JMC brings new employees aboard with its AMPED program to develop a workforce that’s energized, committed and engaged.

by Ms. Erica Slattery, Ms. Heather Tahja and Ms. Nicole Kirschmann

Faced with two challenges—a big chunk of its workforce nearing retirement age and a growing number of new hires—the Joint Munitions Command has rolled out a new training program that’s increasing connection and motivation among new and existing employees.

Launched in January 2015 and based on research conducted across the JMC workforce, the Achieving Maximum Professional Employee Development (AMPED) program is designed to welcome new employees and show them the breadth and depth of JMC—the organization, its mission and its people.

Shifting demographics have resulted in increased hiring at JMC headquarters in recent years, prompting a corresponding exploration of onboarding practices that culminated in the creation of AMPED. From FY12 to FY14, 40 new employees were hired at JMC HQ; in contrast, 71 new employees were hired during FY16 alone. By FY21, approximately 52 percent of the current HQ JMC workforce (353 out of approximately 670 civilian employees) is projected to be eligible for retirement, said Norbert Herrera, JMC’s deputy chief of staff for human resource management. With projected increases in attrition in FY17 to FY21 because of dramatic rises in retirement eligibility, it is critical for the organization to continue efforts to recruit, develop and shape the future workforce.

With this in mind, said Herrera, the command set out in 2014 “to implement programs and practices that help us develop a highly trained, diverse, inclusive and adaptive workforce who embrace change and maintain a standard of excellence. This begins with efficient and effective onboarding of new employees.”

JMC developed the AMPED program to create a positive first impression, acclimate new employees, shorten the time it takes for them to become productive members of the organization, and demonstrate commitment to their personal and professional development. Before AMPED, new employees would shadow their counterparts to learn their specific mission workload. Many new employees remained unaware of the various other missions and core competencies within the enterprise.

To bridge this knowledge gap among newer employees who have not yet gotten acquainted with the breadth of the mission, JMC identified the fundamental competencies, such as team building, required for new employees to understand JMC’s mission, vision, goals and objectives, and developed the AMPED program curriculum.

STRATEGIC RESEARCH DETERMINED THE COURSE CURRICULUM
Beginning in 2014, AMPED program managers conducted focus groups, interviews and surveys across several demographic groups at JMC: new employees, those in the middle of their careers, senior experts, supervisors and senior executives. The goal of these assessments was to identify the topics and elements that would most benefit new JMC employees. About 160 employees gave input in focus groups and interviews, and 400 surveys were collected from the workforce. The program managers also researched similar programs used in private industry and by other Army organizations to identify successful benchmarking and best practices.

This research pinpointed four main subjects that all new employees needed to know, regardless of position title, series or JMC assignment location. Those topics include onboarding and acculturation; JMC 100-series; the language of ammunition; and common competencies. Within each main subject area, the AMPED program managers developed curriculum topics based on employee and supervisor feedback. Onboarding and acculturation includes personnel policies, career management, workforce dignity and respect, personal image, business etiquette, and how to be a cyberwarrior. The JMC 100-Series covers topics such as how JMC runs, lines of operation and core mission competencies, while the language of ammunition covers the life cycle and purpose of JMC commodities, from small-caliber bullets to large bombs. The final main subject covers competencies common to most workplaces: leader development, professional writing, staffing, team building, time management, conflict resolution and presentation skills.

The AMPED program is currently held on a semiannual basis, with classroom training half-days on Monday through Thursday for several weeks. The curriculum also includes travel to two JMC subordinate installations: a government-owned, contractor-operated facility and a government-owned, government-operated facility. The part-time class schedule provides new employees the time to take the onboarding training, while also having enough time to be integrated with their respective teams and apply their new knowledge. AMPED classes can accommodate up to 25 students, which provides more opportunities for effective group exercises and increased student engagement.

The AMPED program managers are currently analyzing the program and are constructing a new version of AMPED that will be released in fall 2017 and will be exportable to JMC subordinate installations across the JMC enterprise.

New JMC employees say they have found AMPED to be a refreshing change from the typical onboarding programs in place at other government civilian jobs. “Having transferred from a different command, I was blown away by how well-organized and passionate the facilitators were when discussing each and every topic,” said Joseph Klunder, JMC execution inventory manager who completed the AMPED program in 2016.

AMPED UP AND READY TO WORK
A recent AMPED cohort celebrated graduation in December 2016. Brig. Gen. Richard Dix, JMC commanding general, far left, presented certificates to the graduates. The program’s emphasis on networking and team building has created cohorts of new employees who still get together regularly. (Photo by Tony Lopez, JMC Public and Congressional Affairs)

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT REFINES AMPED EXPERIENCE
AMPED program managers strive for continuous improvement through the use of feedback and suggestions collected from surveys, after-action reviews and other forms of communication. The AMPED program relies heavily on qualitative and quantitative questions posed in program surveys that are collected at the conclusion of each module. Thus far, 111 new JMC employees have graduated from the AMPED program, and 97 percent give the program a positive rating.

For AMPED program managers, the biggest lesson learned is to remain flexible. Each cohort includes a range of personal, professional and military backgrounds, so it is important to canvas the audience before each session and make course curriculum adjustments if necessary. For example, a cohort with more military experience might not need to spend as much time on military “greening” as a cohort in which very few participants have a military background.

Also, supervisor endorsement of the program is imperative. New employees need to commit to attending and participating in the entire program in order for it to be optimally successful. Supervisors should encourage full attendance and work with employees to maintain a manageable workload during that time. Each new employee is also assigned a sponsor, typically a teammate who assists the new employee with issues such as orientation to the team. Sponsors of new employees should also be in touch with the new employees throughout the course of the program to gauge program effectiveness and employee feedback.

Another AMPED best practice is to strategically incorporate site visits, hands-on activities and games, in addition to traditional classroom briefings and small-group discussions, throughout the program as both a check on learning and a relationship-building tool. Reinforcing the material through hands-on activities helps engage employees and offers an opportunity for them to better understand and apply the information that was taught. AMPED program managers recognize that each employee is unique in how he or she best learns, so AMPED has been strategically designed to accommodate different modes of learning. The goal is to provide foundation-level knowledge through an informative, comfortable and fun environment. Instructors facilitate games such as Jeopardy, sports games that tie in with the season the class is held, and scavenger hunts throughout the JMC building. All games and exercises reinforce learning and provide team building, relationship building and networking opportunities.

The site visits provide students with opportunities to see and experience the JMC core competencies of produce, store, distribute and demilitarization that were studied in the classroom setting. Incorporating fun checks on learning into the curriculum has paid dividends: in post-program surveys, students rave about their AMPED experiences and frequently name these non-traditional methods of instruction to be their favorite parts of the program.

AMPED-UP DEVELOPMENT FOR EMPLOYEES
One benefit of the vigorous training program is increased professional development and engagement from both new employees and their established co-workers. AMPED has encouraged a culture of continuous learning and knowledge-sharing at JMC. Senior leaders, supervisors, sponsors, mentors, co-workers, peers and human resource professionals have volunteered to develop and instruct classes, conduct learning reinforcement activities and provide avenues for new employees to get to know the organization’s leaders and experts.

The positive results are a strong motivator to pitch in, said Jim Seward, JMC business transformation analyst who is also an AMPED instructor. “The program focuses on showing all employees where they fit into the enterprise mission and emphasizes to new employees how they are integrated into the organization. Most training tends to focus on one specific area without making the important connections to show all parties impacted. New employees leave AMPED with a much better understanding of their expectations and with much more confidence and trust in the organization.”

AMPED graduates have approached the program managers to inquire about opportunities to facilitate future classes, expressing a desire to “pay it forward” by offering the same expertise and passion AMPED facilitators showed them during their onboarding to JMC new employees for future classes.

ONBOARDING A GOGO
AMPED cohort IV classmates toured Crane Army Ammunition Activity in Crane, Indiana, in March 2016. The 24 new employees spent two days touring Joint Munitions Command production lines at the government-owned and -operated facility, and visiting the co-located Naval Support Activity Crane, accomplishing two of the onboarding program’s key goals: learning what JMC as a whole does, and learning the basics of ammunition. (Photo by Lori McFate, JMC)

“New and old employees alike will benefit from the AMPED program,” said information technology specialist Joshua Thompson, an AMPED graduate who’s now a facilitator. “First off, the networking alone from meeting new people is a great benefit, as is going to the various mission areas and site location visits to learn more about the JMC core competencies. I also got to speak in front of the class as a facilitator during the next session and help new employees identify more with the JMC cybersecurity mission. The experience from both sides was rewarding.”

The program’s emphasis on team building and networking has led to lasting relationships. Many cohorts still get together inside and outside of work to maintain the relationships and camaraderie fostered during onboarding. “AMPED was an invaluable experience that provided a strong foundation of knowledge that helped me understand my role in the organization and how I contribute to the larger mission,” said Sudan Abdur-Rahman, a general engineer who completed the program in 2016. “In addition, as a new employee who is not local to the JMC geographical area, the AMPED program provided me with a networking forum to build relationships and friendships that have carried outside of the work environment.”

Cohort IV graduated from AMPED in March 2016, and its members, including Michelle Wells, still hold a monthly after-work social. “There was a positive and fun learning environment. Because of that, a number of us have kept up friendships over the last year. Those friendships also help at work: As a new employee, I know people in sections that normally I might not have met,” said Wells, a JMC logistics management specialist.

Another member of cohort IV echoed this sentiment. “Sometimes it’s as simple as knowing the right person to ask the question. Working in the fast-paced environment of operations and planning, it is imperative to know where to go and who to ask,” said Theresa Grindeland, a 2016 AMPED graduate and an ammunition operations program analyst.

CONCLUSION
“By taking an active interest in professional development when employees come to JMC, we are building a culture of engagement,” said Michelle Timmerman, JMC personnel development and policy division chief. AMPED has proven successful in helping JMC not only build the bench as its workforce ages, but also in keeping employees and supervisors at all levels engaged and focused on career development and mission readiness.

“We anticipate this program will remain sustainable for new JMC employees, and also have plans in place to offer program content to current employees” as a professional development opportunity to fill knowledge gaps, said Timmerman. “The program is not built or meant to be a ‘one and done’ approach. We intentionally developed it this way so that we would have the ability to mold and shape the program to meet current and emerging requirements for our workforce.”

By the end of FY17, the goal is to implement the AMPED program across the JMC enterprise at JMC’s outlying installations in 13 states. Several organizations, including the U.S. Army Materiel Command and the U.S. Army Sustainment Command, have adopted the best practices from the AMPED program and have planned, implemented or improved similar programs for their organizations. AMPED program managers believe that their efforts can help sister commands train and retain an engaged, informed workforce across the Army acquisition enterprise.

For more information, contact Erica Slattery at erica.l.slattery.civ@mail.mil or Heather Tahja at heather.m.tahja.civ@mail.mil.

MS. ERICA SLATTERY is a human resource specialist in the G-1 staff at the Joint Munitions Command (JMC), Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. She has 13 years of government service and has earned the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Financial Management Award. She has a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) green belt and is currently an LSS black belt candidate. She holds a B.A. in business administration from Augustana College.

MS. HEATHER TAHJA is a program specialist in the G-1 staff at JMC. She has eight years of government service and earned a Commanders’ Award for Civilian Service as well as a Beyond Peer Expectation Award. She holds a B.A. in mass communications from Western Illinois University.

