropes from Juanita Houdieshell at Lockheed Martin. “One of the main requirements is that you’re at a point in your career where it works out for you,” said Howell. (Photo courtesy of Lt. Col. Sheila Howell)

Howell was placed with Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida, and is currently on assignment there. She was able to tailor her experience with the company and is able to rotate around to different teams from different lines of business. At the time of her interview for this article, she was working with the capture team, learning the ins and outs of program management at Lockheed. She sat down with one of Lockheed’s financial program managers to discuss the types of things that he looks at from an earned value management perspective. “That was really good to learn some of those financial metrics and how they look at it and what kind of levers they pull to ensure that they are meeting their targets,” she said. Understanding those measures on a deeper level has been her biggest takeaway so far. “I really do want to have a better understanding of how industry operates,” Howell said. “I think that, as acquisition officers, that is an invaluable skill to have.”

CONCLUSION

All three of the TWI fellows, past and present, agree that, to succeed in the program, you have to be a self-starter, and that you should leave a better understanding of the military—particularly, Army acquisition—behind with the industry host.

In addition to fostering a greater understanding between the military and industry, the TWI program helps convey the Army’s six modernization priorities to industry, Ostrowski said. “We must recognize that the six priorities are not just an Army initiative, but it is also guidance to industry, so they know what they should focus on to drive innovation and get the best equipment to our Soldiers for the ever-changing fight.”

For more information, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/aac-training-with-industry/. 

JACQUELINE M. HAMES is an editor with Army AL&T magazine. She holds a B.A. in creative writing from Christopher Newport University. She has more than 10 years of experience writing and editing for the military, with seven of those years spent producing news and feature articles for publication.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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Army Test and Evaluation Command and Maneuver Center of Excellence experts identify five missteps in requirements development that can slow or halt a program in testing.

by Joshua R. Barker and Don Sando

Poorly defined requirements that are not operationally linked and do not consider test implications can result in an unfavorable system evaluation, which can delay system fielding, increase testing and require system modifications.

For example: Russell is looking to buy a truck to take his family camper into the mountains. The operational need is a truck that can tow the family camper. Maximum speed and fuel efficiency are valid vehicle requirements; however, meeting those requirements will not guarantee that Russell can safely tow the camper into the mountains. Horsepower, towing capacity, vehicle braking and the presence of a tow hitch are better indicators of whether the selected truck will fill the need. An operational need and requirement are linked when failure to meet the requirement will definitively result in the system’s inability to fill the need.

Requirements define the system design that is necessary to fill the identified operational need. Testers design tests to determine whether the current system design fills that operational need. If the requirements do not reflect what is necessary to fill the need, then testing can show that a system in fact does not fill the need, despite meeting system requirements. The camper example demonstrates why it is vital that those with a stake in the requirements ensure that they reflect the needs of operational units, to avoid halting system development and fielding.

Requirements identify the essential questions that testing must answer to verify that the system provides the desired capabilities. The systems engineering “V” model demonstrates the importance of requirements and their relationship to testing. The V model can also be described as a pyramid, with requirements development and testing forming the base for delivering an effective system. Requirements also establish the level of statistical confidence and precision required for adequate verification of capabilities.

FIGURE 1: The V model summarizes the stages of systems engineering. Requirements definition is key to all subsequent system development efforts, including testing. (Image by U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center and www.am7s.com)

KNOWING YOUR ENVIRONMENT

The test and evaluation community has observed five common challenges to well-developed requirements. These enemies of sound requirements have stymied program development and increased the scope of testing. All acquisition stakeholders at all echelons must understand the risks these enemies carry with them and consider those risks while developing and staffing system requirements. Requirements development is a team effort, so requirements developers are encouraged to involve all stakeholders early in the process.

The following examples are actual requirements taken from recent Army requirements documents. The intent is to foster a practical understanding of the risks in requirements development and their potential impacts. In many cases, these examples were revised as part of the document staffing process.

CHALLENGE #1: NOT OPERATIONALLY FOCUSED

A best practice is to ask, “Do I still want this system if it can’t meet this requirement?” Answering “yes” to this question probably means that the requirement is not linked to the operational need the system is intended to fill and should be revised or deleted. As an example of a requirement that is not operationally focused, consider this key performance parameter (KPP) for an artillery round. 

KPP: Artillery round is effective against moving targets.

It is certainly possible to fire artillery rounds against a moving target. However, this is not the primary purpose or mission for artillery rounds; rather, it is something usually saved for extreme circumstances. This requirement increases the risk that the system fails the requirement in testing, potentially delaying system fielding. The requirement also drives lengthy and expensive testing since there are many things, such as target type or range to target, that could affect whether the round is effective against moving targets.

Requirements should support a complete, end-to-end operational evaluation of the entire system in support of the mission. It is dangerous to exclude subsystems, such as government-owned radios or sensors, or limit the requirement to specific domains, such as mechanical assessments. Subsystems, as part of the overall system, can impact its performance and reliability. Most systems are used in multiple domains and situations, factors that can affect performance as well. Failing to include these aspects in requirements development increases the risk of an unfavorable system evaluation because it equates to an attempt to exclude potential system failures that exist in reality.

CHALLENGE #2: OVERLY AMBITIOUS REQUIREMENTS

Stretching capabilities is a worthwhile goal, but one to approach with caution when developing requirements. Establishing a requirement that is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to meet can have several impacts on program success. One of them is that testing could fail a system that is providing a valuable capability because it didn’t meet a lofty requirement. A related risk is that overly ambitious requirements increase the evaluation’s susceptibility to uncontrolled variables, as the following example from a sensor’s requirements document highlights. 

KPP: 99.9 percent probability of detection.

This requirement leaves very little room for the system to fail test iterations and still meet the requirement. This quest for perfection makes the evaluation more susceptible to uncontrolled variables, such as user error or something that has little to do with the core capability of the system. That is, the system might fail a test, but the reason could be a Soldier error or inclement weather.

Another problem is requiring too high a level of statistical confidence. Statistical confidence is a scientific parameter used to make sure the test produces enough data to show that the demonstrated results are representative of the system at any time it is used during its life cycle. A statistical confidence of 80 percent is the Army accepted best-practice standard for an adequate test design. Reducing the statistical confidence below 80 percent increases the risk that the demonstrated test results are not representative of the system’s actual performance. Statistical confidence can be reduced below 80 percent in specific scenarios, however, when circumstances or resource constraints require the acquisition community to assume more risk.

A big problem with ambitious requirements is the necessity to increase the amount of data required to ensure that the system is meeting the requirement with statistical confidence. Figure 2 demonstrates the impact that ambitious requirements could have on the design of weapon system reliability testing. The greater the number of rounds needed for an acceptable test, the more costly the test will be, in time and money.

Ambitious requirements have their place, but it is critical that acquisition stakeholders determine whether the potential benefits are worth the additional risk of failure and the necessary resources. The requirements development process should include an analysis showing that the ambitious level of performance is necessary to complete the mission. 

FIGURE 2: Increasing a weapon system’s reliability, or probability of mission completion, from 85 percent to 90 percent might sound simple, but it comes at a significant test cost. Testing would require the system to fire 10,507 rounds to verify that the new system provides the 5 percent increase in reliability over the system it was replacing. By contrast, testing would require 6,807 rounds to verify that the new system had the same reliability as the system it was replacing. (Image courtesy of Joshua R. Barker)

CHALLENGE #3: EXTRA OR INFREQUENTLY USED REQUIREMENTS

Extra or infrequently used requirements also can unnecessarily increase the resources required to support system development and testing, as well as the risk that the system fails to meet its requirements. Remember, system requirements drive the system design. Materiel developers may consider design factors that they otherwise would not consider in order to support these extra or infrequently used requirements. These decisions can result in a suboptimal system design as well as the expenditure of research and development funds to develop the required capability.

The design impacts created by extra or infrequently used requirements can increase program costs in both the development and sustainment phases. The test and evaluation community must design a test to verify that the system meets such a requirement in the expected combat environment. The risk increases the chance that the system fails because the conditions surrounding the requirement may be difficult to meet. The example below from an unmanned ground system demonstrates some of these challenges. 

KPP: Unmanned system control. The system controller must have the ability to achieve and maintain active and/or passive control of any current Army and Marine Corps battalion and below level unmanned (air or ground) system and/or their respective payloads in less than three minutes.

This KPP requires development of a universal controller that operates with all Army and Marine Corps unmanned air and ground systems. The benefits of a universal controller are obvious: It drives commonality and reduces the number of pieces and parts the unit has to carry and maintain. But the challenges of such a broad requirement are less obvious: It drives a hardware and software solution that is capable of interfacing with numerous unmanned systems, all of which likely have different interface exchange requirements. That increases the risk that the controller cannot interface with one or more unmanned systems, thereby failing the requirement. Additionally, the test and evaluation community must design a test to verify that the controller can control all unmanned systems; such a test could prove to be lengthy and expensive, depending upon the number of interfaces required.

These requirements will work only to the extent that they’re carefully considered within the scope of the intended mission, and their feasibility is within the scope of the time, resources and risk of system development. An alternate course could have been to focus the requirement on the most commonly used unmanned systems. 

CHALLENGE #4: OVERLY PRECISE REQUIREMENTS

System requirements frequently include a questionable level of precision in their quantitative performance metrics. Stakeholders may want to ensure that the system is effective, hold the contractor accountable for delivering the desired capability or make sure the requirement is testable. While these are valid objectives, we need to exercise caution when including precise metrics.

Few Americans would tell their car dealer that they are looking for a car that gets no less than 30.01 miles per gallon. This level of precision excludes potentially valid materiel solutions, increases the risk that the system will not meet the requirement and will likely increase testing costs.

Precise requirements are often too technical and therefore difficult to link directly to the desired operational capability. The table in Figure 3 is an example of these challenges from a combat vehicle program. The vehicle is required to demonstrate a fuel consumption rate to the one-hundredth of a mile per gallon and the one-hundredth of a gallon per hour at 25 tons. The challenge is that this requirement drives a lengthy and expensive test program to verify performance down to the one-hundredth level with statistical confidence.

At times, requirements should include precise quantitative metrics. The goal of the requirements development process should be ensuring that the requirements represent the bottom-line standards of performance that the unit needs. Is the Army commander going to say that this vehicle doesn’t adequately support the mission if it only gets 1.80 miles per gallon at 25 tons? Perhaps a more effective requirement is how long the vehicle must be able to operate before logistical resupply. 

FIGURE 3: Testing a 25-ton combat vehicle’s fuel consumption rate down to the one-hundredth of a mile per gallon and the one-hundredth of a gallon per hour is less likely to be worth the time and expense than, say, testing how long the vehicle can operate before logistical resupply. Thus the latter makes more operational sense as a system requirement. (Image courtesy of Joshua R. Barker)

CHALLENGE #5: OVERLOOKING SUPPORTABILITY

System supportability is a major contributor to operation and sustainment costs and a major component of a system’s suitability. Supportability and sustainment considerations must be built into the engineering process at the start to streamline development and minimize future risks. If requirements development does not take into account system supportability, testing can demonstrate that the system is not supportable or sustainable.

The result could be to significantly increase program cost, because the materiel developer will have to develop solutions to supportability problems later in the engineering process. The requirements development process must consider the maintenance and repair requirements and conditions to ensure that those capabilities exist when the system is fielded.

CONCLUSION

The primary purpose of test and evaluation is to provide decision-makers the essential information needed to determine a system’s readiness to proceed to the next program milestone or fielding. Requirements need to lay a foundation that supports achieving this goal.

Requirements that are not focused on the desired operational capability can delay system fielding and increase test costs. They can add unnecessary testing as the test and evaluation community tries to confirm that a system meets a requirement that is not critical to the system’s desired capability. Poorly developed requirements can also increase the scope of existing tests.

Operationally linked requirements ensure that acquisition stakeholders are asking the correct questions and are focusing efforts on providing the desired capability that will help our Soldiers on the battlefield.

For more information, go to www.atec.army.mil and www.benning.army.mil/MCoE/CDID. 

JOSHUA R. BARKER is the Armored Brigade Combat Team Division chief at the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. He has nearly 17 years’ experience designing and executing test and evaluation strategies for Army combat vehicles and networked systems. He has a B.S. in mathematics from Bethany College. He is an Army Acquisition Corps member and is Level III certified in test and evaluation. 

DON SANDO is director of the Maneuver Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, Georgia. He was selected to the Senior Executive Service in February 2008 after retiring from the Army as a colonel with 26 years of active service. He has an M.S. in operations research from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, an M.S. in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College and a B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is a member of the Association of the United States Army.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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Lt. Col. Christopher Orlowski is currently on assignment at Ford Motor Co. as part of TWI, where he is supporting the launch of engine programs for the 2021 model year. He’s pictured here on a rotation at an assembly plant. (Photo courtesy of Lt. Col. Christopher Orlowski)

The Training With Industry Program is an excellent opportunity for officers. Here’s what you need to know before you apply.

by Jacqueline M. Hames

Army leadership, particularly within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)), continually emphasizes the need for the force to learn from its industry partners—from large, traditional defense corporations to smaller businesses that traditionally have not contracted with DOD. It’s one thing to talk with an employee from Ford Motor Co. about how they do business, or to read it in an article, but it is quite another to actually go to the company headquarters and experience Ford’s rapid decision-making process, or learn how to cut production costs to streamline a budget. As it happens, Soldiers can gain that experience through the Training With Industry (TWI) Program, sponsored by the Army’s Director, Acquisition Career Management (DACM) Office.