MS. NICOLE KIRSCHMANN is a public affairs specialist at JMC. She holds an M.A. in teaching from Augusta University and a B.A. in English and sociology and a B.S. in psychology from Tulane University. She has 15 years of experience in education and training, including as a DOD contractor working for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Germany.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

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COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Project Manager for Precision Fires Rocket and Missile Systems, Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space
TITLE: Assistant product manager, field artillery launchers
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 7
YEARS OF MILITARY SERVICE: 5.5 years active duty, U.S. Air Force; 10 years, U.S. Air Force Reserve
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level III in program management
EDUCATION: B.S. in electrical engineering, Brigham Young University
AWARDS: Army Acquisition Executive’s Excellence in Leadership Award, Support Professional of the Year; Acquisition Hero Award from the Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology

Relationships are key to his success

By Susan Follett

Assistant Product Manager Lawrence Nevins has been in one spot for the past several years. And that’s a good thing. Since late 2009, he’s been the assistant product manager for field artillery launchers in the Project Manager Precision Fires Rocket and Missile Systems, responsible for the M270A1 launcher fleet. Based on the Soldier feedback he’s heard, Nevins noted, “It’s a system that is well-liked and has proven to be extremely effective in executing its mission.”

Nevins is charged with supporting the product manager and project manager in budgeting and executing efforts that modernize the M270A1 weapon system and ensuring that it is a viable weapon platform for ongoing warfighter requirements. His seven years in the role “gives me a deep working knowledge of the weapon system and the people and processes needed to maintain its high performance in the field,” he said, “and my longevity in this position has helped the project office maintain a relatively constant course.”

Like many, the biggest challenge he faces in his work is shifting budgets. “We start a project with a certain budget, but that often gets cut, forcing us to re-plan midstream,” he said. “The solution to that is to prioritize, and we often end up getting rid of the lower-priority features. No one likes to hear it, but we are often forced to reduce capabilities.”

Lawrence Nevins stands before an M270A1 field artillery launcher. “It’s a system that is well-liked and has proven to be extremely effective in executing its mission,” he said. (U.S. Army photo by Lawrence Nevins)

Nevins’ roots in acquisition date back more than 20 years. He joined the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space (PEO MS) after two decades of product management in the private sector, where he developed commercial products as well as U.S. and foreign military products for defense contractors and computer and telecommunication companies. Additionally, he has roughly 15 years of Air Force experience: five and a half years on active duty and the remainder as a reservist. “With the combination of prior military acquisition experience and knowledge of industry practices in product development, I am able to provide a balanced view to my team members, peers and senior management to help accomplish the organization’s goals effectively and efficiently,” he said.

He spelled out what he’s learned from his previous assignments. “My initial military acquisition background and subsequent industry experiences taught me the importance of genuinely valuing the people who work with you and for you. A team will accomplish much more when the team members know their leader values their opinion and effort.”

Several of his supervisors, military and civilian, understood how to delegate without micromanaging and how to encourage professional growth through new tasks, he noted. “I am grateful to them for challenging and coaching me,” he said. In his first assignment in acquisition, as a second lieutenant in the Air Force, Lt. Col. Michael Hurt “was a very good mentor. He was knowledgeable and shared that knowledge with those of us just beginning in acquisition. We were given responsibility and guidance, then allowed to execute the task at hand. His willingness to allow young officers to accomplish tasks without micromanaging enabled me to learn and grow my knowledge quickly. And on those few occasions when I made a mistake, he would use those as learning opportunities rather than disciplinary events.” Nevins also praised an industry supervisor, James Whatley, for his mentoring. “He demonstrated effective ways to direct effort while coaching his subordinates to success. I was challenged with new assignments that I hadn’t previously experienced, and he would be there as a resource, or coach, when I got to a point where I needed help.”

Nevins was one of two people to receive the 2016 Army Acquisition Executive’s Excellence in Leadership Awards in the Support Professional of the Year category. Nevins “demonstrated outstanding system engineering skills overseeing development and sustainment of the M270A1 launcher,” said Barry Pike, PEO MS, who nominated Nevins for the award, noting the benefits to Improved Armored Cab (IAC) and the Fire Control System Update (FCS-U) programs. “His superb leadership and dedication to the mission resulted in the successful design and production of new IAC and FCS-U prototypes for the Army.” Receiving the award “was very humbling,” said Nevins, “and at the same time, it’s very gratifying to see our efforts recognized.”

When he’s not at work, Nevins pursues his interest in portrait and landscape photography and provides career counseling services. He’s also active in a handful of projects at his church. “All of my activities, at work and away from work, are about building relationships,” he said. “Relationships are the key to achieving any goal.”

Looking to move along a path similar to Nevins? Slow down, he advised. “Don’t be in too much of a hurry to move up. Allow yourself time to thoroughly understand and execute your current assignment before moving to another.” He also recommended obtaining career field certifications—and holding on to the course materials. “The classes contain very good information, but it will be forgotten if you are not using it. Don’t forget to revisit the material when you begin a new phase of a program to refresh your knowledge.”

“Faces of the Force” is an online series highlighting members of the Army Acquisition Workforce through the power of individual stories. Profiles are produced by the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center Communication and Support Branch, working closely with public affairs officers to feature Soldiers and civilians serving in various AL&T disciplines. For more information, or to nominate someone, please contact 703-664-5635.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July – September issue Army AL&T magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

T2C2: Reducing complexity and providing proper training enable unit-sustained systems.

by Maj. Jonathan Lipscomb

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Adequately training units to operate, maintain and sustain their own systems is the cornerstone of the Army’s push to reduce its heavy reliance on contracted field service representative (FSR) support and to improve unit readiness.

The sustainment strategy for the Army’s new early entry tactical network capability, Transportable Tactical Command Communications (T2C2), takes this saying to heart, and calls for this new program of record (POR) to be fully operated, supported and maintained by the unit, without the need for FSRs.

Because of its simple design, even Soldiers without previous signal experience can learn how to operate and maintain this unique inflatable satellite communications (SATCOM) system with minimal training. Additionally, collaboration across Army acquisition organizations is helping units learn how to sustain the systems on their own.

In early 2000, during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan, the Army rapidly fielded advanced network capability to keep up with the pace of battle. To support such quick reaction, the service was forced to rely heavily on contracted FSR support, project manager (PM) assistance and industry supported depots to ensure Soldiers could operate and maintain all of the new technologies flooding the battlefield.

Since that time, a more constrained fiscal environment has motivated the Army to move away from expensive external support toward a more organic sustainment model where units are accountable for systems.Project Manager Warfighter Information Network – Tactical (PM WIN-T), which manages the Army’s tactical network, and its parent organization, the Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T), have been leaders in the Army’s quest to reduce FSR support. Since FY13, PEO C3T has reduced its reliance on FSRs by over 75 percent and plans to eliminate an additional 50 percent by FY19.

In support of these efforts, PM WIN-T’s sustainment plan for T2C2 calls for the system to be fully operated, supported and maintained by the unit. The unit also will be accountable for its own maintenance and spares, a procedure made possible by the system’s simple design and ease of use.

FROSTY EVAL
A Soldier from the 4th Infantry BCT (Airborne) sets up a WIN-T T2C2 Lite satellite terminal during the March pilot phase of the T2C2 operational test. T2C2 will be owned, repaired sustained by the units who operate it—with reachback support available from CECOM logistics assistance representatives, and depot-level maintenance available for major issues. (Photo by Amy Walker, PEO C3T Public Affairs)

T2C2 has proven to be easy for general purpose users to set up, operate, navigate to enter various tactical networks and troubleshoot after just a couple of weeks of training. The system may look like a giant beach ball, but it provides robust expeditionary early-entry and remote edge-of-the-battlefield mission command via the Army’s tactical network.

T2C2 Heavy and Lite variants are inflatable, providing units with a larger antenna with increased capability and bandwidth efficiency in half the size of current solutions. These resilient SATCOM terminals can withstand extreme weather conditions and even air drops.

The Army successfully conducted the initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) of its inflatable T2C2 satellite communications terminal in March, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, amid temperatures dipping below minus 10 degrees. Putting the system through an operational test, and the many required precursor IOT&E risk reduction events, ensures it is ready for fielding and that units will be able to successfully operate, maintain and sustain the system once they own it.

TEACHING THE UNIT TO FISH

Months before the IOT&E, PM WIN-T, in conjunction with Training and Doctrine Command; Communications-Electronics Command Life Cycle Management Command (CECOM LCMC) and industry, conducted a Soldier-supported logistics demonstration to help further improve the system’s sustainment strategy. The logistics demonstration included full implementation and review of the training and technical manuals, which also provide step-by-step troubleshooting procedures. T2C2 also leverages the WIN-T Information Support Exchange portal to provide detailed technical procedures, the most recent updates to training materials and technical manuals, and community feeds on common troubleshooting approaches. Additionally, PM WIN-T is planning to implement interactive media instruction training materials to assist in train-the-trainer and refresher training.

Before the IOT&E, PM WIN-T provided new equipment training (NET) to the Soldiers supporting the test at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. When T2C2 is ready to officially field, units will receive NET as part of the standard fielding process.

“The T2C2 training was outstanding; they really teach you the system so you know the ins and outs of it,” said Sgt. Corey Farthing, automation noncommissioned officer for the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 4th Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 25th Infantry Division (4/25). “It’s not just ‘push the button because I said so;’ you understand what happens when you do this and how to fix it because of that. And the technical manual is step by step. There are flow charts that talk you through. I don’t think we found one thing yet that we haven’t been able to fix through the manual.”

TACTICAL COMMO
Soldiers from the 4th Infantry BCT (Airborne), 4/25, prepare for the March WIN-T T2C2 operational test at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The satellite communications system connects units at the edge of the battlefield to the Army’s tactical network. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Pedro Garcia Bibian, 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera))

Both the T2C2 Heavy and Lite variants will support early-entry combat operations. Additionally, T2C2 Heavy will support company-size forward operating bases, and T2C2 Lite will be fielded to special team-size elements, such as combat camera and human intelligence teams, which require high-bandwidth network capability to send large data files like photos, geospatial imagery and video. Soldiers from combat camera, Army Alaska public affairs and human intelligence teams with no prior signal experience were among the Soldiers who successfully operated T2C2 during the IOT&E.

“It’s unbelievable that non-signal Soldiers with only two weeks of training are able to put these systems on the ground, acquire the satellite, put them into operation quickly, make voice and data calls, push products on their military intelligence systems and make mission,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Woody Scott, 4/25 ID network operations officer in charge during the operational test. “That says something incredible about how these systems are designed in their simplicity and the quality of the training that the Soldiers have received.”

Historically, keeping units well trained on often complex network equipment has been a challenge for the Army. Soldiers often rotate in and out of units, because of factors such as service advancements and mission requirements. Part of the solution to these ongoing training issues is to design new equipment (and modify legacy equipment) to be less complex, easier to operate, train and maintain, as is the case with T2C2. Because of T2C2’s simple design and ease of use, units that have received the initial PM-provided NET will easily be able to train Soldiers who rotate into the unit.

NOCTURNAL SHIFT
4th Infantry BCT (Airborne) Soldiers work with the T2C2 SATCOM terminal at night at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in March. The inflatable terminal offers connectivity in remote locations at half the weight of current systems. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Pedro Garcia Bibian, 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera))

The goal of the T2C2 system sustainment package is to enable units to fully support the system, which will achieve significant efficiencies in both time and cost for the Army. The PM WIN-T T2C2 team worked hand in hand with CECOM LCMC early in the acquisition process to map out the system sustainment package, including training, to ensure that units could be accountable for their own T2C2 systems. The T2C2 training strategy includes an important role for CECOM logistics assistance representatives (LARs), who will help train, advise and assist units in lieu of FSR support.

“When things work well for a POR, you will find that early on there was a partnership between the PM and the LCMC community,” said Bill Flynn, CECOM LCMC trail boss for U.S. Army Alaska Field Support Battalion. Trail bosses are CECOM’s face to the field, who serve as a vital link between operational units and the many government and industry stakeholders that provide capabilities to the unit. They help ensure proper training and equipment is in place and conduct end-to-end integration and planning to successfully execute events such as the T2C2 IOT&E.

“LARs will provide the training, mentorship and support needed when the unit becomes fully accountable for its T2C2 systems. They will provide the continuity and cohesiveness units need as their Soldiers transition in and out of the mission.”

MAINTAINING THE FISHING POLE

Maintenance is an important part of the T2C2 sustainment plan, to enable units to be fully accountable for their systems. In accordance with the T2C2 Life Cycle Sustainment Plan, the system will be sustained using two-level maintenance—with the unit, not contracted field support representatives, forward, fixing its own equipment first. When issues exceed unit capability, the systems will be sent out for depot-level support.

“You don’t have to be too savvy on how to change out parts and fix the system,” Farthing said. “If we do have to change a part that breaks, it’s super easy on this system, whether it be on the baseband side or the antenna side. T2C2 is simple, definitely user-friendly.”

BY THE BOOK
Soldiers use the technical manual to troubleshoot procedures to correct faults inflicted on their system as part of the March test at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Early feedback indicates that non-specialist users can easily set up the terminals, use the system to access the tactical network, and troubleshoot issues using the manual. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Pedro Garcia Bibian, 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera))

Contractor support will be used until the depot-level support for sustainment maintenance is in place. Product Manager SATCOM intends to fully use the Standard Army Supply System when parts exceed their one-year warranty, as soon as parts are on the shelf and contracts for procurement and repair of spares are in place.

In addition to having LARs support, CECOM trail bosses, located at every Army division headquarters, will provide units with additional logistics support. Trail bosses have an extensive network of contacts and can assist units in locating the right people and resources to most effectively and efficiently resolve maintenance and other sustainment challenges.

“I don’t have to know how to fix it; I have a very full Rolodex, I know who to call,” Flynn said. “Trail bosses have great reachback. We are like orchestra conductors or street cops: if there is an issue, we will find the solution to the problem.”

CONCLUSION

Changing the training and sustainment paradigm to enable units to be more self-sufficient when it comes to their equipment on the battlefield will help the Army in its quest to reduce FSR support, while reducing system down time. The T2C2 program can be used as a model for other evolving programs with similar goals. The system is easy to operate, train and maintain by general purpose users. Additionally, the T2C2 team coordinated with key players early in the acquisition process to ensure training and sustainment strategies were optimal and would contribute to the success of each unit. Returning to basics and putting sustainment responsibilities back into the hands of units—as it was before OIF and OEF—will enable units to more effectively operate the systems, manage their own property, repair issues quickly and increase the readiness of the force.

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

COLD TRAINING
Soldiers from the 4th Infantry BCT (Airborne), 4/25, train in February for the March WIN-T T2C2 operational test at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The test and evaluation process prepared the project management team to, among other things, field a system that any unit could maintain on its own, without relying on expensive contractors. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Pedro Garcia Bibian, 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera))

MAJ. JONATHAN LIPSCOMB is the assistant product manager for T2C2 SATCOM. He holds an MBA with a focus on acquisition and contract management from the Naval Postgraduate School and a B.S. in forestry from Virginia Tech. He is Level II certified in program management.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

ONLINE EXTRA

Transportable Tactical Command Communications

“It Ain’t Heavy, It’s My Connectivity,” Army AL&T, April – June 2016

Rotational assignment program develops and retains talent across the security assistance workforce.

by Mr. Adam Genest and Ms. Carly Glenn

In Huntsville, Alabama, Nick Curry’s bags were packed. He was enjoying a big send-off dinner with his wife, son, daughter, mother, stepfather and younger sisters. Curry promised to FaceTime often and said he would visit over spring break. He had only been away from his family for, at most, a week at a time, and being gone for six months would be a big adjustment. But he knew this was his chance to connect with the people and processes that shaped his daily work.

Curry, a logistics management specialist with the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (AMCOM) Security Assistance Management Division (SAMD), was on his way to start a six-month assignment through the Security Assistance Workforce Rotational Assignment Program. Managed by the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for defense exports and cooperation (DASA(DE&C)), the program provides government employees across the Army security assistance enterprise (ASAE) the opportunity to temporarily rotate to a different organization within the ASAE.

“My hope is that this will enhance the workforce’s understanding of the Army’s entire security assistance mission and how other organizations within the security assistance enterprise contribute to the success of the Army’s security assistance program,” stated DASA(DE&C) Ann Cataldo in a memo announcing the program.

Security assistance in DOD is a subset of security cooperation, which encompasses all DOD interactions with foreign defense and security establishments. These undertakings are an important tool in the execution of U.S. foreign policy, allowing the U.S. to build allied and partner capacity, promote interoperability and share the burden of our global security responsibilities with partners and allies.

The scope of security assistance across DOD and within the Army is wide and deep. Under the guidance of the Department of State and oversight of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), DOD security assistance comprises a group of programs, authorized under Title 22 authorities, by which the United States provides defense articles (such as munitions, technology and sensitive data), military education and training and other defense-related services by grant, loan, credit, cash sale or lease to foreign partners and allies in furtherance of national policies and objectives.

The ASAE consists of approximately 3,000 personnel within dozens of organizations throughout Headquarters, Department of the Army; U.S. Army Materiel Command; U.S. Training and Doctrine Command; U.S. Army Medical Command; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Direct Reporting Units. Understanding the entire ASAE and all the processes, policies, funding sources and authorities can be a challenge for even a seasoned professional. Subject matter experts rarely get an opportunity to see a different side of DOD security assistance, but they can gain an understanding and appreciation for how the pieces fit together by participating in the Rotational Assignment Program (RAP). ASAE organizations create temporary positions for the program, interested individuals apply, and selected participants are placed in assignments lasting between three and six months. Eighteen people are participating in the FY17 program; Curry, April Miller, Jennifer Griffin, Freeman Nlandu and Alisha Wade have been placed with DASA(DE&C).

BLOSSOMING UNDERSTANDING
April Miller, Nick Curry, Freeman Nlandu and Jennifer Griffin, from left, enjoy the cherry blossoms outside the Taylor Building in Crystal City, Virginia. The Rotational Assignment Program demonstrates the Army’s commitment to participating employees while also expanding the employees’ knowledge of DOD’s security cooperation mission.

With support from their leadership and the hosting organization, participants get out from behind their desk, away from their regular duties and broaden their knowledge of security assistance. Griffin, also a logistics management specialist with AMCOM SAMD, said that the opportunity to learn something new encouraged her to apply. “I’ve never worked in security assistance policy before. I’m getting on-the-job training in an entirely new discipline and get to take it back to my organization.”

In addition to being an excellent personal broadening opportunity, the RAP allows participants to build relationships and open the lines of communication across the enterprise. “A lot of the time, we [AMCOM SAMD] don’t know what goes on here [at DASA(DE&C)],” said Curry. “We’re sending documents or information to what can seem like a black hole … wondering if they are open to communicating. Being here, seeing the need to communicate has been beneficial, and I have been able to reach back to my home organization with hot items, like a piece of critical information or an important contact within the organization.” Miller added, “When we are developing an FMS [foreign military sales] case at our level, sometimes the process can seem a little slower than we might like. But with the connections I’ve developed at DASA(DE&C), I think we’ll be able to move our cases along a little faster.”

In a large, matrixed organization like ASAE, it can be difficult to convey the overall vision to personnel three or four layers removed from HQDA. “There is a gap,” said Nlandu, European Command & Africa Command branch chief with the U.S. Army Security Assistance Training Management Organization. “There are the senior leaders and then the person in the foxhole. When you are in the foxhole, you want to know what to do and who to call. [The RAP] is about letting the people in the foxhole know how their work contributes to the big picture.”

The RAP selection process is competitive; organizations send their best representatives to embed in other positions within the enterprise. Participants tend to be problem-solvers, seeking to apply what they learn through the program to make their home organization more effective.

According to David Williams of DASA(DE&C), who manages the RAP, the initiative is a key element in retaining high-quality and talented employees, in addition to building capacity and encouraging communication across the enterprise. “Speaking with folks who have come to DASA(DE&C), they all said that ‘This has opened my eyes. My batteries are now recharged.’ I like to think that RAP enhances a person’s annual assessment and future growth opportunities. Individuals who are interested in enhancing their career are the ones who apply.”

When asked if the RAP helps retain talent, Griffin, Curry, Miller and Nlandu all said yes. The program makes employees feel valued and invested in by the Army, and it encourages a sense of loyalty—not only to their home organization, but to the mission of the enterprise as a whole.

Feeling valued is important, but does it outweigh the challenges presented when a loved one leaves family and friends for six months? Curry said he would “like to think she [his wife] is falling apart, but she’s holding it down pretty well. She is a strong woman.” Neighbors, friends and family have come together to form a strong support system, and Curry has been able to visit home three times in the last three months, to attend a father-daughter dance, take time for spring break, and see his son inducted into the National Elementary Honor Society.

BROADENING EXPERIENCE
RAP participants, from left, Freeman Nlandu, April Miller, Nick Curry and Jennifer Griffin stand outside the Taylor Building in Crystal City, Virginia. All are working on temporary six-month assignments with the DASA(DE&C), and will return to their home organizations around the Army security assistance enterprise after completing the RAP. (Photos by Carly Glenn, DASA(DE&C))

What about the home organization that loses a full-time employee for multiple months? Leadership sometimes fears the loss will be permanent, creating hesitation in letting personnel apply. “I prepared my guys before I left and talked to them about participatory leadership,” said Nlandu. “My absence has not resulted in any gap, and I’m continuing to help them while I’m here, just in a different role.”

Curry said he feels like a “SAMD liaison officer” between DASA(DE&C) and AMCOM SAMD. He has been able to reach back to his home organization to make sure they are providing the right information to DASA(DE&C) and to answer their financial questions.

Through a participant’s time in the RAP, the home organizations are provided special insight into what is happening within other parts of the ASAE, and the sponsoring organization is offered a different perspective from each participant. All involved parties benefit, and leadership currently not involved with the program may want to consider the value RAP can bring to their organization.

“What is so important when you’re in my job [at U.S. Army Security Assistance Training Management Organization] is to implement senior leaders’ visions,” said Nlandu. “Coming here and just being exposed to the security cooperation enterprise is exciting. … It gives you the opportunity to understand the vision and requirements, and when you go back, you can implement the vision. You can support your leaders from your foxhole.”

The success of the program is reflected by its rapid growth. Despite being established only three years ago, the RAP has grown every year: More agencies and commands are encouraging their employees to apply and are increasingly volunteering to sponsor participants from other organizations. This year the program expanded outside of the Army, with the participation of DSCA.

Upon return to their home organization, Miller, Curry, Nlandu, Griffin and Wade will take back a greater understanding of the ASAE, stronger relationships with those who shape the policy of their everyday work and a renewed sense of dedication. Through the support of their families, friends and leadership, they will have gained an opportunity to grow professionally, and their organizations will be more tightly linked to the enterprise as a whole.