WHAT IS TWI?

The one-year work-experience program provides active-duty Soldiers with exposure to managerial techniques and industrial procedures within corporate America, according to the TWI website. This kind of training isn’t usually available through other military schools or civilian universities and is therefore a unique experience; Soldiers are removed from the military environment and totally immersed in a corporate one. Officers from the Army Acquisition Corps between the ranks of captain and lieutenant colonel (O-3 to O-5) compete for assignments with 30 industry partners—including Ford, Amazon.com Inc., Boeing Co., General Dynamics Land Systems and Intel Corp. Applicants are matched to assignments based on their backgrounds and the skills the receiving company desires. When the officers return to their duty stations, they bring back a wealth of knowledge for their immediate commands as well as the whole Army.

One thing to keep in mind before you apply: You will incur an active-duty service obligation of three-for-one in computed days. In other words, for a one-year work-experience opportunity, you will owe the Army three years of active-duty service.

HOW DO I APPLY?

Officers can apply for TWI if they are eligible for rotation during the summer assignment cycle. An October 2019 memorandum from ASA(ALT) outlines the policies, procedures and application processes for the TWI program, but be sure to contact your assignment officer at the U.S. Army Human Resources Command for all the information you’ll need to apply. In general, applicants should:

• Have a minimum of three years of active-duty service, but not more than 19 years, and provide a memorandum acknowledging acceptance of the active-duty service obligation.
• Possess a security clearance of secret or higher.
• Be competitive for promotion or recently promoted, so participation in the program doesn’t risk the officer’s opportunity to move to the next rank.
• Be Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act Level 2 certified in either program management or contracting.

CONCLUSION

TWI gives officers the opportunity to train with companies that develop innovative, cutting-edge technologies and are leaders in their fields. Each fellowship position was established for officers to gain valuable knowledge about industry acquisition practices, and for them to leave industry partners with a better idea of how to work with the Army. For fiscal year 2020, there were 45 applicants for the 30 available positions, so be sure your application is top-notch. Here are some additional resources:

• TWI Student Handbook: https://www.hrc.army.mil/content/Training%20With%20Industry.
• TWI Initial Training Plan example: https://asc.army.mil/web/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TWI-Initial-Training-Plan-Example.docx.

For more information, or if you have questions on how to apply, contact Maj. Saleem Khan at saleem.a.khan4.mil@mail.mil or 703-664-5716.

See related article: TWI, Worth it.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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USASAC’s total package approach keeps FMS customers up and running.

by Adriane Elliot

There’s no doubt that foreign military sales (FMS) are a critical component of U.S. foreign policy. From bolstering our allies’ counterterrorism capabilities and regional stability to ensuring their interoperability and competency in helping the U.S. shoulder the burden of coalition operations, FMS will continue to play a role in our military’s ability to fight and win the multidomain battle.

One of our nation’s staunchest allies, Poland, completed an FMS package in February 2019 that was valued at $411 million. It includes 20 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. This purchase, combined with last year’s $4.6 billion FMS purchase of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, is a significant boon to Poland’s widely touted military modernization plan, and to NATO capabilities.

With a volatile Russia on its eastern flank, Poland has aggressively stepped up its efforts to obtain more advanced weapons and to expand its defensive capabilities. The Patriot is one of the world’s most powerful air defense missile systems, and its purchase is Poland’s largest military procurement ever.

“Allies and partners buy from the United States because we sell the world’s most advanced defense systems,” said Lt. Gen. Charles W. Hooper, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which administers the FMS program for DOD. “Through the uniquely American approach to security cooperation, we also ensure our allies and partners have all the necessary training, education and institutional capacity to effectively employ and sustain the equipment we provide.”

The U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, manages approximately 6,000 FMS cases valued at greater than $200 billion. The command interfaces with 119 security cooperation offices worldwide and provides security assistance and FMS to more than 150 nations and international partners.

When FMS customers enter into an FMS case with the United States, they are purchasing a portfolio of services that includes training, spare parts, technical manuals and the full backing of the U.S. government. This is known as the “total package approach.”

Without this sustainment support, “components will eventually break down. If an FMS customer purchases a tank but can’t acquire spare parts and other maintenance necessities, that tank is nothing more than a huge paperweight in their motor pool,” said Cindy Decker, chief of the Services and Products Division within USASAC’s G-4 Acquisition Support Branch.

USASAC manages roughly 6,000 FMS cases valued at more than $200 billion, providing U.S. partners and allies with equipment and training. USASAC’s total package approach includes not just the weapon system but also the parts, maintenance and logistics support to keep the system operational. (Image by USASAC and the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center)

FINDING THE HARD-TO-FIND

Sustainment is so important that it’s often the case that long before partner nations receive an FMS weapon system, spare parts and other capabilities have already been delivered. Some nations, however, have FMS equipment that requires nonstandard items. A nonstandard item is one that DOD does not manage, either because it has been retired or because it was never purchased for DOD components.

A small procurement office manned by three employees in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, ensures that even these hard-to-acquire items are not out of an FMS customer’s reach.

“We have, for example, countries that have purchased materiel from us 20 or 30 years ago,” said Decker. “It may be an item that is no longer in the Army inventory, an older, obsolete model, or it may lack a national stock number, but the customer still needs the item to continue their mission.” Decker said simply not having an item in stock is not an answer, no matter how difficult it is to find.

It is the Acquisition Support Branch’s job to locate (via exhaustive internet research and industry engagement) and provide the nonstandard items to keep FMS customers up and running. The Acquisition Support Branch focuses predominantly on items to outfit troops—boots, gloves, body armor, helmets, tents, targets and Meals Ready to Eat. It also provides training and commercial repair and return capability (from calibration to rebuild) for equipment that cannot be repaired at Army depots.

The Services and Products Division has multiple tools at its disposal to acquire items, said Decker—primarily blanket purchase agreements, but also one-time competitive or sole-source contracts. Low-dollar, high-volume materiel and services procured through the division total approximately $200 million annually, with commercial return and repair tallying $35 million annually.

“We work extremely hard to ensure our partners have what they need to be successful, to contribute to coalition operations and regional stability, because when they win, we win,” said Decker.

As multidomain operations take hold, FMS sales remain strong, helping to boost U.S. readiness and aiding U.S. allies. (Image courtesy of USASAC)

NONSTANDARD STANDARDS

While the Services and Products Division concentrates on Soldier support items, USASAC’s Simplified Nonstandard Acquisition Program obtains smaller quantity, low-dollar spare parts for FMS customers. Also housed in New Cumberland, the program office specializes in off-the-shelf spare parts—anything from nuts and bolts to tread for a tank—that can be obtained faster, easier and less expensively than acquisition through the Services and Products Division.

Using the Simplified Acquisition Procedures outlined under the Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 13, the Simplified Nonstandard Acquisition Program is able to acquire items quickly and efficiently through direct and frequent communication with vendors.

“We can buy parts as small as a nut or bolt, to [larger components like] transmissions, engines or tread for a tank; it just has to be under the $250,000 threshold,” said Selina Fansler, a process manager with the program.

And as in the Services and Products Division, the speed at which the items are obtained depends on the item, specifically whether the items have to be manufactured or if the vendor has surplus sitting on the shelf. It can take anywhere from 30 days to a year, said Fansler. Currently, the turnaround time averages 180 days. “Not bad, considering these are nonstandard items,” Fansler said, “but we’re still looking to improve.”

By late March, USASAC plans to field an enhanced Simplified Nonstandard Acquisition Program database and procurement system to help reduce turnaround time, Fansler explained. The new dashboard will allow buyers to see the most urgent needs immediately and introduce an improved vendor portal and tool to manage workload.

“Nonstandard equipment is critical to the military livelihood of our FMS partners,” Fansler explained. “There are customers who are modernizing their armed forces, and this gives them the ability to protect their borders and contribute to regional stability. But just as importantly, they are able to answer the call when coalition operations take place and they are required to not only have the right equipment, but also the interoperable skill sets to conduct missions alongside our forces. And they have those skills because they have trained with us, on the same equipment, as part of the FMS total package.”

RULES AND REGS

While conducting its unique mission, USASAC team members pay close attention to the U.S. Army’s supply chain. “Army Regulation 725-50, Requisition, Receipt and Issue System,” defines how Army demand planners and item managers should manage procurement and release of recurring and one-time FMS demands. Following the regulation ensures that FMS demands have no impact on stock availability and Army readiness. Further insurance against supply impacts includes:

• The creation of readiness driver and supply availability national stock numbers (NSNs) that identify items with the highest potential to impact the readiness of the system they support, and that are already in limited stock and require intensive stock management.
• FMS-required delivery date tags, added to NSNs to provide better tracking mechanisms.
• The Readiness Crosswalk Dashboard, a system that maps scheduled FMS deliveries to the NSNs.

“We have several checks and balances in place to ensure we are not competing with the Army supply chain,” said Fansler. “Any item that is centrally managed, stocked and issued by the DOD will be rejected” and would not be available to be obtained for a potential FMS supply. “That’s one of many insurance policies we have in place to prevent this process from negatively impacting our armed forces.”

CONCLUSION

FMS plays an important part in building coalitions and protecting U.S. national security interests. With the growing emphasis on multidomain battles and near-peer adversaries, the FMS system will continue to be a vital force multiplier. “And that’s what it’s really about,” Fansler added, “helping our partners and bolstering U.S. military readiness.”

For more information about FMS or USASAC, go to https://www.army.mil/info/organization/usasac.

ADRIANE ELLIOT is a public affairs specialist with USASAC at Redstone Arsenal. She served as an Army photojournalist from 1996 to 2005, and has worked in military public affairs for 23 years. Before joining the military workforce, she worked for a daily newspaper in eastern North Carolina, the New Bern Sun Journal, where she wrote news and feature articles and eventually authored a weekly column. Her formal training in journalism, photography and military public affairs took place at the Department of Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Maryland.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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Transportability engineering is vital in an accelerated acquisition process.

by Michael Bartosiak

Efficient and rapid deployment of the Army is crucial to the National Defense Strategy. The DOD acquisition community plays a key role in obtaining materiel, equipment and weapon systems that fulfill Soldier requirements. The acquisition community is evolving by accelerating and streamlining systems acquisition to meet those needs in a timelier manner. Using a commercial off-the shelf (COTS) acquisition strategy to acquire military systems can reduce initial production costs as well as fielding times. However, those benefits could come at the cost of transportability issues. Those issues impact deployability and work against some of the goals of the National Defense Strategy.

The military has a unique requirement to regularly transport large and heavy systems by rail, ship, air or highway during deployments. Commercial items do not have the same transportability and deployability requirements and therefore are not designed for frequent shipment. Military systems are required to have special provisions that enable rapid lifting and tie-down. Large or heavy military systems, referred to as transportability problem items, have requirements that define very specific transportability criteria. As the design of military systems approaches the limits of transportation assets, meeting the transportability requirements becomes critical.

ADDRESS TRANSPORTABILITY EARLY

James N. Mattis, the 26th secretary of defense, once stated, “If you cannot move, you are not lethal.” Therefore, transportability engineering is an essential part of the acquisition process. Requirements writers, materiel developers and program offices need to consider how units will deploy once the systems they develop are integrated into the formation. Designing transportable systems enables the force to be agile and deployable.

It is important to consider transportability requirements early and throughout the acquisition process. When they are considered only later in the process, issues can occur—a redesign after a system is in production can hinder system performance and effectiveness.

For example, a commonly proposed solution for addressing transportability of large or heavy systems after production is to create a transport configuration—how systems reduce for movement on a mode of transport, like a train—by removing parts from the system. While this may be a viable solution as it has less effect on initial cost and schedule, removing parts could result in slower deployment times and be an operational burden to the unit using the system. The removed parts must be packaged and shipped with the system, and those packaged parts require containers or other means of transport. This adds time to the deployment process because the systems need to be configured and reconfigured. In some cases, the process of reducing the system to a transport configuration is beyond the capabilities of the crew or organization. This adds another burden on the unit and complicates reception, staging, onward movement and integration in theater.

Once deployed, planners have to establish a staging or assembly area where the system will be returned to combat configuration—meaning fully assembled and operational. Once combat-configured, the systems may be too big or heavy to move on theater transportation assets, thus inhibiting theater mobility. If an intratheater move is needed, the unit using the system must again remove, package, transport and return all the equipment to the combat configuration. The time and manpower to deal with configuring and reconfiguring systems become a burden to the units, reducing operational effectiveness. Thus, transportability plays a huge role in the effectiveness of Army capabilities.