For more information on the RAP, go to the DASA(DE&C) Training SharePoint page at https://spcs3.kc.army.mil/asaalt/zn/DEC_Training/SitePages/Home.aspx.

MR. ADAM GENEST is a strategic communications contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton providing contract support to DASA(DE&C). He holds a master of forensic science from George Washington University and a B.A. in homeland security and emergency preparedness from Virginia Commonwealth University.

MS. CARLY GLENN is a functional analyst with General Dynamics Information Technology providing contract support to DASA(DE&C). She is pursuing a master of strategic public relations at George Washington University and holds a B.A. in communication from Virginia Tech.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

ONLINE EXTRAS

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Defense Exports and Cooperation

Defense Security Cooperation Agency

COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Product Manager for Force Sustainment Systems, Program Executive Office for Combat Support and Combat Service Support
TITLE: Supervisory mechanical engineer, cargo aerial delivery team leader
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 39
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level III in engineering
EDUCATION: B.S. in mechanical engineering and bachelor of engineering technology in mechanical engineering, Northeastern University
AWARDS: Top Ten U.S. Army Materiel Command Personnel of the Year; Commander’s Award for Civilian Service; Association of the U.S. Army Citation for Exceptional Service; U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center Technical Director’s Silver Pin for Development and Engineering; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Theodor W. Knacke Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Award

Part of Gary Thibault’s career is looking up

by Susan L. Follett

Gary Thibault has spent a lot of time waiting for things to fall out of the sky. But he’s no Chicken Little: With nearly 40 years in aerial delivery systems development, he has played an important role in making sure that Soldiers at forward operating bases and on humanitarian missions get the supplies and equipment they need.

Thibault is a supervisory mechanical engineer and cargo aerial delivery (CAD) team leader within Product Manager for Force Sustainment Systems, part of the Program Executive Office for Combat Support and Combat Service Support (PEO CS&CSS). He is part of U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) and assigned to PEO CS&CSS, and he works with the assistant product manager for CAD in leading a team of Army acquisition professionals in advancing CAD capabilities for the Army and DOD—systems for deploying, stabilizing and decelerating a payload so that it lands in a fully mission-capable condition at the correct location.

“Our CAD team’s job is to manage the development of the most capable and advanced cargo aerial delivery systems and equipment in the world, and to manage the fielding of that equipment to the most capable fighting force in the world,” said Thibault. “We can only accomplish that mission with close and constant collaboration with our many acquisition partners.” Those include the group’s combat developer, the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command; joint service users; the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, which provides essential test and evaluation services; the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command, which provides expert flight test support; and the Defense Logistics Agency and the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command’s Integrated Logistics Support Center, which provide logistics and sustainment support.

Thibault has spent his entire career as an engineer in the airdrop field at NSRDEC, and has had a hand in replacing much of the portfolio of Korean War- and Vietnam War-era airdrop equipment with more advanced equipment—improvements necessitated and facilitated by engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the peak of Operation Enduring Freedom, 85 million pounds of cargo were dropped in Afghanistan in one year. The increase in aerial deliveries provided more opportunity for Thibault and the CAD team to collect feedback from Soldiers in theater. That feedback informed improvements to two key systems: the Low-Cost Aerial Delivery System (LCADS) and the Joint Precision Aerial Delivery System (JPADS). LCADS is a one-time-use ballistic system that delivers supplies from low altitudes, while JPADS releases at high altitudes and uses airborne guidance units for precision drops.

Legacy Army cargo supply parachutes are made from nylon and have to be packed by hand by a trained rigger and recovered after each use, and it was difficult to keep up with demand created by engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. A new system was developed by the NSRDEC that uses a prepacked polypropylene chute. Those changes reduced the cost of the system by 50 percent and eliminated the need for a rigger to pack each parachute. “The biggest challenge we face now is remaining relevant and agile in the current environment of financial uncertainty and changing priorities,” Thibault said. “The best way to address that is to anticipate change and stay in touch with our ultimate customer, the Soldier and the combatant commanders. If we get too far removed from that, we won’t do well.”

Thibault was hired in 1978 as a co-op engineering intern student at what was then the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories, and started in the Aero-Mechanical Engineering Directorate. Maurice P. Gionfriddo, an aerospace engineer from MIT and Airdrop Systems Integration Branch chief, hired Thibault and remained his technical and acquisition mentor for a good portion of his early career. “He made sure I was given demanding and challenging assignments in a team-centric environment, which allowed me to work with and learn from many other seasoned engineers on a wide range of equipment and systems.” Those early years also exposed him to the Army research, development, testing and engineering process and the importance of forming a cohesive integrated product team with all of the acquisition stakeholders.

He has been a member of the Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) since its inception. “Shortly after the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act became public law in 1990, and about 10 years into my career, my supervisor encouraged me to join the AAW and become certified in what was then systems planning research, development and engineering,” said Thibault. “It was a great opportunity to participate in the newly structured AAW training and certification program.”

Structured training is essential to understand the framework that guides defense acquisition, he added, “but it’s the interactions with users that have given me a better understanding of their airdrop needs, a broader knowledge of the airdrop equipment and a much deeper appreciation of the highly dynamic environment we need to design the equipment for.”

What sticks out most as he looks back over his career are “the experiences where I observed, firsthand, warfighters relying on airdrop equipment. There’s nothing like the feeling of standing on a desolate drop zone with warfighters or being on the delivering aircraft with the crew, waiting for that new or improved airdrop system or piece of equipment to safely come out of that aircraft.” Thibault has been on the ground for testing and training drops in locations around the U.S., including Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and Edwards Air Force Base, California. He also had the chance to take part in a humanitarian aid drop in what was then Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990s. Drop teams were having problems with the parachute systems used for large deliveries of food and clothing, and Thibault was part of a joint Army and Air Force team that observed the drops to try to identify and resolve the problem.

That hands-on experience is a vital part of career development, he said. “Get as much hands-on experience and functional knowledge as you can early on in your career, with the types of equipment and acquisition processes that interest you the most,” he said. “Immerse yourself wherever and whenever possible with warfighters who rely on and use the equipment or processes that spark your interest. In the words of former PEO Kevin Fahey, work like your life depends on it, because someone else’s does.”

Gary Thibault, second from right, gathers feedback from U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Frederick F. Roggero, left, while Air Force Col. John Rutkowski and Army Maj. Paul Mazure, assistant product manager for Force Sustainment Systems, listen in. All four were taking part in the 2007 Precision Airdrop Technology Conference and Demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground, Yuma, Arizona. (U.S. Army photo by Gary Thibault)

“Faces of the Force” is an online series highlighting members of the Army Acquisition Workforce through the power of individual stories. Profiles are produced by the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center Communication and Support Branch, working closely with public affairs officers to feature Soldiers and civilians serving in various AL&T disciplines. For more information, or to nominate someone, please contact 703-664-5635.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July – September issue Army AL&T magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

CERDEC’s STEM Superstar program uses pop culture, superheroes and everyday activities to show elementary school kids that STEM is everywhere.

by Ms. Erica Fineman-Bertoli

One afternoon when my son was five, we started talking about what he wants to be when he grows up.

“What about an engineer like your dad?” I asked.

“I know Daddy’s an engineer,” he said. “And he has never shown me his train, not once!”

Confused, I said, “Your father doesn’t have a train.”

“He doesn’t?” he asked. “Then what’s an engineer?”

Seven years later, that simple question from a 5-year-old boy evolved into a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program that has so far served 20,792 students in 937 classrooms.

STEM education is a national priority as the U.S. looks to secure its economic future beyond the 21st century. It is particularly critical within DOD, where STEM professionals are necessary to ensure national security. Yet selling kids on STEM can be difficult, as they often perceive it as too hard to attempt or too “uncool” to pursue.

In addition, an analysis of existing STEM programming conducted by the U.S. Army  Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) in 2009 showed a tendency for programs to target middle and high school students, providing skill-based activities, classroom-like seminars, lab experiences and internships. While these programs are critical to shaping the future STEM workforce, they can ignore younger students. This lack of early exposure can discourage participation in middle and high school, as by then students see STEM as intimidating or “other.” CERDEC’s STEM Superstar program, along with its STEM Outreach portfolio, aim to overcome those perceptions and introduce the youngest students to STEM.

AN EVIDENCE- (AND SUPERHERO-) BASED STEM

Most kids don’t like homework. They like sports, music, television and playing outside. If you ask them to choose between their favorite activities and studying, play will win every time. Knowing this, STEM Superstar asks every student, “What if I told you that every time you play, you are practicing STEM skills?” Suddenly, science homework doesn’t seem so bad.

CERDEC Outreach began writing the core curriculum for STEM Superstar in 2010. We decided early on to combine a traditional “lesson” element with a hand-on design activity. Wanting to keep it simple in deference to a targeted audience of first- through fifth-grade students, we identified two key concepts: “Engineers build things to solve problems” and “STEM is part of what you love to do every day.” With our key concepts in hand, we began the process of creating the lesson segment, using a narrative-based design that would leverage stories and activities the students already know and enjoy to develop an attitude of “I can.”

In the field of communication theory, Walter Fisher’s “narrative paradigm” states that effectiveness in communication relies on storytelling. This approach to narrative or content design supports persuasive communication design, and ties easily to research into the use of popular culture in the classroom. Teaching complex ideas through popular culture is rooted in research that links literacy outcomes to the effective use of prevalent narratives and learning to students’ self-identity. The practice dates back more than 15 years and has been explored in academic journals, including the Journal of Literacy Research and the Harvard Education Letter.

CALLING TONY STARK
STEM Superstar uses superheroes and children’s movies to introduce and define STEM concepts to early elementary school students. Feedback gathered over the first four years of the program justifies continuing it locally and encourages its implementation in other communities. (All illustrations by CERDEC)

STEM Superstar combines these two approaches by linking STEM lessons to stories children already know, identifying the characters as part of the STEM world and presenting information as part of an overall story arch as opposed to in individual content-based chunks. Specifically, the program uses superheroes and popular children’s movies to tell a story and help students to see themselves in terms of STEM success.

In designing the hands-on portion, we drew from “instant challenge” models used by programs such as Destination Imagination, where students are given a specific task with limited time and resources to complete it. The activity or “mission” we ultimately designed drew on the popular-culture reference points already introduced while also including grade-level math or science concepts, teamwork and presentation skills.

Following completion of the program design, we did a program pilot in 2011 to fine-tune the material and then approached Maryland’s Harford and Cecil county school systems to launch STEM Superstar. With a combined 50 elementary schools, we decided that STEM Superstar would be a five-year program, visiting 10 schools each year, to ensure that every public elementary student would participate at least once.

BECOMING A STEM SUPERSTAR

“Iron Man is the best superhero ever because he has no super powers,” every class of STEM Superstars are told. “No one in this room has super powers and neither does Tony Stark. He gets his powers from the Iron Man suit that he designed and built. He is an engineer. And since with hard work any of us can be engineers, then that means that like Tony Stark, we can all be superheroes.”

Each lesson begins with a discussion of superheroes. From there, we move to children’s movies with engineering themes, such as “The Lego Movie” and “Despicable Me” to help students see that they already understand some aspects of engineering. This discussion leads to the first core concept: Engineers solve problems.

Once they master this simple definition, we place engineering within the larger STEM framework, showing pictures of children participating in sports, music, cooking, computer games, etc. We encourage them to identify and explain their favorites. From here, we discuss how these activities reflect the characteristics of each core STEM area. This leads to our second concept: STEM is part of what you love to do every day.