Considering the transportability of a system early in the acquisition process and verifying transportability during the engineering and manufacturing development phase better supports the Army’s strategic mobility and rapid deployment. (Graphic courtesy of the author)

TRANSPORTABILITY IN A COTS STRATEGY

A COTS strategy increases the potential of encountering transportability issues. In a COTS strategy, there is limited preliminary testing before the commercial alternative enters low-rate initial production. These systems often fail to meet in transportability requirements, as commercial systems are not usually designed with unique military features that support transportability. To alleviate these issues, transportability engineering should be part of the selection criteria. In most cases, transportability testing should occur before the acquisition decision. If some developmental tests are done, redesign for better transportability can occur before production.

If transportability issues arise later during production and fielding, the range of design solutions is limited to those that can be retrofitted to the existing systems. Existing systems often receive a retrofit solution when a redesign occurs during production. This creates multiple system configurations that negatively affect supportability.

Deciding to trade or waive transportability can have serious impacts. Considering transportability early in the process and before production and fielding leads to desired system performance and improved transportability. Transportability engineering is a military-unique requirement that is normally addressed in the engineering and manufacturing phase. A shortened engineering and manufacturing phase in a COTS acquisition allows developers to modify mature commercial designs for better transportability before a fielding decision and production.

With a shortened engineering and manufacturing phase, the materiel developer can generate a transportability report, which outlines how their design will transport quickly and efficiently. Transportability engineers can review this report and recommend any adjustments, if needed, before the materiel developer finalizes the design. Key system performance parameters could be verified, along with transportability, with a streamlined series of development tests. This avoids addressing performance or transportability issues after the system is in production.

A KEY RELATIONSHIP

Developing a relationship with the Surface Deployment Distribution Command Transportation Engineering Agency (SDDCTEA) can ensure that transportability is considered throughout the acquisition process. The agency’s Transportability Engineering Branch can advise the acquisition community about proposed transportability requirements and testing. It can review preliminary or concept system designs and make sure transportability is adequately covered before it becomes very costly and time-consuming to change the design. The Transportability Engineering Branch can coordinate with other transportability partners for system requirements beyond surface transportation modes—such as airlift certifications, helicopter sling lift certifications, etc. The agency also develops and provides free modal instructions that can be carried and referenced on-site—at a railhead, port or airfield—to make sure systems are properly handled for transport.

Involving SDDCTEA early in the acquisition process can pay major dividends in developing effective systems that are efficiently transported and fielded on time and within budget. Improved transportability is so critical that SDDCTEA does not charge for the services the Transportability Engineering Branch provides. Anyone in DOD can contact SDDCTEA for assistance with transportability engineering at usarmy.scott.sddc.mbx.tea-dpe@mail.mil or 618-220-5271.

CONCLUSION

Developing military systems that are capable and ready to support strategic mobility and rapid deployment means involving transportability early in the design process and meeting those transportability requirements.

Program managers can field transportable systems by choosing streamlined acquisition strategies with a reduced engineering and manufacturing development phase. The key to success is incorporating transportability early in system development and verifying transportability requirements before the production and development phase and fielding. Using this preferred acquisition strategy:

• Allows the consideration of a full array of potential design solutions.
• Limits the risk and cost of design changes.
• Minimizes system fielding delays.
• Avoids increasing lifetime transportation costs.
• Increases transportation throughput.
• Increases the likelihood that the desired number of systems are fielded.

Incorporating transportability earlier in the design process and meeting the transportability requirements results in military systems that are capable and ready to deploy to support strategic mobility and rapid deployment.

For more information on the Engineering for Transportability Program, go to https://www.sddc.army.mil/sites/TEA/Functions/Deployability/TransportabilityEngineering/Pages/default.aspx. 

MICHAEL BARTOSIAK is a mechanical engineer with SDDCTEA at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. He interfaces with program offices developing transportability problem items and evaluates whether the items meet transportability requirements. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers works in water and on land to lay the groundwork for multidomain operations in 2028.

By Nicholas Boone

This is the first in a series of articles about the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) support for multidomain operations. “The U.S. Army in Multi-Domain Operations 2028” concept proposes a series of solutions for the rapid and continuous integration of all domains of warfare—land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. ERDC and engineer capabilities span the multidomain operations cycle from competing short of armed conflict, to solving a layered standoff, to returning to competition on more favorable terms. This article contains examples of modernized software currently being used to refine war plans, conduct mission rehearsal and disseminate cross-domain intelligence for multidomain operations success. 

Even before our nation’s formation, the first Continental Congress organized an Army and appointed a chief engineer to assist Gen. George Washington in solving the revolutionary challenges of the time. After partnering with allied nations and delivering success with this inaugural mission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) broadened its national service and embraced diverse responsibilities, such as managing the nation’s first military academy and engineering institution, developing our country’s defenses, mapping the western frontier, managing federal flood control, providing hydroelectric power and leading natural disaster response missions.

Based on these successes, our nation’s military leaders once again turned to USACE three-quarters of a century ago as they began to consider one of the boldest multidomain assaults in modern warfare. In planning the D-Day invasions at Normandy, the scale of which was unprecedented, national leaders leaned heavily upon the engineering expertise tucked away at the Corps’ Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi—the location of today’s U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).

Our engineers advised military leaders on the challenges they could encounter with coastal logistics and built models of Mulberry harbors—the temporary portable harbors developed by the United Kingdom during World War II to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches—to understand their response during extreme seas. Those tests confirmed, if not improved, British designs that aided in calming coastal waters during the invasion. Researchers conducted scaled testing of float bridges and advised the military on which designs provided greater operational capability in extreme river-crossing conditions, a role that continues today. These engineers and scientists also leveraged their geotechnical expertise and forged the beginnings of airfield engineering for military operations, developing design criteria and material solutions to support heavy wheel loads required by new military aircraft—a tri-service responsibility still executed in Vicksburg. Similar examples of support can be found in all subsequent armed conflicts.

Today, ERDC stands ready to address the next challenge. The nature of evolving threats prompted Army leaders to overhaul the Army’s operating concept and modernize capabilities to counter and defeat near-peer adversaries. As the Army transforms to deliver a force capable of executing multidomain operations by 2028 and ready to do so by 2035, ERDC is actively engaged by providing the engineers, joint force and allied partners with innovative technology tailored for this new extreme operational pace.

The enemy’s anti-access layered defenses seek to deny our ability to project combat power, enter and set the theater, and transition to conflict on our own terms. Defeating these defenses will require rapid and continuous integration of all warfare domains—land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. Armed conflict phases will struggle to commence if we fail to synchronize theater arrival. These critical logistical and engineering details were historically assumed away during tabletop exercises, but they cannot continue to be overlooked. ERDC anticipated this shift and began reposturing its science and technology portfolio away from counterinsurgency problems and toward entry operations and near-peer threats during the “pivot to the Pacific” in 2012. Since this pivot, ERDC has been delivering new technologies to survive near-peer strikes and synchronize time-critical engineering tasks that must be executed with extreme precision, so that follow-on forces can flow through contested air and sea ports.

All aspects of multidomain operations require engineering solutions to succeed. A calibrated force posture combines position and the ability to maneuver across strategic distances. This, in turn, requires modernized power-projection techniques and global access engineering methods to synchronize force arrival during brief windows of exploitation. Specialized equipment requirements often demand unique combat and expeditionary engineering considerations, and if not calibrated properly with adequate maneuver support capabilities, will impede the ability to reinforce the theater.

In addition, the maneuver support elements that enable multidomain formations to identify and neutralize natural and manmade obstacles must be improved. Being able to converge these capabilities requires synchronized mission command and standardized geospatial data updated systematically as the conflict unfolds.

The Army must modernize how we mobilize, project, protect, sustain and train our forces, and ERDC is involved with each function at all echelons across the Army, joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational communities.

“Of all [the] organizations I deal with in seeking to mitigate capability gaps and modernize the engineer regiment for the demands of multidomain operations, ERDC is ever present—engaged, aware and proactively finding solutions to tough problems,” said Col. Marc Hoffmeister, assistant commandant of the U.S. Army Engineer School.

“This has been a consistent reality for me in multiple senior leadership positions,” he said “I’m confident that my personal experience is indicative of ERDC’s responsive and innovative support across the Army. They are truly one of, if not the, Army’s most valuable player in the future force modernization enterprise.”

Navy Chief Petty Officer Jake Muehls, a Landing Craft Air Cushion craftmaster, virtually pilots a vessel in ERDC’S ship simulator. ERDC has used ship simulator/vessel-response models since the early 1980s to evaluate federally maintained navigation channels, and has recently begun to apply the state-of-the-art technology to military applications. It gives leaders a tool to simulate vessel landings in severe environments.

OPERATIONS PLAN REFINEMENT

Back in 1944, Allied leaders closely watched weather patterns, ultimately deciding to delay the invasion of Normandy by a day because of forecasted storms. Weather forecasting remains critical today. The difference is that leaders now have access to much more sophisticated predictive tools. Specialized intelligence becomes even more important as enemy anti-access and area denial methods limit port choices and require joint forces to deploy through austere points of entry.

ERDC has developed tools and data analytical capabilities that can tell leaders which ports and beaches are accessible and can provide assurances about whether operating conditions will affect meticulously developed strategies.

ERDC’s Rapid Operational Access and Maneuver Support (ROAMS) tool determines if vessels can maneuver in coastal, littoral and riverine zones to access beaches and ports, highlighting debarkation sites and which of the Army’s lighterage craft—used to transport equipment, cargo and personnel between ships and from ship to shore—are best suited for mission conditions. Using forecasts of environmental conditions, including water depth, currents and tides, ROAMS calculates navigable routes through the littoral zone and provides those paths over the network to vessel operators and command groups as needed. During ongoing assaults, ROAMS embedded with multidomain formations would enable faster command decisions. Leaders planning operations can seamlessly transfer ROAMS route data to virtual ship simulators for a more high-fidelity analysis that can help them to refine plans.

After selecting a place to land, planners can get the most comprehensive insight into port characteristics by using ERDC’s Port Operations Rating Tool (PORT), a cloud-computing, web-based tool that serves as an in-depth repository of all information for approximately 6,000 ports worldwide. PORT gives the transportation planner the most up-to-date and comprehensive intelligence on sea ports, such as the number of available berths and cranes, cargo capacity and navigation channel depths. This tells military planners what vessels they can bring into a port and gives them the ability to data-mine and analyze port characteristics and their limitations for military use, and receive initial “throughput” estimates for extreme cargo such as the main battle tanks that have never touched some commercial coastal facilities.

In addition to the commonly known major terminals and world ports, PORT is the sole catalog of medium, small, extra-small and fully austere (beach) sites. Planners can rapidly establish an alternate course of action or location when access to a large, primary port is denied. By using overhead imagery and other intelligence data to remotely engineer unavailable maritime critical characteristics, PORT creates models for compact forces to gain footholds in obscure, austere points of entry. It also simulates features like spacing requirements, cargo capacity and ship lanes that are more difficult to plan during austere beach landings. When a port has been heavily damaged, the tool’s modeling capability helps engineers sequence repairs and determine the fastest way to bring it back to full capacity.

SHIP-TO-SHORE PROJECTIONS

Not only is ERDC improving the Army’s technical intelligence, it uses this intelligence to simulate vessel landings in severe environments and model inland ground vehicle mobility. By seamlessly combining these single-domain tools, planners can virtually replicate the projection of forces from sea to inland objective. They can rehearse how well the natural ship channel will accommodate a military vessel, determine transit times and chart traffic patterns.

“[ERDC] gives the warfighter and the sustainer some analytical tools to get after some of the challenges we have in the future fight,” said U.S. Army Transportation Corps Regimental Chief Warrant Officer Jermain Williamson. “It definitely gives the warfighter some tools to make some decisions based on risk. Technology enhances your ability to make good decisions based on the information.”

ERDC has used ship simulator and vessel-response models since the early 1980s to evaluate federally maintained navigation channels in the continental United States, a powerful example of how ERDC is able to leverage the Army Corps’ Civil Works mission into technologies for use by the military.

Recently, ERDC has begun to apply its latest state-of-the-art ship simulator to military uses by assisting the U.S. Marine Corps in conducting a virtual amphibious assault on a location very similar to those encountered during the invasion of Inchon, South Korea, in 1950. The U.S. Navy provided experienced craftmasters to pilot the Landing Craft Utility 1600 series used in the virtual assault. Their assessment was that the simulator provided a realistic environment and that the handling of the virtual Landing Craft Utility closely resembled that of an actual craft.

“We are applying the information that we gain from the environmentals that we’re able to place inside this particular ship handler,” said Thomas McKenna, an amphibious operations subject-matter expert at Marine Corps Intelligence Activity. “Our greatest difficulty when responding to crisis is that in a lot of these areas there are denied areas or areas where we have not typically operated consistently. The idea is to show what’s in the realm of the possible, given certain conditions, and provide people the ability to assess the risk for whatever that mission is that you’re trying to accomplish.”

VANE serves as a high-fidelity tool to simulate unmanned ground vehicle operations, accurately reproducing sensor-environment and vehicle-terrain interactions.