PLAYING WITH THE CONCEPTS
STEM Superstar places engineering within the larger STEM framework, demonstrating for kids that their favorite activities—music, sports, cooking, computer games—already include components of engineering.

After the formal lesson, we discuss the engineering design process, place the students into teams and present the “mission” that will make them STEM Superstars. The engineering design process used correlates to the Engineering Is Elementary curriculum developed by the Museum of Science, Boston, and taught in Maryland schools, creating a bridge between the program and what students are taught in the classroom.

Missions include such challenges as designing a moon vehicle (second grade), designing a superhero technology (fourth grade) and envisioning new technology to help students succeed in school (fifth grade). Each team receives a “box of stuff” containing odds and ends readily available at any home improvement, craft or dollar store. Students tackle each step, from concept and design to test and improve, to develop their technology prototype.

At the end of each session, teams discuss their process and present inventions to the rest of the class. Inventions range from the second-graders’ “super-moon-buggy-party-limousine 3000,” to the fourth-graders’ telekinesis-granting “mega-mover helmet,” to a “gym-bot” created by fifth-graders to help special needs students participate during physical education class.

OUTCOMES

“Every engineer must be creative, smart, hardworking and one of a kind,” I tell each class as we wrap up our time together. That is the formula for success. And for those students who worry that they might not be smart, we tell them that being smart is about believing in yourself, because the one thing every engineer has in common is that they never give up.

At the conclusion of each classroom session, whether they completed an entire project or were stuck at the initial design, the students have succeeded in creating something and are declared “STEM Superstars.” This is intentional, as one of the key barriers to STEM is the idea that it is too difficult; program success reinforces that they are smart, creative and capable of being engineers.

CALCULATING THE ANGLE
STEM Superstar stresses two concepts: Engineers build things to solve problems, and STEM is fun. The program, which can be easily duplicated and executed with minimal resources, is to introduce engineering in a low-threat, high-entertainment environment that promotes the idea that STEM is for everyone.

THE LONG GAME

While there can be no direct 1:1 correlation between a program like STEM Superstar and long-term success in STEM fields, feedback from teachers shows that there is an immediate increase in interest among participants. Their input also demonstrates that the program design is successful from a conceptual and an educational standpoint. The final data for the full five-year cycle is not yet available; however, results from the first four years point to the program’s success in meeting its objectives.

At the close of each weeklong program, all participating teachers receive a survey to rate STEM Superstar on five criteria:

(Q1) Overall program satisfaction.

(Q2) Grade-level appropriateness.

(Q3) Increase in student interest in STEM.

(Q4) Effectiveness of presentation of key concepts.

(Q5) Educational validity.

Over the first four years, we achieved a 62.34 percent response rate among participating teachers, and program results were consistently in the upper ranges of the five-point Likert scale used.

The lowest-scoring response across all grades was to Question 3, which measured a visible increase in student interest in STEM following the program. Yet even as the lowest scoring question, the overall score was 4.24 out of 5, with the greatest increase recorded among second-graders and the lowest occurring among fifth-graders. The remaining four areas all scored within the 4.6 range. Of particular interest was teacher response to the educational validity of the program (Q5), which was 4.66 out of 5, demonstrating that the teachers found the program beneficial.

A review of the total data for each question supports the summary, showing consistency in response between the 4 and 5 range. Selecting zero corresponded to “no comment,” so the more important signifier of problems within the program would be scores of one. Teachers gave only eight scores of 1 from 2,210 total responses (442 completed surveys with five questions each). If you add in the scores of 2, you get a total “dissatisfied” score of 18, or less than 1 percent of all responses.

In addition to the quantitative responses, teachers suggested what they would change about the program. The overwhelming recommendations are that we extend the program to a two-hour session or that the program visit each school annually.

RECIPE FOR STEM SUCCESS
Selling kids on STEM can be difficult, as they often perceive it as too hard or too “uncool” to pursue. STEM Superstar seeks to engender an “I can” attitude by framing lessons on science, math and engineering within ideas and activities the students know and enjoy.

CONCLUSION

From its conception, the goal of STEM Superstar was to introduce engineering in a low-threat, high-entertainment environment that promoted the idea that STEM is for everyone. In the same spirit, we designed STEM Superstar to be easily duplicated and executed anywhere with minimal financial resources or material support. One need only to pick a popular, age-appropriate movie or theme that reflects the STEM concepts they want to teach, gather a dozen random items such as paper plate holders, sponge hair curlers, pingpong balls and potato chip bag clips, give the students a “mission” and stand back. From concept to supplies, schools, youth centers or even home schools can easily replicate STEM Superstar, and the data gathered over the initial four years justifies continuing the program locally and encouraging its implementation in other communities.

As the United States moves further into the 21st century, the need to continue the historic pace of American innovation necessitates an ever-increasing focus on creating a pipeline of qualified STEM professionals. Without such a pipeline, the country risks economic security and its place within the global community. Through STEM Superstar, we are building that pipeline one child at a time—no trains required.

For more information on CERDEC STEM Outreach, or to contact the author, go to www.cerdec.army.mil.

ERICA FINEMAN-BERTOLI is the team lead for the Educational Outreach Program at CERDEC, located at Aberdeen Providing Ground, Maryland. She holds an M.A. in communication and leadership from Gonzaga University and a B.A. in communication and public relations from Rutgers University. She is a graduate of the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Maryland.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

Fielding the Global Combat Support System – Army posed formidable training challenges. The product management office opted for a slow-and-steady approach that introduces users to the new logistics software over 150 days.

by Antonio Ocasio

The Global Combat Support System – Army (GCSS-Army), an Acquisition Category I major automated information system program and the largest logistics software implementation in military history, is well on its way to completion.

GCSS-Army is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that facilitates near real-time management of all the Army’s sustainment missions. It replaces current tactical logistics management information systems, including the Standard Army Retail Supply System, Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced and Standard Army Maintenance System – Enhanced.

It also replaces tactical financial management information systems, such as the Single Stock Fund Middleware and the Funds Control Module. These systems performed their missions well, but GCSS-Army integrates all of their functions into a single database that provides accurate, near real-time tactical logistics and financial information for all stakeholders.

The fielding of GCSS-Army has been so huge that it required the effort to be split into two waves. Wave 1 fielding began in November 2012 and was completed in November 2015. Wave 2 began in January 2015 and is projected to complete full deployment by the end of 2017.

When GCSS-Army is fully in place, the number of users would amount to a workforce that would make GCSS-Army the 45th largest employer in the U.S., just below Boeing Co., UnitedHealth Group Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and The Walt Disney Co., but ahead of Costco Wholesale Corp., Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., Xerox Corp., Comcast Corp., General Electric, The Coca-Cola Co., Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp.

WEB-BASED START
Fielding of GCSS-A starts with web-based training that includes the structure, language, process flow, basic navigation and access administration of the system.

This effort, however, has not been without its challenges. Along the complicated road to implementing an Armywide overhaul of its logistics automation infrastructure, GCSS-Army program management had to confront its share of hurdles, including:

• The complex demands of fielding an ERP solution across multiple business areas and levels of materiel management. The business areas of supply support, property book, ground maintenance, unit supply, finance and materiel management will now exist within a single database and operate in near real-time.
• The dynamic and varying requirements flowing in from its major components (active Army, National Guard and Army Reserve). With each component varying in configuration and mission, GCSS-Army had to be designed to meet each component’s unique needs. In addition, the next level of unique needs within each component also had to be considered and met, such as:
  •   Missile system: specific detailed system and subsystem management.
  •   Watercraft: onboard spare parts management.
  •   Logistics Readiness Center: reimbursable maintenance requirements.
  •   Operations and Maintenance, Army and Army Working Capital Fund funding streams.
  •   Special operations.
• The extensive coordination required to field an Army in motion and transition. This required considering each unit’s training schedule and possibility of deployment within the fielding window.
• The resistance to change that has historically plagued ERP implementations. Users had grown comfortable using fairly basic, unsophisticated systems over a period of years, and in some cases decades. The basic logistics language that had prevailed since the 1970s was being replaced and required significant relearning. Finally, career legacy experts were becoming novices overnight, adding to the increased level of discomfort with the system.
• The significant policy, regulatory and doctrinal overhaul required to reflect appropriate guidance. Historically, the development of replacement logistics software systems was, as a rule, regulation-based. In other words, designed functionality had to conform to existing regulations. As a result, the system logic, functionality and language were perpetuated from the system being replaced. The changes required to existing regulation and doctrine were minimal under previous logistics software replacements.

TRAINING AND FIELDING
One of the most demanding efforts throughout the GCSS-Army program has been the daunting new equipment (in this case, enterprise) training requirements. The fielding of logistics information systems over the past four decades has been pretty standard and followed the basic design, develop, test, schedule, train, convert and sustain events. Each fielding involved a singular logistics business area such as supply, maintenance, property book, unit supply or ammunition. This allowed the Army to define and isolate the target business area. The significantly smaller population of target users made it easier to communicate and coordinate the fielding requirements. In essence, the standalone nature of legacy logistics information systems allowed for their discrete fielding while the other business areas remained unaffected. The only distinct requirement that involved collaboration with other systems was the need to interface or communicate effectively with other legacy platforms in order to pass data back and forth.

GTRAC’S NEXT
The second step to fielding is the GCSS-Army Training and Certification (GTRAC) System, in which the training becomes more targeted to the specific user’s role within their business area.

NEW APPROACH TO TRAINING
The narrow focus of previous logistics software has allowed for a fairly stable development and delivery process involving three basic new equipment training components: a functional user manual; 40 to 80 hours of instructor-led classroom training with two instructors; and two to four weeks of over-the-shoulder monitoring in the user’s converted environment. This standard approach was executed routinely throughout fielding with little variation.

In stark contrast, the decision to leverage state-of-the-art ERP software and merge multiple Army logistics business areas into a singular, integrated ERP presented a complicated challenge to program management, requiring the following key training considerations:

• ERP systems are complex. How can we minimize the significant learning curve common to ERP implementations?
• What type of approach will we need to reach more than 160,000 users representing seven business areas, across three components?
• How can we execute the eventual training solution while managing cost and schedule?
• How can we ensure a smooth and seamless transition of knowledge to the institutional base and troop-school complex?

THE SOLUTION
The answer came gradually, beginning in 2006, when we realized that implementing GCSS-Army would be too complex to perform in two- to four-week sessions per unit, as was the standard with predecessor systems. As the fielding team shaped the length and specifics of the conversion process, the training team began conceptualizing the training progression. The progressive training model took hold during a successful Wave 1 effort and continued to evolve during the early stages of Wave 2 implementation.

The solution is a progressive training model that begins early in the fielding process and spans 150 days. The intent is to provide the user with a steady diet of GCSS-Army content throughout this extended learning period. The training model, developed internally and consistent with training theory, has several components that combine to create the equivalent of a full “semester” of GCSS-Army training. This model enables each user to begin the learning process early, committing a few hours weekly, and gradually to absorb a huge amount of content, thus flattening the learning curve leading to post-conversion activities. At that point the user is guided through a series of routine processes, allowing for practice in a live system. According to Juan Torres, a GCSS-Army trainer at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, “The users are learning faster during the over-the-shoulder guided training. They like being able to ask questions as they execute their daily mission in a live system.”