BEYOND THE BEACHHEAD

ERDC’s work is also supporting the Army’s development of its Next-Generation Combat Vehicle. ERDC’s developmental investments in the Autonomous Navigation Virtual Environment Laboratory (ANVEL) and its Virtual Autonomous Navigation Environment (VANE) allow virtual testing of autonomous, unmanned ground vehicle systems across complex environments. As highlighted in the 2019 Army Modernization Strategy, understanding the maneuverability and off-road mobility of autonomous platforms is of strategic interest to the Army. ERDC’s tools are cornerstones in assessing real-time data and providing early insight into how well autonomous algorithms handle austere conditions.

ANVEL users are able to build complete models of their intelligent vehicle systems, place those models into a virtual environment and perform interactive testing, while collecting data from virtual sensors. The modeling and simulation package combines realistic terrain graphics with sophisticated algorithms. It bridges the gap between high-visual, game-like driving simulators and very coarse engineering software packages—showing quality performance on real-world platforms.

VANE serves as a high-fidelity tool to simulate unmanned ground vehicle operations, acting as a virtual proving ground. By using DOD High Performance Computing Modernization Program assets, VANE can accurately reproduce sensor-environment and vehicle-terrain interactions. Its goal is to provide the joint services with a reusable, free, open-source modeling and simulation tool to design, develop, test and evaluate performance of autonomous unmanned ground vehicles.

With high-fidelity simulations of on- and off-road mobility, VANE also provides a tool for end-to-end mission simulations to help users better develop requirements, tactics, techniques and procedures for new autonomous unmanned ground vehicles. When the ship simulator works in conjunction with VANE and ANVEL, planners have a complete ship-through-shore package to shape projection, movement and maneuver mission planning.

“When we pair these two things, we’re not just projecting materiel and personnel onto the shore … but the timing of the offloading piece gets better because we can actually simulate it with ANVEL,” said Keith Martin, a research physicist at ERDC’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. “We are able to start out at sea and reach all the way to the ultimate objective with one tool.”

Anticipating locally changing operating-environment conditions can be a challenge in anti-access and area denial environments. ERDC’s modernized software and synthetic environments help leaders to refine operational execution windows and predict likely outcomes during realistic operating conditions. This synthetic rehearsal gives leaders early insight into hidden hazards, natural pitfalls and potential vulnerabilities so they can pivot and ensure the mission’s ultimate success.

“Multidomain convergence has three processes we’re trying to merge: stimulating the enemy, seeing the enemy, and striking the enemy,” said Lt. Col. Mark Van Horn, science and technology chief at the Intelligence Battle Lab at Arizona’s Fort Huachuca. “I think that one of the key roles ERDC has in shaping technologies for tomorrow’s warfighters is understanding how soil conditions, weather and hydrology all interact to impact the Army’s ability to do those three things.”

ERDC’s ANVEL allows users to build complete models of intelligent vehicle systems, place those models into a virtual environment and perform interactive testing.

CONCLUSION

From the earliest days of the United States, military engineers have supported senior leaders’ decisions with sound data and professional judgment. Indeed, ERDC and the Army engineers continue to discover, develop and deliver solutions for Army and joint service to win during multidomain operations.

The diversity of the engineer mission and ERDC’s portfolio will require multiple article installments. Future articles will highlight ERDC’s critical role in mitigating the enemy’s layered standoff during armed conflict, cutting-edge geospatial engineering for convergence of operations, and modernization of installations to streamline fielding and training of the Army’s emerging capabilities.

For more information, contact ERDCinfo@usace.army.mil.

NICHOLAS BOONE is the senior scientific technical manager and technical director for Force Projection/Maneuver Support at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. He is currently completing his M.S. in civil engineering from Mississippi State University and received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Louisiana Tech University. He holds five patents and is a member of the Society of American Military Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Association of the United States Army and the Army Engineer Association.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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An interview with the Army acquisition executive.

More than two years ago, Dr. Bruce D. Jette was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn into office as the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)). He brought with him extensive experience in the Army acquisition process and lessons learned from owning an entrepreneurial business, along with a clear perspective on leadership and the benefits of a streamlined and agile organization.

His leadership philosophy is focused on cultural change, accelerated fielding, accelerated technology and accountability. Army AL&T spoke recently with Jette to ask his thoughts on modernization of the acquisition process and other changes impacting the acquisition workforce.

Army AL&T: The theme of this issue of Army AL&T is “Understanding Acquisition.” Briefly, what are some key points about acquisition that you want people to know?

Jette: I think it’s useful for people to understand how the basic acquisition process works. The process starts with a requirement. Someone has to say, “I have a need,” and be able to describe that need. If a materiel solution is required, a program is generated to fulfill that need.

A review is required, however, to confirm that a materiel solution is actually required. The Army follows the procedures laid out in the DOTMLPF (doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel and facilities) system to determine whether the need can be fulfilled with an organizational change. For example, the DOTMLPF review may reveal that we don’t need a new rifle, we need to add another rifleman to the squad—that would be an organizational solution versus a materiel one.

If the analysis concludes the need for a materiel solution, the Army acquisition team works through integrating and developing new technologies, putting them together into a system, and trying to fulfill the requirement as it is written.

It’s important to note “the requirement as it is written,” because testing is at the far end of the acquisition process—and what the Army tests against is exactly what the requirement describes. (See related article, “Enemies List”). For example, if we’re asked to build a vehicle with square wheels, we test against vehicles with square wheels, not vehicles with round wheels. While the requirements as written may seem questionable at times, it is our job as acquisition professionals to meet those requirements, not second-guess them.

Once the item is produced by the acquisition community, the Army fields it in accordance with what Army G-3/5/7 (operations, plans and training) has determined the fielding sequence will be, and what Army senior leaders have determined the fielding strategy will be.

When the item is fielded, the Army has to sustain it. Sustainment covers the parts, spares and stockages—as determined by the logistics side of the house, which is the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) in most cases, but might also be the Defense Logistics Agency.

At the end of the life cycle, when the product is being replaced, the Army has to divest it, and that may require demilitarization. As an example, the Army doesn’t just put gun tubes out onto the open market; we have to make sure they are not capable of ever being used again.

INTERLACED FINGERS
The radome being built at Tobyhanna Army Depot will be used to test AN/TSC-167 Satellite Transportable Terminals, replacing temporary structures in use now. Tobyhanna personnel have joined forces with the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical’s Project Manager for Tactical Network and U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command’s Integrated Logistics Support Center to deliver critical communications systems to the warfighter, in the “interlaced fingers” approach Jette describes. (U.S. Army photo by Thomas Robbins, Tobyhanna Army Depot)

Army AL&T: It sounds like a complex process that involves a lot of different people.

Jette: It’s a lot more complex than people think, especially that front-end piece, the operational requirement. The requirement is what we want to accomplish; it is what drives the acquisition system to give the Army the materiel it needs.

Prior to the establishment of the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC), under the old system, there was a point-to-point interface. Someone from the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and the various Army capability development integration directorates wrote the requirement. The acquisition community would then go about acquiring the technology or equipment. These were two independent activities.

I use what I call the “interlaced fingers” analogy to illustrate how we work together now. We have fingers from both hands that are interlaced; the left hand—AFC—has responsibility for the requirements, and the right hand—ASA(ALT)—has responsibility for producing the product. With both hands interlocked, the teams can interact more effectively. This interlocking of requirements and production allows Soldiers to provide critical feedback early into the development of the materiel.

Army AL&T: That leads me to the next question, and that is, how has the acquisition process changed since the creation of Army Futures Command?

Jette: Well, the technical acquisition process is unchanged by the existence of AFC. Deeply buried in law, we’re required in certain cases to do certain things. The laws surrounding the acquisition process, DOD 5000 and the DOD 5000 rewrite, and some of the policies that govern it, all of those things remain unchanged.

The creation of AFC, fundamentally though, has changed the front end of the process, which is the requirements—describing the need. The secretary of the Army issued guidance to senior leaders to find a more effective way to connect the requirements to the development of the acquisition strategy. Before, requirements were done by an austere group. Now, we’ve got a general officer, Gen. John M. Murray, leading the effort. That’s a pretty big difference in commitment to requirements on the part of the Army.

OPERATIONAL NEED
Loads are dropped from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft using the G-16 cargo parachute, which will allow units to drop at a lower altitude and reduce the number of parachutes required. “Someone has to say, ‘I have a need,’ and be able to describe that need,” says Jette. (Photo by Jim Finney, Airborne and Special Operations Test Directorate, U.S. Army Operational Test Command)

Army AL&T: So are we getting better products for the Soldiers now?

Jette: There are products that we’re working on that clearly benefit from this new approach. Since AFC was established more than a year ago, we can see a much more capable performance on our part. We’ve got a much more intimate relationship between the requirements and acquisition communities—the interlocked hands I referred to earlier.

Army AL&T: So does this give Soldiers a better opportunity to have input into the development of equipment that they’ll eventually get?

Jette: It depends on the program. Some programs are well-suited to having a lot more Soldier touch points. The Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) is a great example. Soldiers are involved with IVAS on a weekly basis. While the acquisition program manager is working on development of the materiel solution, the AFC cross-functional team lead is working on providing Soldiers who can answer the next set of questions. So the two organizations work tremendously well toward generating a much better product much faster, because of that close, cooperative and intimate relationship.

Army AL&T: Are there any other examples, besides IVAS, of how that’s coming?

Jette: Having Soldiers involved in systems early has been easiest with those systems that are very familiar to the Soldier. The next-generation squad weapon rifle and automatic rifle are two examples.

The development of those weapons involved a lot of Soldier touch points at the front end, when we looked at the prototypes. That brought us to a contract that gives us four systems to test. Those systems were based on requirements that came from a very mature assessment of some of the previous prototypes, which then led to the new prototypes, all with a cleaner set of requirements. So we expect that the Soldiers, once we “down-select” to the weapon desired, will be very happy with that weapon produced.

Army AL&T: Shifting gears just a bit, what role does talent management have in the acquisition process?

Jette: Talent management is one of the most critical things we need to do for our military and civilian workforce, including our noncommissioned officers. Certainly, there’s training. We have to make sure everyone is properly trained. There are legal requirements with respect to acquisition workforce training before they’re allowed to expend government funds. In the area of our government contracting personnel, for example, they must be trained and certified to receive a warrant allowing them to spend government money. There is a similar requirement for program managers.

The acquisition workforce brings a very interesting set of capabilities to the table, one being that all uniformed acquisition personnel must be proven company commanders. This doesn’t mean they have the extensive experiences of an S-3 (operations officer) or as a battalion commander in their particular branch, but they walk out of their branch and their previous duty assignments with some relationship to, and understanding of, field operations. And in most cases, they have a combat badge.

Then the question becomes, “How do I develop the individuals who are within the acquisition community?” We have cyber, quantum computing, hypersonics, artificial intelligence and other highly technical areas. We have complex sensor systems and complex communication systems. If you’re going to truly lead in that area, then it can’t be perceived purely as a process. There is no difference between someone who knows how to do an operations order but no idea how to fight, and someone who knows how to design an acquisition strategy but no idea how to make it work.

In some cases, experience is all you need; in other cases, education is also required. If I’m going to have someone lead our effort in hypersonics, an advanced degree in an appropriate science or engineering field will provide insights into how to lead that program forward.

INTERLACED FINGERS
The radome being built at Tobyhanna Army Depot will be used to test AN/TSC-167 Satellite Transportable Terminals, replacing temporary structures in use now. Tobyhanna personnel have joined forces with the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical’s Project Manager for Tactical Network and U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command’s Integrated Logistics Support Center to deliver critical communications systems to the warfighter, in the “interlaced fingers” approach Jette describes. (U.S. Army photo by Thomas Robbins, Tobyhanna Army Depot)

Army AL&T: When you began your leadership at ASA(ALT), you talked about focusing on product more than process. Congress has enacted new authorities directed at acquisition improvement. How have you been implementing this transition?

Jette: All of the flexibilities that Congress has given us—middle-tier acquisition, other-transaction authority and others—are great tools in our kit, but we must approach reform in a process-based way. Acquisition personnel need to understand all the pieces that go into the toolkit, so that they can pull out the right tool to solve the right problem. Then, they must think through the difficulties and opportunities within any given program and put together a package that generates a successful outcome.

I have seen in the past where process was more important, and zero defects was the most important thing in that process. The problem with that is, the process does not guarantee an outcome or product. You can dot every “i”, cross every “t”, complete every form, submit every document, and have nothing that works to show for it. That’s not the outcome. Getting something out because you’ve done it and it works is the outcome.

Army AL&T: As the Army’s acquisition executive, how would you describe the acquisition community in contrast with military commands with which it works to provide materiel to Soldiers?

Jette: The acquisition community has a large commonality with the military commands with which we work—AFC, AMC, TRADOC and others. We all want to ensure the greatest defense for this country. We are all willing to serve and to do whatever it takes to get the job done, which for us is fielding needed capabilities to Soldiers as expeditiously as possible.