SPREADING THE WORD
The final step in the GCSS-Army fielding is to provide the new equipment training package to the respective U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command institutions and regional troop schools.

The first component is web-based training. Thirteen modules are hosted on the GCSS-Army field-facing website, and a robust training center (http://gcss.army.mil/Training/WebBasedTraining.aspx) provides a suite of lessons intended to familiarize the new user with the basics of GCSS-Army, including the structure, language, process flow, basic navigation and access administration. If the entire training process is crawl-walk-run, web-based training is the “crawl.”

The second component is the GCSS-Army Training and Certification (GTRAC) System, a dynamic and progressive training management environment that allows users to register and take certificate-producing and introductory web-based training specific to their business area, as well as formal new equipment training. The training now becomes more targeted to the specific user’s role within their business area. The user is introduced to the theory and logic of processes within a realistic scenario, and simulations of the live system allow the user to gain experience executing the mechanics of each process. (See our “Learning GCSS-Army the right way” video for a detailed explanation of the GTRAC process.)

Next is instructor-facilitated training. Formal classroom training varies from four to 40 hours, depending on the business area. This is followed by over-the-shoulder support, which puts into practice all of the concepts learned during familiarization web-based training and formal new equipment training. A qualified trainer walks the user, who now has full access to data from their business area, through the execution of a daily process battle rhythm in a live environment. The processes are repeated, with the trainer gradually backing away as the user becomes comfortable.

The last component is the user manual plus, a dynamic, all-inclusive, searchable online reference manual that contains cue cards, transaction guides, job aids and simulations that guides a user through detailed process steps. The content is easily accessed by the user within GCSS-Army, is available in multiple formats and is downloadable.

Full speed ahead! Armed with an improved version of the training strategy used for all of Wave 1 and through fielding group 20 of Wave 2, the product manager continued to execute the Wave 2 fielding unabated.

NO PLAN SURVIVES REALITY OF EXECUTION
Faced with the need to streamline training to maximize cost avoidances, the program management office, in coordination with the Combined Arms Support Command, Army G-4, and the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, developed a hybrid training module to create a more cost-efficient training approach. The model allows specific tailoring of training that includes length, how much is online or instructor-led, and length of over-the-shoulder, guided, live system training. The combination of delivery modes will vary by Army component, region, personnel availability and cost. The standard approach uses the online training suite of tools to deliver new equipment training to the active Army while providing centralized classroom training to the National Guard and Army Reserve; as a result, the program management office is able to get critical training in the hands of users faster. This modified version of the progressive training approach will be applied beginning with group 21 out of a planned 30 fielding groups.

TRANSITION TO SUSTAINMENT
No training strategy is complete without an approach to transition the knowledge to the institutions (quartermaster, ordnance and finance schools). In the GCSS-Army plan, the full new equipment training package is provided to the respective U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command institutions and regional troop schools. GCSS-Army provides three iterations of instructor and key personnel training to the school training staff, and provides guidance and coaching to the troop school training administration.

TURNKEY UPDATES
To ensure that the training institutions have the very latest information, GCSS-Army posts a link to all of the changes to training content on its website, which then takes the user to the end-user manual plus location where the changes are detailed. This update occurs weekly, allowing the training institutions to keep programs of instruction current. GCSS-Army also built in a user satisfaction survey at the end of training to receive direct, ongoing feedback. This feedback proves vital as GCSS-Army continues to field Wave 2.

SOME USER FEEDBACK

• Live system access. Ideally, access to a live system would be more realistic and effective. The concept is not new and has been used several times to train legacy systems. The standalone or decentralized nature of legacy systems made it fairly easy to develop a base scenario within a training instance with reset capabilities. In a classroom setting, students would be guided through scenarios and required to execute processes to achieve the school solution. Once completed, the box would simply be reset to the beginning state. This approach becomes significantly more complicated and costly when your instance is the entire production system—in fact, this one topic would merit an article of its own. The approach we took was to capture actual simulations of a development system that allowed students to execute processes that mimicked the live system.
• Training needed to be longer. This feedback was difficult to fathom since the training period was 150 days long. We assumed users wanted more classroom training and built that into our over-the-shoulder approach, which not only extends training but involves actual instructors guiding users through daily processes in their own live system.

The ability to adapt to unexpected challenges, or simply to create more user-friendly training modules, will drive GCSS-Army to success. With an over 90 percent approval rating based on user surveys, the GCSS-Army Program Management Office feels confident that full deployment will be another success story.

CHECKING THE PATH AHEAD
Sustainment and logistics Soldiers, including these troops from the 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command who managed supply yards and ammunition supply points during the multinational exercise Anakonda in Poland in June, will benefit from the training and implementation plan that’s designed to make the transition to GCCS-Army as seamless as possible. (Photo by Maj. Marvin Baker, 364th ESC)

CONCLUSION
Having cracked the code with a hybrid template for new equipment training, program management can now leverage the training development, delivery and sustainment model to ensure that the Army at large can certify and recertify its population of GCSS-Army users well into the future. In addition, the model is flexible enough to accommodate future software implementation efforts.

The GTRAC learning management component has issued more than 766,000 certificates of training, covering eight business areas and six supplemental areas, to more than 122,000 GCSS-Army users from unit level through the Army G-4 and the Army Materiel Command. At the current rate, GCSS-Army expects to exceed 1 million certificates issued by October 2017.

For more information, go to our website training center at http://gcss.army.mil/Training/WebBasedTraining.aspx; or contact the training team at usarmy.lee.peo-eis.mbx.gcss-army-training@mail.mil.

MR. ANTONIO OCASIO is the chief of the Product Training and Transition Branch within the Product Life Cycle Division of the Product Management Office of the Global Combat Support System-Army at Fort Lee, Virginia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from St. Leo University. He is Level III certified in acquisition logistics and in program management. He is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps and has served as a career logistician for more than 40 years.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

Invest in more business education for PMs, and reap returns in the short term—good products at an appropriate price—and long—repaired credibility for defense acquisition.

by Robert F. Mortlock, Col., USA (Ret.)

“I don’t care how much it costs, we need it now!”

At the height of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, getting the warfighter the capabilities they needed as rapidly as possible was always the top priority for the defense acquisition community—and who could argue against it? Delivering effective, suitable warfighting equipment as fast as possible was the focus—often at the long-term expense, literally, of the services’ and DOD’s budgets.

Maintaining the focus on urgent needs was possible because of the availability and amount of overseas contingency operations funding. Speed of delivery was a higher priority than total ownership or life cycle costs, despite the significant impact it had on long-term operation and maintenance accounts. Fast-forward a few years, and the services faced declining base budgets, sequestration and the first of three iterations of the Better Buying Power initiative, emphasizing the importance of making wise financial investments with limits on planned funding.

It was a dual reality: one in which money was no object and one in which money was the overriding concern. You just had to remember in which reality you were operating, or you could find yourself burned. This dilemma of the past decade will continue well into the future for many acquisition program managers (PMs).

DRESS FOR SUCCESS
Spc. Saurav Udas, a supply specialist assigned to the 3rd BCT, 25th ID, holds new Operation Camouflage Pattern to be used in the tropical environments in the Pacific region. A program’s schedule—how quickly the Army wants to get gear in the hands of Soldiers—requires considering return on investment. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Armando R. Limon, 3rd BCT, 25th ID)

The good news is that the training and education of acquisition PMs, and of the Defense Acquisition Workforce in general, has never been better. PMs have gained defense acquisition and procurement acumen based on both education and experience. PMs and program executive officers (PEOs) have defined criteria for education, training and experience, with certification requirements that ensure their pedigree to lead organizations and programs. But just as conditions and priorities change, the demands for acquisition knowledge do, too. There needs to be a continual review of PMs’ education requirements to ensure that they have the tools necessary to lead ever more complex DOD programs in challenging fiscal environments. Today’s emphasis on affordability will only grow more important with the continuing uncertainty of funding, requiring that PMs have formal business education.

In my 17-plus years in this profession, the command climate of every program management office I was part of centered on getting solutions to the warfighter as quickly as possible that would meet their needs affordably and be supportable. The competence and leadership of PMs has been exemplary, yet defense acquisition is in a continual state of “reform” as the result of a relatively small number of very high-profile failed acquisition efforts. One acquisition reform that would pay big dividends without adding bureaucracy or oversight would be to require more fundamental business education for PMs—defense acquisition is, after all, fundamentally a business endeavor. Acquisition attracts mission-driven professionals who want to apply business skills to saving the lives of Soldiers, as the Hon. Heidi Shyu noted when she was the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

DRONE TRACKING
Soldiers from 2nd Cavalry Regiment (2 CR) field artillery squadron conduct new equipment training on the Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System Mobile Integrated Capability, Feb. 27-March 30 at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Rose Barracks, Germany. Proposals for new equipment face declining budgets and sequestration. (Photo by Sgt. Devon Bistarkey, 2 CR Public Affairs)

FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS—OR NOT
Defense acquisition as an institution—commonly referred to as “big A” acquisition—comprises the three decision support templates used to guide programs: one for generating requirements, known as the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System; a second for managing program milestones, known as the Defense Acquisition Management System (commonly referred to as “little A”); and a third for allocating resources, as the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution process. The “big A” fails, despite PMs’ best efforts, because of the complexity of the interactions among the requirements, funding and management systems as well as the effects of competing stakeholder priorities.

Within this framework, the specific causes of most program failures are easy to identify: changing requirements, unstable funding, immature technologies, misalignment of requirements and funding, competing political agendas, schedule-driven programs overemphasizing milestone achievement, the rapid pace of change and innovation in technology and the rapidly evolving threat environment against the backdrop of a deliberate acquisition system.

More business-savvy PMs could more easily make financially astute recommendations even with the continuing fiscal challenges and constantly changing environments. Requiring that PMs receive more fundamental business education would simply double down on the professionalism of the acquisition workforce, not add a new layer of government.

Currently, Level III certification in program management, as dictated by the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, requires 24 business credit hours—without specifics on the types of required courses. The requirement is an acknowledgment of the importance of formal business education for PMs and is a fundamentally critical step in establishing PMs as acquisition professionals, but DOD should go further: Increase the PM selection requirement to having an accredited business degree (preferably a business master’s degree or MBA with a defense acquisition management concentration and a focus on system engineering and technology management) for all product and program managers at the O-5 and O-6 levels. And don’t limit the increased requirement to acquisition category (ACAT) I PMs (those who manage the biggest programs)—all PMs need a solid base in business and financial education. Promotion to field-grade officer rank above O-4 (corresponding roughly to the time an officer would be seeking Level III PM certification) already requires a graduate degree; therefore, this recommendation doesn’t present the Army with an additional education cost.

A BUSINESS CASE IN POINT
The recent adoption of the Army Physical Fitness Uniform (APFU) offers an excellent example of an effort that required a financially responsible acquisition approach. In early 2012, more than 76,000 Soldiers expressed dissatisfaction with the Army’s physical fitness uniform in an online survey, primarily noting stiff, uncomfortable fabrics and a lack of female sizes. As a result, Army leadership directed PEO Soldier to update the physical fitness uniform with higher-performing fabrics, new sizes and a new design to address Soldier dissatisfaction and the expanded use of the uniform in combat zones.

UNIFORMLY SOUND BUSINESS
Numerous complaints about the Improved Physical Fitness Uniform then in use led the Army to adopt a new Army Physical Fitness Uniform, which used upgraded materials and fit better. Sound business principles and cost analysis led to a decision to phase in the new APFU gradually. (Image courtesy of PEO Soldier and U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center)

After prototype testing with Soldiers, a series of town halls across Army installations hosted by the sergeant major of the Army, and another online survey with approximately 190,000 participating Soldiers, Army leadership approved the APFU in April 2013 with more than 30 improvements, from better sizing (including sizes designed for women) to a change to moisture-wicking fabrics. The Army approved a plan to phase the uniform in over four and a half years, allowing Soldiers to wear the APFU beginning in October 2014 with a mandatory possession date of October 2017. The plan took into account user testing with Soldiers in representative climatic conditions at six Army installations; technical testing for durability, colorfastness, laundering, moisture wicking, female sizing and fit; time to subsequently optimize the design; time to put the uniform on contract with multiple vendors; time to build up production inventories, and finally time for Soldiers to transition to the APFU.

Repeatedly, senior-level decision reviews at the Pentagon posed the following questions:

• Why can’t the Army just give Soldiers commercial (for example, Nike or UnderArmour) workout gear?
• Why can’t the transition happen faster (begin sooner and take less than three years)?
• The increase in the price is less than $1—let’s just buy the slightly more expensive one—what’s the big deal?

Answering these questions requires understanding return on investment (ROI)—fundamental principles taught in business education curriculums and then subsequently applied in practice, which results in experience. To start with, providing Soldiers commercial products would require the Army to purchase the technical data rights, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, or pay a per-unit premium in the form of a 10-20 percent markup per item. Both of these options have bad ROI when the Army could upgrade to similar fabrics and design and avoid the commercial product premium.

The program schedule—how quickly the Army wants to get gear in the hands of Soldiers—also necessitates considering ROI, because project timelines are proportional to required resources. In the APFU case, for the Army to rapidly replace all current fitness uniforms would not only mean an upfront bill for the cost of the new uniforms but also would require that the Army account for the costs of on-hand inventories (quantities of the current physical fitness uniforms bought, stored and ready for Soldier issue when needed) on the order of tens of millions of dollars at any given time. The adoption of a phased implementation strategy, whereby the Army would use on-hand inventory and gradually convert new buys to the APFU, allows the Army to build up APFU inventory for a phased adoption integration by the force, draws down the current inventory and avoids a large residual asset bill (quantities of the current fitness uniforms that the Army no longer needs).

Finally, the price per unit is important: Any seemingly small increase in price is magnified to millions of dollars because of the number of Soldiers, basis of issue (in this case, the number of APFUs allotted to each Soldier) and wear-out time. While the cost of the APFU short-sleeved T-shirt was only $5.55, a $1 increase in a T-shirt equates to a multimillion-dollar bill to Army personnel funding accounts at a time of great pressure on end strength. For example, that $1 increase equates to a nearly $8 million yearly increase in future funding requirements for the personnel account. Thus, any change in the fitness uniform had to be as close to cost-neutral as possible, based on unit price.

CHARIOTS OF VIGOR
Soldiers assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 25th Infantry Division, (ID) perform endurance and mobility training March 13 at Watts Field on Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The Soldiers participated in a weeklong advanced physical training course. In 2012, after negative input from a Soldier online survey on the Army physical fitness uniform, the Army updated the attire with a new design, material and more sizes to address the concerns. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Armando R. Limon, 3rd BCT, 25th ID)

CONCLUSION
The Army’s decision to gradually phase in the APFU for the existing uniform using upgraded materials in a cost-conscious way highlights the use of sound business principles and analysis. The approach chosen for APFU acquisition and implementation was successful in part because the PM and key members of the PM team had the proper business education—something provided only by a formal accredited business degree, not just 24 business credit hours.

Furthermore, the number of credit hours is not the important part of PM certification. What’s important is the recognition that business education is a fundamental and essential professional requirement for PMs. To ensure consistent application of this standard across the PM career field, the minimum Level III PM certification requirements should change from 24 business credit hours to an accredited business degree.

The Army’s adoption of the APFU was not an ACAT I program with an acquisition program baseline controlling the PM’s actions from a performance, cost and schedule standpoint. In fact, the APFU program was not a program of record at all—it was just an effort, albeit one with high Soldier interest and oversight from top Army leaders. In this program and hundreds of similar programs, PMs must simply do the right thing without formal approval for Soldiers and the Army—deliver an affordable capability with the required performance within schedule constraints.

Developing and implementing fiscally responsible acquisition approaches builds and cements trust with senior leaders, Congress and the American public: This is a PM’s fiduciary responsibility. Having PMs with the necessary business education, background and experience to carry out this responsibility with consistent success would have a high ROI for DOD. It would pay dividends in the form of even more financially astute, business-savvy, cost-conscious PMs with the acumen required to operate in an environment of budget uncertainty and increased emphasis on improved procurement returns with limited resources.

Over time, the credibility of the acquisition profession could soar—and that is the highest possible ROI for DOD.

ROBERT F. MORTLOCK, COL, USA (Ret.), managed defense systems development and acquisition efforts for the last 15 of his 27 years in the U.S. Army, culminating in his assignment as the project manager for Soldier protection and individual equipment in Program Executive Office for Soldier. He retired in September 2015 and is now a lecturer for defense acquisition and program management in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, an MBA from Webster University, an M.S. in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and a B.S. in chemical engineering from Lehigh University. He is also a recent graduate from the Post-Doctoral Bridge Program of the University of Florida’s Hough Graduate School of Business, with a management specialization.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Mission and Installation Contracting Command – Fort Lee, Virginia
TITLE: Quality assurance specialist
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 10
YEARS OF SERVICE IN MILITARY: 19 (6 on active duty and 13 in the Army Reserve)
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level I in quality assurance
EDUCATION: B.A. in contract management and acquisitions, Strayer University
AWARDS: Afghanistan Campaign Medal (one campaign star); NATO Afghanistan Service Medal; Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Army Good Conduct Medal; Army Certificate of Achievement; National Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Army Service Ribbon; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M Device

THE SECRET TO LONGEVITY

by Susan Follett

Pay attention: Shannon Western has some important information to pass along. “Those who have been doing this work for a long time let me in on a little secret: The key to longevity in this field is gratitude and patience. A lot of people have been easily shaken by the changes in budget, internal personnel structures, additional responsibilities and tougher policies. And during the course of my short career, I have personally experienced all of those challenges. But I’ve taken the advice I received, and I’ve become more knowledgeable, more trustworthy and a stronger team player.”

Western, now a quality assurance specialist with the Mission and Installation Contracting Command at Fort Lee, Virginia, started her acquisition career 10 years ago. After two years on active duty, she joined the Army Reserve in 2007, changing her military occupation specialty from communication specialist to military pay noncommissioned officer (NCO). She deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, and during the course of that two-year assignment, she uncovered $3 million in incorrect billing.

“In the first five months of my deployment, I worked from dawn to dusk, seven days a week, paying invoices from blanket purchase agreement contracts that were backlogged for more than three years,” she explained. “These unpaid invoices had severely impaired small businesses and caused unrest and strife with local nationals.”

Western was deployed before the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) was in place, she said, “and the office I worked in had seen a lot of contract specialists and other personnel who didn’t understand the checks and balances system that was in place for contracting.” Part of her work involved matching an obligated line of accounting to a contract, invoice and receiving report. For some of the invoices, “it appeared as if it was an accidental duplicate contract, but it was suspicious because another receiving report was generated with the duplicate contract on the same date,” Western said. “In this case, invoices were erroneously generated by other service members, one in contracting and one in supply. Because we were downrange and it was before GFEBS was in place, generating an invoice was too easy: It could be written on a piece of paper, and as long as it was legible, it counted.”

Western turned over her discoveries to the Criminal Investigation Division but was transferred to another location shortly afterward, and she isn’t sure what came of the investigation. “I have seen supply [personnel] generate a second receiving report because the first one was supposedly lost, instead of figuring out what happened to the first report and making sure it didn’t happen again,” she said. “Regardless of the reasons behind it, it’s careless to generate documentation out of laziness, especially with so many millions of dollars at stake. GFEBS is a more secure program, and it’s unlikely there’ll be many more fraudulent attempts. The program catches mistakes for us—it’s similar to the difference between an online checkbook and one maintained by hand.”

Stateside since 2011, Western now coordinates and monitors the Quality Assurance (QA) Program and surveillance systems for MICC-Fort Lee, providing QA support to the contracting office, contracting officer representatives (CORs) and other surveillance personnel. She also supports the organization’s acquisition strategy planning, documentation review, quality management reviews, QA support and annual contract management reviews.

“We have an amazing team and great support at MICC-Fort Lee,” Western said. “Our leadership at headquarters genuinely cares for our well-being; they’ve worked with us to help us meet our mission and demonstrate that even though we’re a tiny office in Virginia, we are an asset and are treated as such.”

Among the leadership at MICC is Terry Hyatt-Amabile, who Western credits as having a significant impact on her career. Now the chief of contracting operations for the MICC Field Directorate Office at Fort Eustis, Virginia, Hyatt-Amabile was formerly the director of MICC-Fort Lee. “When I was her assistant at Fort Lee, she showed me the acquisitions field from a management perspective,” Western said. “Terry has been the most effective leader I’ve worked with, not just during my time in the acquisition work field but through 20 years of working in various positions. I continue to pass on her knowledge to others, including incoming directors and new procurement techs. It is a good feeling to be able to help beyond my career field, and it feels good to be a part of a team.”

Western’s favorite task “is training, mentoring and evaluating more than 120 CORs in monitoring, reviewing and executing surveillance of services provided by contractors to ensure that the goods and services they provide comply with the terms and conditions of the contracts.”

She noted that the biggest challenge facing QA specialists is shifting the mindset of contracting officers (KOs), contract specialists and CORs so that they’re focused on the importance of contract surveillance. “Generating a contract can be an exhausting process, but the next step—ensuring that the vendor is performing to the agreed-upon standards—is also important,” she said. “Being a COR on Fort Lee is usually an additional duty. Often, personnel don’t find out they have to perform in that role until after they’ve been nominated for it. Additionally, they often aren’t given clear instruction as to what qualifications they need or what the position entails.”

For Western, the COR Tracking (CORT) Tool system has been effective in overcoming that challenge. The CORT Tool provides contracting personnel and requiring activities the means to track and manage COR assignment across multiple contracts throughout DOD. Western has set up monthly workshops with an open forum setting to help familiarize users with the new software. “In addition to getting users up to speed on the system, the meetings have become a great way for me to communicate with the COR, the KO and the contract specialist,” she said. “We’re now all on the same sheet of music. Additionally, CORs are now helping their co-workers navigate through the software and informing them of the training requirements as a COR, so it feels like each class is multiplying my efforts.”

With the advice she’s received, and some things she’s learned about herself along the way, Western envisions a long career in acquisition. “Over the years, I have discovered that my three strongest characteristics are integrity, loyalty and persistence, all of which create a solid acquisition specialist. I can’t imagine not working as an acquisition specialist in support of our warfighters and their mission.”

“Faces of the Force” is an online series highlighting members of the Army Acquisition Workforce through the power of individual stories. Profiles are produced by the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center Communication and Support Branch, working closely with public affairs officers to feature Soldiers and civilians serving in various AL&T disciplines. For more information, or to nominate someone, please contact 703-664-5635.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July – September issue Army AL&T magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

Crunching data provides clearer image of organizational diversity.

by Mr. Thom Hawkins

You can never be sure, when you look in a mirror, that what you see is what other people see. For an organization, measuring diversity can elicit the unsettling images of a funhouse mirror, and standing too long in front of the mirror that makes us look tallest or laugh the hardest will not reveal how we truly look. So, how do we know if our ideas of diversity mirror those of others? How can we create the healthiest, most genuinely and appropriately diverse workplace possible? What is the right mirror to use?