CRITICAL FEEDBACK
Soldiers work with emerging and maturing technologies in cyber, electronic warfare and intelligence at Cyber Blitz 19 in September at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. Interlocking requirements and production “allows Soldiers to provide critical feedback early into the development of the materiel,” says Jette. (Photo by Edric Thompson, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command)

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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From prize money to mentorship and collaboration, the xTechSearch competition is growing into something of an incubator for promising new defense and dual-use technologies.

by Jess Stillman

It began as a challenge to accelerate acquisition and attract nontraditional small businesses to work with the Army. But the Expeditionary Technology Search (xTechSearch) competition has succeeded in bringing into the acquisition pipeline remarkable technologies—one a solid propellant that’s 40 percent more efficient than existing rocket fuel; another, a way to see through walls. And those are just the first two winners of the competition.

Determined to tackle the current modernization challenges, the Army is seeking out new and innovative technology concepts through the xTechSearch competition. Small businesses nationwide have leveraged this opportunity to discuss how their technology concept can improve, enhance and further support the Army’s top priorities.

XTechSearch launched its fourth iteration in October 2019 at the Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition, and is expanding to add program elements to increase education and engagement with the Army. Not only is xTechSearch a competition that provides small businesses with a platform to showcase their technologies to Army experts through various stages of development, it also now offers an accelerator program, increased collaboration opportunities, education sessions and opportunities for small businesses to engage with the program on social media. The continuous efforts are geared toward assisting small businesses and providing them with insights on how to do business with the Army.

Representatives from AKHAN Semiconductor, xTechSearch 2.0 finalists, speak with judges during their proof-of-concept demonstration during the AUSA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., in October. Small businesses across the U.S. have used xTechSearch to explore ways in which their capabilities can support the Army’s top priorities.

TACKLING MODERNIZATION, ONE GAP AT A TIME

During each of the four phases of the competition, small businesses show how their technology concept can help the Army tackle its modernization challenges. The small businesses receive feedback and guidance from panels of expert Army judges on how to further develop their technologies so that they can meet the needs of the warfighter. Judging panels include representatives from across the Army enterprise, including laboratory scientists and engineers, program managers, acquisition portfolio managers and the users of the technology themselves—Soldiers. The constant feedback helps small businesses “discover how they can fit in and help the military. We’re trying to give an opportunity to dialogue with people in the Army to help understand what their needs are and what opportunities there are and the applications that we are rewarding and the Army will be able to fund,” explained Dr. Bruce D. Jette, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)), speaking at the AUSA Annual Meeting in October.

To date, the competitions have awarded more than $6 million in cash prizes to more than 235 small businesses, 36 of which have received more than $125,000 each to further advance their concepts. Two grand prize winners have received more than $325,000 each. (The monetary structure of the prizes has changed since the first iteration.) These cash prizes are non-dilutive capital—funding that doesn’t require giving up any equity in the company—transferred directly to the company’s bank account with no contracts or intellectual property concessions. The money is intended to help the businesses bring their technologies to fruition and open opportunities for the Army and other DOD organizations to invest in their products.

XTechSearch is working to break down the real and perceived barriers for small businesses to work with the Army and is enticing nontraditional innovators to come forward and communicate directly with Army stakeholders.

STRONGER CONNECTIONS, MORE OPPORTUNITIES

The technology search has become more than just a competition; the program aims to uncover novel science and technology concepts while providing ongoing support and mentorships to gain insight and an understanding of how to do business with the Army while navigating its complexity—something that many small businesses need to successfully transition technologies into the Army. The program has sought out various initiatives to support the participating small businesses and connect them with Army leaders, DOD, other government agencies, industry and academia partners.

In October 2019, during AUSA, xTechSearch launched the xTech Accelerator. “The goal of the accelerator program is to integrate small businesses into the science and technology community in a more formal way and provide another set of tools to accomplish their task,” Jette said during the event. XTechSearch is partnering with FedTech and the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation to run the program, which provides all competitors with various levels of support, including education, community building, goal-setting, connections to future opportunities and mentorships.

One of the top initiatives of the accelerator program is to provide mentorship to small businesses. “Small businesses will be able to get a bit of mentoring, networking and make connections to turn your idea into a fielded product,” Jette said. The mentorship program provides access to the FedTech mentor network, which consists of Army leaders, industry executives, veteran business builders, experts and defense innovators across the nation.

The accelerator also provides a Slack channel (Slack is an online collaboration tool that includes messaging) to enable small businesses to collaborate with one another during and after each competition, and share opportunities within the cohort. Small businesses can also learn about product development, business development, customer discovery, interviewing and more through access to online learning platforms.

The xTechSearch competition partners with the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) to develop a platform that allows small business participants to create a profile that shows an overview of their business and their technology concepts through the Defense Innovation Network. NSIN’s Defense Innovation Network provides an opportunity for the small businesses to connect with one another, see problems and solve problems, showcase their current technologies and receive additional resources that can be helpful in growing their business.

This centralized repository, accessible to anyone, allows the xTechSearch program to share information about the small businesses with other interested stakeholders from industry, DOD and other government agencies. NSIN and its programs serve to develop a new alliance of defense, academia and venture communities. These NSIN initiatives and the xTechSearch program attack future defense problems by getting students interested at an early age in defense problems and careers, providing education and resources to foster startup businesses in the defense sector, and helping network and mentor businesses seeking to solve the current and future needs of DOD.

INCREASING THE ODDS

XTechSearch continues to seek out additional resources and partnerships to bring the highest value to small businesses across the nation. The competition is designed to be more than just winning a prize during each phase: It’s about making the right connections, growing small businesses and providing warfighters with the next-generation technology they need.

The xTechSearch-sponsored Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) topic, “Expeditionary Technology Search (xTechSearch) Dual-Use Technologies to Solve Challenging Army Problems,” is an additional opportunity for small businesses to receive funding and formal contracts to further develop their technologies. Agencies within the federal government can advertise their needs with “topics,” or see a possibility to fill their needs with innovative technology. SBIR provides small businesses with an opportunity to understand their technologies’ potential impact on the Army by publishing topics of interest that they can respond to. Responding to the 19.2 SBIR topic, 10 small businesses were selected by a panel of judges and awarded a contract of up to $120,000 over a period of six months to continue the federal research and development efforts that were initiated in Phase I, showing the technical merit, feasibility and commercial potential for their technology. Eight of the 10 awardees were companies that had previously participated in the xTechSearch competition.

The SBIR program gives small businesses the opportunity to deliver innovative research and development (R&D) solutions to key Army requirements. But xTechSearch has taken a new approach to the program and expanded the horizons to allow for ground-breaking technologies through the SBIR topics. The xTechSearch SBIR topic consists of three phases, which are roughly similar to the xTechSearch competition. The SBIR program benefits the Army and small businesses by:

• Providing the Army and DOD with an understanding of how the technologies’ advantage compares with similar commercial products, along with how the technology can be applied to Army modernization priority areas.
• Showcasing the prototype solutions and providing a technology transition and commercialization plan.
• Maturing technology to Technology Readiness Level 6-7 (where it is working in an operationally relevant environment), and producing prototypes for further development and commercialization in both the Army and the commercial realm.
• Opening the topic to multiple domains and areas of interest and enabling the Army to see additional technologies and capabilities that may be available to assist in solving some of the most critical challenges it faces.

The xTechSearch SBIR topic is providing a pipeline for small businesses discovered through the xTechSearch program to enter into a contractual agreement with the Army to further develop and transition their technologies, the ultimate goal for many of the small businesses entering the xTechSearch competition. The xTechSearch SBIR application is shorter than typical Army SBIR topics, streamlining the process for small businesses and reducing the barrier to conduct business with the Army.

Employees of Great Lakes Sound and Vibration Inc. demonstrate their technology concept to service members at AUSA in October. The company was a finalist in xTechSearch 2.0, which provides small businesses with a platform to showcase their technologies to Army experts and now offers an accelerator program, increased collaboration opportunities and opportunities for small businesses to engage on social media.

INTEGRATING INTO THE ARMY’S ECOSYSTEM

The xTechSearch program works to provide small businesses with the opportunity to become integrated into the Army’s ecosystem. As the Army continues to promote long-lasting engagement with traditional and nontraditional defense partners through xTechSearch, the Army is recognizing similar programs and outlets that allow new and innovative technology solutions to be seen and heard.

Since the beginning of xTechSearch 2.0, competitions have overlapped. The Army announced the winner of xTechSearch 1.0 in March 2019, and 2.0 during AUSA in October 2019. It also announced the Phase IV proof-of-concept demonstration competitors at that event. In March, during the AUSA Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama, those Phase IV companies will demonstrate their proofs of concept at the event’s Innovator’s Corner. Additionally, xTechSearch 5.0 will be launched.

Meanwhile, xTechSearch 4.0 is ongoing. The 12 small businesses selected to move on to Phase IV of xTechSearch 3.0 are:

• Anti-Rotational Technologies Inc.
• Cayuga Biotech Inc.
• ElectroNucleics Inc.
• GhostWave Inc.
• Knight Technical Solutions LLC
• LiquidPiston
• Merciless Motors
• SIGINT Systems LLC
• Syncopated Engineering
• TexPower Inc.
• TRX Systems
• XO-NANO Smartfoam

These small businesses are preparing for the final phase of xTechSearch 3.0 and will present their proofs of concept during the AUSA Global Force event.

The grand prize winner of xTechSearch 2.0 was Lumineye Inc., which demonstrated its man-portable wall penetrating radar. After participating in xTechSearch 1.0 but only progressing to the second phase of the competition, Lumineye came back to compete again, having made improvements to its technology using the feedback it had received from xTechSearch 1.0.

For more information about xTechSearch and to see the various opportunities available, go to www.xTechSearch.army.mil or follow them on Facebook and Twitter @xTechSearch.

Jess Stillman is a senior consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton providing contract support to xTechSearch at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory. She has a B.S. in health science from South University.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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Hacking for Defense alums Lumineye win xTechSearch

By Jess  Stillman

It all started with the desire to create an innovative solution to a DOD problem. Lumineye Inc., the grand prize winner of xTechSearch 2.0, began as a group of classmates at Boise State University participating in the Hacking for Defense (H4D) program, where students were challenged to find a solution to identify humans through radio frequencies. Through their work in solving the challenge, the students started Lumineye, a small business with a device that can solve one of the DOD’s most critical challenges—providing “through-wall sensing” for first responders and warfighters. Lumineye’s device is lightweight and compact with the ability to detect moving and still people from more than 10 meters away.

H4D is a program of the National Security Innovation Network and powered by BMNT, Inc. and the Common Mission Project, bringing students together from different disciplines to curate and solve national defense problems.

Created by Pete Newell, Steve Blank and Joe Felter, H4D is a national academic program currently offered at 24 universities. (See “Hacking for Defense,” Army AL&T January-March 2017, Page 98.) It teaches students how to use modern entrepreneurial tools such as the Lean Startup methodology and problem-curation techniques to address national security challenges at startup speed. Newell, CEO of BMNT Inc., is a retired Army colonel whose last command was the Rapid Equipping Force, where he sped off-the-shelf solutions to Soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan. He started BMNT, a consulting company in Palo Alto, California, with Felter, formerly a colonel in the Army Special Operations Forces and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia.

DON’T WAIT FOR OPPORTUNITY, GRAB IT

When Corbin Hennen, now CEO of Lumineye, heard about H4D, he knew he wanted in. He proposed the H4D program to Boise State’s Venture College, and received approval to move forward with the program. In addition to being a student in the H4D class, Hennen assisted in running the first cohort at the university.

Megan Lacy, who is now chief design officer for Lumineye, was recruited by Hennen. Lacy was working on her master’s degree at Boise State and had a background in design thinking. She applied what she’d learned to the solution they developed in H4D. Before becoming a part of the program, Lacy had a different plan for her future. “I thought I was going to work in consumer goods. This was a total pivot for me,” she said in a November phone  interview. Lacy became a part of the team to provide a solution because she knew that you can “actually impact someone’s life by solving these DOD problems.”

As the team members progressed through the H4D program, they interviewed more than 120 potential users, including Soldiers and Marines; special operations personnel; local, state and federal law enforcement officials; firefighters; and search-and-rescue workers. Based on the feedback and information they received, they realized they were going to do more than just solve the problem within the program.

“In Hacking for Defense, the point isn’t just to create a company, you just need to solve the problem. But we were talking to users, and the current devices weren’t really meeting their needs for the tactical applications, so we decided we were going to solve this problem,” explained Lacy. They formed Lumineye shortly after completing the H4D program in April 2017.

NEVER GIVE UP

When xTechSearch launched its first iteration in 2018, it received more than 340 proposals, including one from Lumineye. During xTechSearch 1.0, the company made it to Phase II and was invited to conduct a live technology pitch to a judging panel of Army experts. That panel did not select Lumineye to advance further in the competition.

Instead of giving up, Lumineye used the feedback from the judges and applied for xTechSearch 2.0 with an improved pitch and a prototype they created with the funds they received from xTechSearch 1.0. “We knew immediately when we got done with 1.0 that we were going to apply for 2.0 again,” said Lacy.

When Lumineye entered xTechSearch 2.0, the team members incorporated improvements to their technology concept and took a different approach during their pitch events, explaining how they learned where their technology could fit within larger Army systems and integrate with other fielded products. They impressed the judges during each phase of the competition, and received valuable feedback and contact information to connect with collaborators and stakeholders to continue developing their product. They also participated in the Y Combinator program, which gave them additional funding opportunities as well as the ability to further develop their technology concept to be presented during Phase IV.

At the conclusion of xTechSearch 2.0, Lumineye was awarded the grand prize of $250,000, bringing their xTechSearch winnings to $385,000, all of which will be used to help create a product that can solve one of the Army’s most critical challenges and provide a safer solution for warfighters.

In addition to xTechSearch, Lumineye also participated in the Army SBIR 19.2 “Expeditionary Technology (xTechSearch) Dual-Use Technologies Applicable to Army Modernization Priority Areas,” and was selected as a winner in Phase I. The company will receive $110,000 over a six-month period to continue the research and development into the technical merit, feasibility and commercial potential for their technology.

Lumineye team members are now actively looking for additional opportunities to receive feedback and funding for their technology concept. They have been speaking and meeting with Army leaders who are interested in using their technology, and xTechSearch maintains contact with Lumineye to ensure that they are able to make the right connections within the Army. The company is looking to get to a point over the next five to 10 years where its product is available to all first responders and warfighters.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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By Michael Bold

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (Jan. 13, 2020) — Do you understand Army acquisition? It’s not an easy subject to master. But at its essence, it’s all about requirements. “The requirement is what we want to accomplish,” says Dr. Bruce D. Jette, the Army acquisition executive. “It is what drives the acquisition system to give the Army the materiel it needs.” The Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine attempts to tackle all aspects of Army acquisition, as well as myriad other topics. In this issue:

• The Army has turned to other-transaction agreements to power its modernization efforts and to focus on products over process, and defense acquisition experts say the plan is working. See “A NEW ERA OF ACQUISITION.”
• Army contracting has swung from complex to streamlined to provide efficient and rapid acquisition in support of the Soldier. Read about how in “THE CONTRACTING PENDULUM.”
• In the first of a new series, “ON CONTRACTING,” a look at how market research can be the basis for vigorous competition in Army acquisition, in “HOW TO CONVINCE THE ARMY TO GET WHAT YOU NEED.”
• The first in another new series examines how the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Command works in water and on land to lay the groundwork for multidomain operations in 2028. See “ENGINEERING THE THEATER.”
• From prize money to mentorship and collaboration, the xTechSearch competition is growing into something of an incubator for promising new defense and dual-use technologies. Read how in “MORE THAN A COMPETITION.”
• Software-defined networking could get Army’s data moving faster. Learn how in “REDEFINING THE NETWORK.”

Also, remember that Army AL&T is built on contributions from you, the Army Acquisition Workforce. For more information on how to publish an article in Army AL&T magazine or how to submit a Faces of the Force nomination, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/publications/army-alt-submissions/ to see our writers guidelines, upcoming deadlines and themes.

Winter 2020 Army AL&T

FROM THE AAE
Empowering acquisition
With appropriate authority and the right training, the Army acquisition team can better deliver overmatch capabilities to Soldiers

UNDERSTANDING ARMY ACQUISITION
A new era of acquisition
Experts cautiously optimistic that Army acquisition has a bright future

The acquisition toolkit
An interview with Dr. Bruce D. Jette, the Army acquisition executive

What understanding looks like
Understanding acquisition is hard, depicting how it works is next to impossible

The need for interoperability standards
Aligning IT standards enables seamless command and control across echelons

The contracting pendulum
From short to long and back to short

On contracting: How to convince the Army to get what you need
Market research is the foundation of competition in Army acquisition

Engineering the theater
Army engineers map, model and forecast for the next conflict

International innovation
International technology centers get innovative solutions through foreign partnerships

Faces of the Force: Dr. Genevieve Flock
Working globally, thinking locally

High-performance advantage
Supercomputing for savings and tougher systems

Seamless waveforms
Rapid Innovation Fund enables the military, nontraditional contractors to work together

Rapid networking
PEO C3T’s rapid radio readiness

Sustaining FMS acquisitions
More than equipment is bought in foreign military sales

Faces of the Force: Staff Sgt. Dawit Gebreyesus
Education never depreciates

Solid cornerstone
Cornerstone OTA benefits Soldiers and industry

FEATURE ARTICLES
More than a competition
XTechSearch is growing into a tech incubator

CCDC’s road map to modernizing the Army: Soldier lethality
CCDC Soldier Center sets out to decrease the Soldier’s burden

Innovation through technology
DASA(P), GSA get federal agencies to share solutions to similar acquisition challenges

Redefining the network
Software-defined networking could get Army’s data moving faster

Solution evolution
USAMRDC workshops map technology landscape

Moving acquisition
Transportability engineering gets acquisition underway

The long poles in the acquisition tent
An innovative acquisition approach rapidly delivered encryption devices to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command

The power of the purchase
Category management creates a better buying approach

Investing in the future
New system strengthens Army GPS capabilities

Faces of the Force: Sean Brandt
Taking charge of the narrative

COMMENTARY
Enemies list
Experts say there are five missteps in requirements that trip up program testing

WORKFORCE
From the DACM: Speeding up hiring
AAW Recruitment and Sustainment Center of Excellence takes shape

Worth it
Training With Industry expands officers’ knowledge of industry practices

Career Navigator: Apply, learn and conquer
Spend a year working at Ford, Amazon, Intel or other industry leaders

The big ask
Naval Postgraduate School upgrades graduate education for Army acquisition professionals

Faces of the Force: Amy K. Larson
Lead where you land

On the Move

For more ways to read Army AL&T go to https://asc.army.mil/web/army-alt/.

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FROM THE ARMY
ACQUISITION EXECUTIVE
BRUCE D. JETTE

By giving the Army acquisition team authority and the necessary training, we can better deliver overmatch capabilities to Soldiers.

Having served in the military for nearly 30 years, I know firsthand the value of empowering and trusting subordinates to do what is best for the Army and our Soldiers. In May 2002, I was “afforded” the opportunity to take robots into combat by forming a small team that integrated Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency robots with government and commercial off-the-shelf items. In only 28 days, we took them into caves in Afghanistan rather than sending in Soldiers with grappling hooks and grenades. Robots are now broadly used in combat operations. Perhaps more importantly, this instigated the Army and DOD’s rapid acquisition model.

Army combat engineers assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade test Qinetiq North America’s Dragon Runner 10 at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, in September. Now widespread, the use of robots in combat stems from rapid acquisition efforts undertaken by Jette and others who first brought the technology to Afghanistan in 2002. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Henry Villarama, 173rd Airborne Brigade)

The point of this illustration is that Army leadership empowered and trusted my team and me to deliver a badly needed capability to protect our Soldiers and enable them to return home safely. There was risk, but also reward. It is still a source of pride, and a lesson in leadership that I intended to pay forward. Sixteen years later, as the Army acquisition executive, I was given that opportunity. With authority from Congress, the secretary of the Army and the chief of staff directed improvements in the acquisition process to field capability fast, and I was again in a position of authority to make a difference.

While Acquisition Category (ACAT) I programs remain, by law, at my level, I have delegated all other milestone decision authority—on ACAT II, III and IV programs—to my program executive officers, who, at their discretion, may delegate decision-making to their program or product managers. Powering down decision-making to the appropriate level of the acquisition process improves the Army’s ability to provide timely capabilities to Soldiers while remaining fiscally responsible.

It is my strong belief that senior leaders must set an example by allowing their team to do their jobs, to make decisions, to manage risk, and to execute at the appropriate decision-making level. As the Army acquisition executive, I oversee a portfolio that includes the total life cycle management of more than 700 programs. This delegation of authority allows our entire organization and thereby Army senior leaders to reach key decision points and field capabilities to the Soldier faster because there are fewer levels of review involved in each decision.

There are a few important guidelines, however, that I ask my program executive officers, program and product managers and other professionals throughout the acquisition workforce to follow:

• Examine all ways to effectively use the funding allocated by Congress to achieve the desired program outcome in the most timely and efficient manner. We must remain fiscally responsible at all times.
• Design the most appropriate schedule for your program. Let me know the schedule as agreed upon and why—and be as aggressive as possible in getting capability to Soldiers.
• Keep me up to date on program performance. It is important for me to know where the challenges are likely to appear.
• Let me know the risk and how it is being managed. If well-managed risk does not turn out as planned, I will ensure that there are no adverse effects to the team. Likewise, if things turn out well, I will ensure that the team gets the credit.

Consistent with my initiative to “power down” authority, I have placed a high priority on talent management, which is critically important to the acquisition process because it ensures that the best and brightest team members are in the right positions to better support our Soldiers. Training, which includes an appropriate level of education, is key to our efforts in this area.

Soldiers from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division are the first to receive the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle – Binocular and the Family of Weapon Sights – Individual, in September at Fort Riley, Kansas. The Army acquisition executive has put in place new policies that field capabilities faster by removing layers of review throughout the acquisition process. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Bryce Gatrell, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs)

Experience is also an important factor. I was an armor officer. I’ve had four company commands, two overseas tours and about 12 years as a tanker that gave me an in-depth understanding of the operational environment. When I retired from the Army, I started my own small business, and it was one of the best things I could have done—it taught me a great deal about managing budgets on a larger scale and spending money efficiently and effectively. My operational and small business experience allows me to understand the challenges at different levels of the acquisition enterprise, much in the same way our leaders, with in-depth training and experience, can see the nuances of those challenges at the production level.

Perhaps the most crucial part of enabling decision-making at the appropriate level is the dialogue it opens between headquarters and the team members throughout the organization. As I told my son when he was at West Point, there’s no organization with perfect leadership, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid being a leader or entering a position where you can affect an issue. Take note of how your predecessors dealt with challenges so you can envision how to address an issue ahead of time—reflect, talk to other people and get various opinions.

Once in that decision-making position—I’m talking to my current leaders—don’t be afraid to push back. We become too isolated and insular; no one feels comfortable disagreeing with one another. A healthy, constructive debate among leaders over a challenge a program faces helps to streamline the acquisition process and perhaps avoid costly mistakes.

In closing, let me take this opportunity to wish our readers a happy and healthy new year. Let it be our goal this year to pursue what’s right at all times.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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PEO C3T leverages rapid acquisition and prototyping to improve network management for new software-defined radios.

by Maj. Nicholas Milano, Keith Whittaker, George Senger and Amy Walker

The Army has been fielding new software-defined radios, such as the 2-Channel Leader Radio, to enable voice and data exchange across U.S. Army, joint and coalition forces on the battlefield, at extended ranges and with greater capability than ever before. However, once deployed, Soldiers began asking for easier and faster ways to perform the initial, labor-intensive networking tasks required to enable these advanced radios to communicate across the battlespace.

To address their request, our team at the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T) leveraged the Army’s rapid acquisition prototyping processes and reduced the time it takes to conduct these networking tasks for a brigade’s worth of radios from four weeks to just minutes. These once labor-intensive tasks include:

• Radio initialization, which prepares the data products needed for the unit to run on the network, including unique identifiers, roles and Internet Protocol addresses, and takes into account a unit’s mission, personnel footprint and mix of networked mission command systems.
• Radio planning, which designs the radio networks and provides needed planning information such as location data, configurations and settings.
• Loading all of the data and software into each radio.

Along with speeding these tasks, the new user-friendly software prototype tools are less complex compared with the Army’s current capability in use today, which means that tasks once performed by advanced signal Soldiers can now be performed by general-purpose users. Additionally, when a commander needs to reassign a unit on the battlefield, the software tool suite makes it easier for signal Soldiers to more rapidly complete the extensive radio networking tasks needed to support such changes, a process known as unit task reorganization.

Taking full advantage of the Army’s acquisition processes for rapid prototyping, which are outlined in Section 804 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, our team was able to develop these software prototypes in just three months, compared with the 12 to 18 months a traditional, fully custom Army development effort would have taken. By fully adopting rapid acquisition concepts and better business practices, DOD organizations like PEO C3T can deliver new technologies to the field faster and outpace U.S. adversaries in the technology race.

Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T) engineers work on software-defined radios during the Integrated Tactical Network (ITN) verification and validation event at the PEO C3T ITN facility on Sept. 11, 2019 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The team prepares the expeditionary ITN equipment set for an upcoming pilot that will be supported by the 82nd Airborne Division. (U.S. Army photo by Amy Walker, PM Tactical Network/PEO C3T public affairs)

NEW WAYS TO GO FAST

As part of its acquisition reform, the Army has been implementing new ways to speed acquisition processes to deliver capabilities that will prepare our forces to fight and win a war against any adversary. Among these reforms is the other-transaction authority, which enables program managers of smaller programs to enter into contracts with vendors to prototype new technologies. PEO C3T’s other-transaction authority efforts include the accelerated prototyping of capabilities that incorporate common network planning, configuration, monitoring, provisioning, management and cyber defense. We are using these authorities to prototype solutions, such as our radio management tool suite, to configure and integrate tactical and enterprise networks, enabling the delivery of information and communications among Soldiers at all echelons and using network resources prioritized according to the commander’s intent.

The Army’s Network Cross-Functional Team continues to identify capability gaps and integration challenges across existing network programs. Our team rapidly developed each of the prototype software-defined radio management solutions to address some of these gaps under the Unified Network Operations middle-tier acquisition authority, which was granted by the Army acquisition executive in March 2019, with PEO C3T named as the decision authority and the office of primary responsibility. At the time, it was the eighth middle-tier authority to be approved by the Army. The authority enabled us to prototype industry software to support existing operational needs without formal requirements documentation and to gain Soldier feedback to continue to enhance the capabilities and inform Army fielding decisions.

UNIFIED NETWORK OPERATIONS PROTOTYPES

On the battlefield, communications officers from the tactical edge up through corps use network management software capabilities to plan, configure, manage, monitor, control, secure and defend their network assets—the combination of which is referred to as network operations. The Unified Network Operations middle-tier acquisition authority is helping us to provide a more integrated, standardized and simplified network operations architecture. In one of the first efforts under the agreement, in March 2019 we concentrated on prototyping existing commercial software applications for network planning and management, integrating them into existing government programs of record, and then quickly inserting them into military formations to gain feedback for further enhancements and to support future Army capability decisions.

A TEAM-OF-TEAMS

It was apparent early on that an integrated tool suite would require an integrated team that promoted alignment, collaboration and rapid delivery. From the beginning, we worked closely with Army stakeholders, including the Network Cross-Functional Team, to ensure that our PEO C3T team was synchronized with Army network modernization efforts and requirements. Our team created a methodology to rapidly integrate and align development activities between the offices, implementing software development techniques found in the commercial software development world—including agile software development; a scaled agile software framework, which guided the team in applying lean and agile practices for rapid development and delivery; and a unified team-of-teams that managed a tightly integrated software release cycle, known as an agile release train.

Following middle-tier acquisition authority guidelines, we looked at leveraging commercial technologies, existing Army programs and resources to meet the network operations gaps in support of evolving unit formations, such as the Expeditionary Signal Battalion–Enhanced pilot unit and the security force assistance brigades, and the emerging network operations requirements that support them. We looked at resources that were available within PEO C3T that were already being used in different project offices to satisfy specific needs. We found significant synergies in software-defined radio capability development between Project Lead Network Enablers, Project Manager Tactical Network and Project Manager Tactical Radios, and we knew that combining and integrating efforts would be an exponentially more efficient and effective process.

We created an integrated team of over 20 engineers, including a senior engineer from each of the three project management offices. Instead of each office focusing on its own product, the team worked together to pull the different products together to work as one functional business process. We looked for innovative ways to enhance each other’s separate capabilities, which eventually led to the enhancement of the radio management tool suite as a whole.

We did not build an entirely new Army system or write mountains of new code, but instead used common interfaces and protocols—work that already had been done in commercial industry. We integrated commercial application and tools into our existing systems so they could work in new ways. Within three months of working together, we were able to reduce the process to initialize, plan and load a brigade’s worth of radios from four weeks to just minutes.

A forward observer with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division uses Integrated Tactical Network components during a live-fire exercise at Camp Atterbury, Indiana in January. (U.S. Army photo by Kathy Bailey, PM Tactical Radios, PEO C3T public affairs)

NONTRADITIONAL VENDORS

As permitted in middle-tier acquisition guidelines, we did not need to wait for formal requirements documents and other time-consuming documentation, enabling our team to quickly perform market research with industry to speed development of the radio network management tool suite. Through requests for information and technical exchange meetings initiated by the Network Cross-Functional Team, where we explained to industry the software capabilities that we were looking for, we were able to determine the best options for integrating existing capabilities with minimum development efforts. Where possible, we created capability that is not vendor specific, to spur innovation and keep costs down through increased competition.

To create the prototype capabilities, the other-transaction authority spurred us, when possible, to contract smaller vendors that traditionally do not support military efforts. Other-transaction authority also enabled us to continually assess experimentation results and Soldier feedback to see how these products could potentially support a more mature system that we could eventually field across the force. If results reveal that a product is not the right fit, we can look for something else that works better, before fielding the capability to numerous units.

We had to bridge language barriers in technology and processes in order to make sure new vendors understood the military requirements, and we had to understand what the proposed commercial off-the-shelf technologies could do for us. In the end, when we applied the nontraditional vendor’s existing technologies to our evolving military systems, the technologies functioned in new ways. The vendors did not need to change their internal business processes to provide their technologies to us, enabling them to enter into an arena once monopolized by larger, more traditional defense contractors.

USE OPEN FRAMEWORKS AND STANDARDS

Adopting an open framework and standards was a key component that enabled us to use nontraditional vendors, and it also provided common network planning, configuration, management and monitoring capabilities. Throughout the process of developing the radio network operations software tool suite, we purposely laid a foundation for an open framework and open standards, including open application programming interfaces that enable applications to “talk” to each other. This open architecture ensures that future DOD software and system development will most effectively share information between systems and more easily and rapidly integrate future systems to improve functionality and capability.

The open construct will be critical to future network modernization endeavors. DOD continues to develop integrated capability, such as its Integrated Tactical Network, which includes multiple vendors, hardware, software, configurations and systems that overarch multiple programs. The Integrated Tactical Network design enables commanders to leverage military and commercially available networks for communication and more easily share information with their coalition mission partners. The commercial off-the-shelf equipment package includes new expeditionary satellite terminals, high-capacity line-of-sight capability, mobile broadband kits, radio waveforms, a 2-Channel Leader Radio, single-channel radios, smartphone end-user devices, network gateways, unified network operations tools and data products.

IMPLEMENT DEVELOPMENTAL OPERATIONS

To get the new prototype software tool suite to the field faster and to continue to improve capability, we are conducting ongoing experiments and using a developmental operations construct that puts developers alongside Soldiers and commanders in operational units. The Soldiers put the capabilities through their paces in training and field exercises, and we incorporate their feedback to continually inform requirements. This incremental development process enables our team to evaluate new technology concepts and potential solutions earlier and more frequently, collect feedback in real time, and rapidly generate new requirements as needed.

Under the developmental operations construct, our engineers implemented Agile release train principles used in the software industry that are designed to bring the team-of-teams together to deliver regular planned upgrades. Continuous exploration and integration fed quarterly software releases that were part of quarterly Soldier touchpoints with various units, including 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division; 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division; and the 10th Mountain Division. Through these Soldier touchpoints, we are gaining continuous feedback on the prototype software design, which is immediately fed back into the software development sprint cycles, to be refined again as part of the next quarterly release cycle. Using this common cadence, each of the three PEO C3T program offices has dedicated resources to continuously define, build, test and deliver the best possible capability to the Army, prior to fielding it across the force.

CONCLUSION

The Army’s new rapid acquisition processes have empowered our PEO C3T team with new ways to use commercial technologies and synchronize existing resources to effectively meet the Army’s evolving network operations needs. By fueling open relationships with our industry partners; creating open standards and architectures that enable nontraditional vendors to compete; and leveraging prototypes, experimentation and Soldier feedback to continually inform requirements and enhancements, we can arm our Soldiers with the most innovative and relevant network capability possible. To keep ahead of our near-peer adversaries, we have to remain ahead in the technology race.

INTEGRATING ELEMENTS TO EXPAND CAPABILITIES

The Army’s new, user-friendly network operations planning and management software prototype tool suite can initialize, plan and load a brigade’s worth of radios faster than ever before. Each integrated piece of software works in unison in a beginning-to-end network planning and initialization workflow. The software includes several components:

• Integrated Planner is an overarching system that plans and creates network configuration files for numerous network elements, including the software-defined radios supporting the Army’s tactical network. This planner was developed to integrate or replace existing network planners.
• Network Operations Management System is an overarching prototype system used to manage the network and support unclassified, classified and coalition network enclaves with a common look, touch, feel and functionality.
• Initialization Tool Suite enables Soldiers to manage and modify their data products on the ground in theater. Data products provide the information required to enable end-to-end network connectivity and interoperability across the Army’s tactical internet.
• Codex is a database with a common data model and open application programming interfaces (APIs), enabling standard access to the data products. APIs enable applications to “talk” to each other.
• Atom is a simplified radio planner that provides intuitive workflow and an open API that uses the data product network design to provide a radio waveform plan. The Atom prototype will inform enhancements and future capability and fielding decisions on the final solution to support existing and emerging planning requirements, potentially replacing the legacy Joint Enterprise Network Management Capability.
• Black Sails is a simplified radio configuration tool that uses the waveform plan through an open API to configure software-defined lower tactical internet radios. Atom and Black Sails work hand-in-hand: Atom creates the plan and Black Sails generates the configuration files and loads the radios.

As DOD postures itself to retain advantage over near-peer adversaries, these new prototype software tools are expected to dramatically increase unit readiness, data exchange, agility, operational flexibility and network communication range, and to reduce unit burden on the battlefield.

For more information, go to the PEO C3T website at http://peoc3t.army.mil/c3t/ or contact the PEO C3T Public Affairs Office at 443-395-6489 or usarmy.APG.peo-c3t.mbx.pao-peoc3t@mail.mil.

MAJ. NICHOLAS MILANO is a basic branch engineer officer, and he serves as the assistant product manager for the Product Manager for Tactical Cyber and Network Operations (PM TCNO) and the project lead for the Network Manager and Codex efforts. He has a B.A. in computer studies from the University of Maryland and an M.A. in management from American Military University. He has been in the acquisition workforce for two years, is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps (AAC) and is Level II certified in program management.

KEITH WHITTAKER serves as the product lead for network planning in PM TCNO. Over the last five years, he has supported PEO C3T in various capacities, serving as an expert in network operations and software engineering for Army and joint service programs of record. He holds a B.S. in information systems management from Columbia Southern University, and is a member of the AAC. He is Level III certified in information technology and Level II certified in program management.

GEORGE SENGER is a computer scientist serving as the software and services assistant product manager for the Product Manager for Waveforms and the lead engineer for Project Black Sails. Over the past few years, he has supported PEO C3T and the Project Manager for Tactical Radios as a tactical radio and software engineering expert. He has a B.A. in communications from William Patterson College in New Jersey, and an M.S. in computer science from Montclair State University, also in New Jersey. He is a member of the AAC and is Level III certified in systems engineering.

AMY WALKER has been the public affairs lead at the Project Manager for Tactical Network for the last nine years, and was the public affairs lead at PEO C3T for the previous two. She has covered a majority of the Army’s major tactical network transport modernization effort, including Army, joint and coalition fielding and training events worldwide. She holds a B.A. in psychology, with emphasis in marketing and English, from the College of New Jersey.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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The SB>DEFIANT produced by Sikorsky-Boeing is one of two aircraft selected for further testing under the JMR-TD program. (Image courtesy of Boeing.)

Supercomputing allows acceleration of the acquisition timeline.

by Scott Sundt, Alexandra Landsberg, Megan Holland, and Owen Eslinger

The rollout of the National Defense Strategy in early 2018 had an immediate impact on the way DOD approaches its mandate for defending the United States. It has sent ripples throughout the services and caused much focused reflection on the strategic, operational and tactical priorities that must be addressed in a future world where potential near-peer adversaries may have reached parity with our own force structure. Within DOD research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) communities, the call has gone out to speed up innovation, reduce acquisition timelines, and produce game-changing weapon systems at reduced cost and risk. The directive from the National Defense Strategy is clear: “Deliver performance at the speed of relevance.” The American warfighter needs 21st-century weapons systems now, not 10 or 15 years from now.

Fortunately, DOD finds itself at a unique moment thanks to the steady progress of digital engineering and high-performance computing over the past 20 years. In response to increasing access to supercomputing, massive data collection, high-fidelity physics-based software development, and high-speed networks, DOD released its Digital Engineering Strategy in June 2018. This document has set a course for DOD and the services to take advantage of these enabling assets and apply them to the emerging technology challenges.

The combination of the National Defense Strategy and the Digital Engineering Strategy has provided the Army with the impetus for fundamentally restructuring the way it equips its forces for the future. The Army’s top six modernization technologies (long-range precision fires, Next Generation Combat Vehicle, Future Vertical Lift, the network, anti-missile defense and Soldier lethality), along with its eight cross-functional teams and a new four-star U.S. Army Futures Command, have provided a solid foundation and direction for the Army research, development, test and evaluation community and program executive offices.

A Bell V280 Valor, one of two aircraft selected for further testing under the JMR-TD program. (Image courtesy of Bell)

HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING PROGRAM

The DOD High Performance Computing Modernization Program provides high-performance computing capabilities and expertise, enabling National Defense Strategy priorities across DOD. It provides DOD with a comprehensive computational modeling and simulation ecosystem that integrates supercomputing capabilities, high-speed networks and computational science expertise that enable scientists and engineers to conduct a wide range of focused research, development and test activities. The program, with a $280 million annual budget, was chartered by Congress to revolutionize warfighter support through increased application of high-performance computing to critical RDT&E and acquisition engineering initiatives. This is a tri-service effort managed for the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)) by the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for research and technology and executed by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

By amplifying the creativity, productivity and impact of the RDT&E and acquisition engineering communities, high-performance computing provides unprecedented insight into the physical world that would otherwise be too costly, dangerous or time-consuming to obtain through observation and experimentation alone. The program includes DOD Supercomputing Resource Centers; software applications; and secure networking. The High-Performance Computing Modernization Program also leverages specialized expertise from DOD, other federal departments and agencies, industry, and academia to mature leading-edge software application codes. This expertise complements that of DOD scientists and engineers, helping customers achieve critical mission objectives.

The ERDC Data Analysis and Assessment Center provides a visualization of Helios simulations of maneuvering rotorcraft. The Engineered Resilient Systems program, utilizing Helios high-fidelity simulations, enables better-informed decisions before major acquisition. (Image by Andrew Wissink, U.S. Army Aviation Development Directorate, Army CCDC Aviation and Missile Center.)

As the demands and availability for computational resources have grown over the years, the user base and the size and complexity of jobs have grown to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by increased resources. In fiscal year 2019, the High-Performance Computing Modernization Program internal database indicated there were over 3,000 active users. Large-scale high-performance computing simulations have transformed from a niche activity to a mainstream activity.

The software applications of the High Performance Computing Modernization Program provide a suite of software development and support services aimed at optimizing software capabilities to design, develop, test and deploy superior DOD capabilities. These efforts and services include the Computational Research and Engineering Acquisition Tools and Environments (CREATE) software development activity, which furnishes critical modeling support in the world of digital engineering prototyping.

CREATE is the program’s premier vehicle for addressing DOD’s current and future design and analysis efforts for its major acquisition programs. CREATE provides innovative applications of its software tools for developing and optimizing aircraft, ship, ground vehicle and radar antenna designs, and allows the acceleration of the acquisition timeline. It has expanded the acceptance, use and adoption of its various physics-based software tools to over 160 defense organizations. Its products are now becoming an integral part of major defense acquisition programs for design space exploration, design analysis, and performance prediction and testing across the weapon system life cycle.

Present acquisition programs largely follow an empirical “design-build-test” iterative methodology. This results in late discovery of design flaws, issues of immature technology issues, and system integration problems. Rework and redesign efforts contribute substantially to cost overruns and schedule delays. By employing a “model-test-build” paradigm, optimized engineering designs can be developed early in the acquisition process using CREATE tools. Costs can be substantially reduced, schedules shortened, and design and program flexibility, and agility, increased. Above all, the reduction of design flaws, the quick and flexible development of sound engineering concepts and designs, and beginning the systems integration engineering process much earlier in the acquisition process, all improve the performance of acquisition programs.

IMPACT ON ARMY PROGRAMS

High performance computing supports the entire life cycle of a weapons system. Using the Army’s helicopters as an example, high-performance computing is critical to the updating of legacy platforms such as the CH-47 Chinook and the H-60 Black Hawk, as well as the Army’s Future Vertical Lift effort. CREATE-AV’s (Aviation Vehicles) Helios software is a high-fidelity, multi-physics analysis tool for rotary-wing aircraft. Helios can calculate the performance of a full-sized rotorcraft, including the fuselage and rotors. It can also handle arbitrary rotor configurations, and analyze and predict prescribed maneuvers with tight coupling of rotor aero-structural dynamics. A highly accurate treatment of the complex air flow generated from rotor blade tips—vortex shedding—gives Helios the unique capability to assess the interaction of these vortices with the fuselage and nearby rotor blades. The large-scale calculations with Helios are run on the program’s supercomputers. Helios offers the ability to predict phenomena that, a decade ago, could only be observed in flight test.

The ERDC Data Analysis and Assessment Center provides a visualization of a Helios UH-60 model showing rotor wake turbulence triggered by a pull-up maneuver. (Image by Andrew Wissink, U.S. Army Aviation Development Directorate, Army CCDC Aviation and Missile Center)

CH-47 Block II Advanced Chinook Rotor Blade (ACRB) The CH-47 Block II Advanced Chinook Rotor Blade (ACRB) is designed for improved lifting capability in hover without compromising forward speed. Initial flight tests showed high-control system loads for the rear rotor in high-speed forward flight. Army engineers, Boeing Co. and the Project Manager for Cargo Helicopters under the Program Executive Office for Aviation formed an engineering team to address this problem. Helios was used to capture the complex, unsteady aerodynamics phenomena and explore design space to restore high-speed performance while retaining ACRB benefits for hover. Army engineers have been able to identify potential performance issues and evaluate mitigation designs. The modified rotor blade design was successfully tested in late 2018, resulting in a significant enhancement to the combat capability of the 400-plus Chinooks in the Army inventory. In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, Lt. Gen. Paul A. Ostrowski, principal military deputy for ASA(ALT), highlighted the importance of the High-Performance Computing Modernization Program to Army acquisition programs.

“It is absolutely critical,” said Ostrowski. “With respect to the Block II Chinook (helicopter), we have avoided about $50 million of cost in terms of flight based on being able to supercompute the effects of the new rotor blades.”

The Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program is a precursor to the Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) effort, intended to demonstrate transformational vertical lift capabilities to enable programmatic decisions. Requirements for the JMR-TD aircraft were established in 2012. In 2013, technology investment agreements (TIAs) were awarded to four companies—AVX Aircraft Co., Bell, Karem Aircraft and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. teamed with Boeing. In an effort to better understand the aircraft and technologies being developed under JMR-TD, Helios was applied to all four of the configurations awarded under the technology investment agreements in 2013. This enabled Army aviation engineers to conduct an independent analysis of contractor proposals, resulting in more informed and timely acquisition decisions. Results from the analysis were used during the initial design and risk review to guide selection of the two demonstrator aircraft from Bell and the Sikorsky-Boeing team. Helios continues to be used to carry out further analysis on the two testbed aircraft selected for development. Because the actual vehicles have proprietary information, these results cannot be disseminated openly.

High-performance computing is critical to the updating legacy helicopters such as the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. (U.S. Army photo by Gertrud Zach, Training Support Activity Europe U.S. Army)

The High-Performance Computing Modernization Program also works closely with the Engineered Resilient Systems program, an effort initiated in 2012 to accelerate acquisition through the use of high-performance computing. The Engineered Resilient Systems approach combines high-fidelity, physics-based modeling, advanced data analytics, machine learning and process automation with high-performance computing to enable better-informed decisions before major acquisition milestones. The partnership with Engineered Resilient Systems allows Army high-performance computing to be used in new ways; the program recently developed an artificial intelligence and machine learning ecosystem for large-scale data management. As a result, the Army was able to consolidate terabytes of H60 helicopter data, giving analysts the ability to explore the full maintenance dataset and enabling true predictive maintenance for the first time. When fully implemented, 100 percent of the H60 fleet will be eligible for the oil-cooler life extension program versus the 20 percent previously eligible. This has the potential to double the maintenance interval for the oil cooler, a critical component that costs several hundred thousand dollars to replace. This practice is already being extended to fleets of ground vehicles and other Army platforms.

CONCLUSION

The High-Performance Computing Modernization Program is a national asset delivering high-performance computing capabilities and expertise to mission-critical challenges. Together with the Engineered Resilient Systems program, it is striving to improve acquisition efforts across all phases of the weapon system life cycle and to enable more informed and timely acquisition decisions. These programs have already demonstrated the ability to accelerate the acquisition timeline, while also reducing risk and cost to DOD, and will continue to engage in new partnerships to address the department’s highest priorities.

SCOTT SUNDT is a retired Navy captain with over 30 years of active-duty service including command at sea. He is the lead for High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) Acquisition and Digital Engineering. He holds an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, an M.S. national strategic studies from the National War College, and an M.S. in national resource studies from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces of National Defense University, and has a B.S. in physical science from the U.S. Naval Academy. 

ALEXANDRA LANDSBERG is the deputy director of the High Performance Computing Modernization Program. She holds an M.S. and a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has over 25 years of experience with the federal government in high-performance computing.

MEGAN HOLLAND is a knowledge management specialist at the ERDC Information Technology Laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She has an MBA with an emphasis in marketing from Mississippi State University and a B.A. in English with an emphasis in writing from Mississippi College. 

OWEN ESLINGER is the Engineered Resilient Systems program manager and a computer scientist at the ERDC Information Technology Laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in computational and applied mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.S. in mathematics from North Carolina State University.

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine. Subscribe to Army AL&T News – the premier online news source for the Army Acquisition Workforce. 
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FROM THE DIRECTOR OF
ACQUISITION CAREER MANAGEMENT
CRAIG A. SPISAK

Craig A. Spisak
Director, U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center and Director, Acquisition Career Management

DACM Office, CHRA join forces to stand up the Army Acquisition Workforce Recruitment and Sustainment Center of Excellence.

It’s no big secret that the government lags behind its industry counterparts and how they have established unique, creative and highly efficient hiring practices. Granted, the government’s methods entail a higher degree of challenges when one considers its myriad rules, regulations and policies. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be creative in becoming one of the government’s “employers of choice.” In the past, the Army had a systemic problem in that we took an average time of more than 130 days to hire a qualified civilian. In some cases, the delay prevented agencies from selecting the best-qualified civilian employees, which consequently impacted Army readiness.

My impetus, as the Director of Acquisition Career Management (DACM), to address this problem was driven by a June 5, 2018 memo from Mark T. Esper, then secretary of the Army and now the secretary of defense. The memo directed that his “number one priority regarding Army Civilian employees is reducing civilian time-to-hire to below 60 days.”

SPEEDING THE PROCESS

In implementing this directive, several factors would uniquely test our ability to develop an innovative solution for such a complicated problem. First, we had to ensure that the solution would be predicated on finding the right kinds of talent for the acquisition community and complement the strategic imperative of continuing to provide lethal capabilities to the warfighter. And second, we had to devise a human capital plan that would incorporate the myriad hiring policies, authorities and special programs that had been afforded to the acquisition community through supportive legislation. Only by appreciating this level of complexity were my team and I able to proceed with a viable solution.

However, our success would not have been possible without first establishing a viable partnership with a peer organization vested in achieving the same goal. In October 2016, the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center established a pilot program with the Army’s Civilian Human Resources Agency. to explore the benefits of streamlining the hiring process and leveraging expedited hiring authorities granted by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Acts for the fiscal years 2016 to 2018 as well as methods for streamlining the hiring process. After 12 months of evaluating the program, we determined the pilot a success. It effectively reduced our hiring time for qualifying candidates from 104 to 76 days.

With this milestone, our stakeholders decided to strive for the program’s full operational capability. In August 2019, we created a subordinate division, the Army Acquisition Workforce Recruitment and Sustainment Center of Excellence. It continuously collaborates with key Army partners and other DOD stakeholders on the best organizational practices to continue implementing this initiative as painlessly as possible. Essential aspects of this program include standardized information and training on the nuances of hiring civilians for acquisition positions, leveraging hiring authorities, and ensuring that participants fully understand the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA).

As we progress, we are learning quite a lot from expanding the pilot. The most beneficial outcome is reaping the value of adapting new ideas or methods with many organizational participants as the program continues to evolve toward its full operational capability. By continuing to collaborate as constructively as we have, we’ve developed and strengthened partnerships that are consistently yielding innovation.

The Army Acquisition Workforce Recruitment and Sustainment Center of Excellence works with key stakeholders in the Army and DOD on best practices aimed at keeping hiring times low and staff skill levels high, providing information and training on the nuances of hiring civilians for acquisition positions, leveraging hiring authorities, and ensuring that participants fully understand the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act.

We are excited the program is on a path toward maturity. Eventually, the center of excellence will be headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, along with the division for General Schedule pay system civilians. The divisions for the Science and Technology Reinvention Laboratories and AcqDemo pay systems will be at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland; and each division will have multiple satellite locations across the United States.

In the past, anybody who had said “the government’s hiring process met industry standards,” clearly wasn’t paying attention. Now, if one asks, “Are there some places where we’ve had pockets of excellence inside of government?” Absolutely. Or, “Have we utilized some specialized authorities and programs?” Absolutely. Or even, “Did we look at those and try to garner some best practices and apply them?” Of course, we did.

But in the big picture, government hiring has never been considered a model to emulate. And this program is an example of a good model to emulate. While it has improved over time, it has never been a user-friendly system by any stretch. Even people who have been in the system and used it for decades, like me, have never been fond of it. So now, as we recognize that we have to step into a new era of talent acquisition and talent management, is the time to address its every aspect. And onboarding and hiring through this Army Acquisition Workforce Recruitment and Sustainment Center of Excellence is one of the ways we can address all of our opportunities to be better at managing talent.

Goals of the Army Acquisition Workforce Recruitment and Sustainment Center of Excellence:

• Support Army civilian hiring reform goals.
• Meet the secretary of the Army’s 60-day reduction in time to hire.
• Leverage direct hiring authority and expedited hiring authority as the preferred methods for hiring.
• Maintain a singular interpretation of DAWIA and its implications for acquisition workforce hiring.
• Oversee the ability to shape, hire and retain a highly qualified and professional Army Acquisition Workforce.

Source: Civilian Human Resources Agency and the Army DACM Office

This article is published in the Winter 2020 issue of Army AL&T magazine.

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