According to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Management Directive 715, an organization conducting a self-assessment “shall compare their internal participation rates with corresponding participation rates in the relevant civilian labor force. Geographic areas of recruitment and hiring are integral factors in determining ‘relevant’ civilian labor force participation areas.”

Oh, shall we? Examples, please! Except no examples are forthcoming from the EEOC, and our review of Management Directive 715 reports from across the federal government found that even when an agency is relatively centralized geographically (for example, the National Institutes of Health), it used the Department of Labor’s National Civilian Labor Force (NCLF) data as a point of comparison, and applied the term “relevant” only to limit the occupations considered, not the region.

The U.S. is hardly homogeneous, from a demographic perspective. The population of Washington state, for example, is considerably different from that of Washington, D.C. There’s more than two letters that separate Kansas and Arkansas. And while Hawaii and Rhode Island are both small states, it’s safe to assume that there’s a much higher percentage of native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders in Hawaii than in any other state—and probably very few actual islanders in Rhode Island. So, adjusting a single organization’s demographic makeup to fit a national profile is like going on a diet because a curved mirror is making you look fat.

It’s not you, it’s your mirror.

FINDING YOUR MIRROR
Some organizations may indeed have so many of their employees dispersed across the country that using the NCLF data is the only appropriate comparison. However, short of rapid advances in plate tectonics, we are not going to radically shift a region’s demographic makeup—but we can adjust our recruitment to ensure a representative selection from the surrounding area.

The Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T) is based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Harford County, Maryland. To identify the area from which we might expect to draw our workforce (for example, Harford, Cecil and Baltimore counties), we first looked at the location of our current workforce. Using the Manpower Information Retrieval and Reporting System, our workforce accountability system, we identified how many employees lived in each ZIP code across the United States. We then summed up the employees by ZIP code into counties and generated a population map using Open Heat Map. (See Figure 1.)

THE VIEW FROM UP HERE
PEO C3T mapped and examined national and regional census data to determine whether the demographics of its workforce mirrored national and local demographics, in response to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Management Directive 715. (Image courtesy of the author and OpenHeatMap.com)

In addition, we found that we had a number of employees who commuted from central and northern New Jersey, at least partly because of base realignment and closure measures that moved command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance professionals from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, in 2010. Because we are not actively recruiting residents from New Jersey for our current location in Maryland, we also eliminated those data from the analysis. The final result showed a concentration of employees around Harford County. (See Figure 2.)

Using the population map, we determined that an appropriate regional composite should include Harford County, any county sharing a border with Harford County, and any county that shares a border with a county bordering Harford County. To create the demographic makeup of the regional composite, we used data from the U.S. Census (2015 projection), adjusted proportionally based on the percentage of our workforce currently residing in each of those counties. Approximately 64 percent of our current population resides in Harford County; therefore, we multiplied each of Harford County’s demographics by 0.64 so that 64 percent of our regional demographic would “look like” Harford County. For example, Harford County’s population is 4.3 percent Hispanic or Latino, so we multiplied 0.043 by 0.64 to calculate Harford County’s share of our region’s Hispanic or Latino population. We added that to the product of Cecil County’s 17 percent of our workforce and that county’s 4.2 percent Hispanic or Latino population, etc.

Because census data are separate from labor data, we compared national census data to national labor participation rates for women and men and adjusted the ratio in our regional population accordingly, to account for different levels of labor participation by women and men. We assumed that there was no difference in labor participation based on race. Figure 3 shows the different diversity profiles for the NCLF and the federal workforce, and a demographic profile we developed based on the region from which we, PEO C3T, expect to recruit our workforce.

MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL …
The question “how diverse are we?” can be partially answered with EEOC statistics. But it begs a second question—“how diverse should we be?” After all, “diverse” is a relative term, so it only makes sense in comparison. We could directly compare our organization’s diversity profile with the profile of our region, but if we were 1 percentage point below, does it mean we are falling short? How far off is it OK to be? For that matter, if we were 1 percentage point up somewhere, it would mean we were down somewhere else and we would forever be chasing a perfect balance. What is more important is that there is no evidence of bias—and to look for evidence of bias, we can use statistics.

If we had a jar with seven blue marbles, 10 red marbles and eight green marbles, and I reached in and pulled out only the eight green marbles, what is the probability that this selection was made at random? It’s certainly unlikely, though possible. It is more likely that there was some type of bias involved. Maybe I like green marbles. Or maybe the green marbles were lighter than the blue and red marbles and shifted to a more accessible position when I tilted the jar to reach in. Whether the biased selection was intentional or not, the fact that my selection was unlikely to be pulled at random from the larger population means that we should investigate the cause.

ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?
Using census and demographic data to inform adjustments in recruitment can ensure a representative selection from the region in which an organization is based, as well as a mix of perspectives and experiences that yields a stronger, more innovative workforce. (Image by the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center)

With employees, the bias could be that we hire a lot of engineers, and women are underrepresented in the field of engineering. This raises some questions we then need to consider: If we try for equal representation, is that another form of bias? Do those positions actually require an engineering degree, or are we hiring engineers out of habit? What can we do to affect change at the root of this problem—that is, how can we ensure a more diverse field of candidates in the engineering discipline?

We used a two-proportion test to determine whether the difference in proportions for a particular demographic was within the range of expected variability, the first proportion being the target demographic and the other proportion being the sum of all other demographics. The result tells us how likely it is that we have the demographic proportions that we do if we hired our workforce at random from the population in our region.

When the data indicated that a particular demographic was underrepresented in our organization, we considered the underlying causes or types of bias, and how the result would impact our recruitment strategy. In some cases (e.g., American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander), the proportions were too low for a valid statistical test; those we did not target for action.

CONCLUSION
Identifying where our organizations’ diversity differs significantly from our region will allow us to develop an appropriate recruiting strategy, like increasing our presence at predominantly female or African-American college and university job fairs, without chasing after unachievable metrics. In the end, we will have to move beyond objective EEOC metrics because we are seeking a workforce that possesses diverse backgrounds, experiences and ways of thinking, a workforce that will bring together varied perspectives to solve problems as a team.

Statistical analysis has moved us out of the funhouse and allowed us to create a mirror that captures an accurate image of our organization’s personnel appearance. With such a mirror in place, we can now see our community in the reflection of ourselves.

For more information, contact the author at jeffrey.t.hawkins10.civ@mail.mil. For more information about PEO C3T, go to http://peoc3t.army.mil/c3t.

MR. THOM HAWKINS is the chief of program analysis for PEO C3T. He holds an M.S. in library and information science from Drexel University and a B.A. in English from Washington College. He is Level III certified in program management and Level I certified in financial management, and is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps. He is an Army-certified Lean Six Sigma black belt and holds project management professional and risk management professional credentials from the Project Management Institute.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

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There’s a proven way to drive down defense acquisition costs, and it works especially well for the complex, high-tech platforms prone to big cost overruns. You’ve heard of it: the learning curve. It drives down defense acquisition costs the old-fashioned way.

by Mr. Sudhakar Arepally

Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs waited 108 years to finally win the World Series championship in 2016. It has not been that long—30 years or so—since the Army launched a major combat ground vehicle program, but the drought is conspicuous and frustrating nonetheless. The Army’s “Big 5”—the M1 Abrams main battle tank, the Bradley fighting vehicle, the UH-60 Black Hawk, the AH-64 Apache and the Patriot missile system—all date to the 1980s. The Army’s initiatives to introduce major ground combat vehicle platforms over the past 10 years—for example, Future Combat Systems and the Ground Combat Vehicle—have not succeeded.

The Army terminates acquisition programs for a variety of reasons. Tectonic shifts in the operational capability requirements, while rare, can put the brakes on an otherwise well-managed program. So can external factors, such as political indifference and bleak economic circumstances. However, the irrevocable damage more commonly stems from unwieldy performance requirements, program schedule slips and cost overruns. Mostly, the underlying causes are unanticipated vehicle engineering, developmental and manufacturing roadblocks and inadequate measures to mitigate risks of unproven and complex technologies. Eventually, these issues escalate to create unbearable program costs.

Fortunately there are promising approaches to manage program costs more strategically, employing pragmatic economic principles and enforcing a long-term business view. One of these principles, recognized in the 1940s and widely used in the manufacturing industry today, is the experience curve, sometimes referred to as the learning curve. Put simply, it describes this economic advantage: A firm that produces a complex product over time learns the process and thus is able to improve both productivity and performance across its functions and operations. This learning, in turn, enables the firm to reduce the unit cost of the product, as its cumulative production volume doubles over time. In general, firms that perform complex design, engineering development and manufacturing activities derive the most benefit from the experience curve.

THE ITEM IN QUESTION
A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, taxis down the flight line before takeoff at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Dec. 8, 2016. The high lifetime and per-unit cost of the fifth-generation fighter plane have drawn criticism, including from the Trump administration. Each aircraft in the most recent batch cost less than $100 million, the first time per-item cost has dropped below that threshold. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Alex Fox Echols III)

HOW THE CURVE WORKS
There is ample and compelling evidence of the benefits of the learning curve in the manufacturing industry. As far back as World War II, aircraft manufacturing costs fell by roughly 20 percent because of decreases in labor hours each time the production volume doubled. Numerous generalized studies of other industries have corroborated the experience curve’s ability to reduce costs by anywhere from 5 to 30 percent.

More recently, a report on the F-35 Lighting II, a fifth-generation fighter aircraft recognized for its advanced stealth capabilities, speed and agility, states that more efficient manufacturing methods and processes will help drive down the per-unit cost of the fighter plane by $10 million by 2019. The manufacturer, Lockheed Martin Corp., attributes the improved methods and processes to continuous improvement initiatives. In a validation of the experience curve, Lockheed Martin stated that for the low-rate initial production (LRIP) 8 contract award, the average unit price of the airframes for the three F-35 variants was 3.6 percent lower than the previous LRIP 7 price.

Analysis of the cost data reinforces the merits of the economic concept. Plotting the actual F-35 cost data released by Lockheed Martin against the production run, a steep reduction in the unit cost is evident early in the production run but gradually levels off. (See Figure 1) Such a trend indicates not only the immediate impact of economies of scale—another economic principle that states that doubling the input more than doubles the output—but also exhibits the tremendous learning potential in a nascent production facility. However, as operations become mature and streamlined over time, the possibilities for realizing efficiencies decline.

FIGURE 1: STEADY DECLINE IN UNIT COST
This experience curve shows the average per-plane cost reduction for the F-35 Lightning II from LRIP 1 to LRIP 8. The more units produced, the less each unit costs, as the manufacturer gains expertise over time. (SOURCE: Sudhakar Arepally, DASA(DE&C))

But it is worth highlighting the general shape of the downward sloping curve in Figure 1, a signature characteristic of the experience curve. It can be reduced to a mathematical function known as the power or multiplicative law, represented as follows:

A practical application of the model allows estimation of the average unit cost curve for future production units within reasonable bounds. (See Figure 2) Figure 2 shows the actual F-35 cost data (blue) versus the cost data estimated or predicted (red) by the mathematical model. Even though the curve profiles are similar, the differences in the absolute values are magnified in the initial production phase. It is possible that real-world situations, with effects on operations that the simple and approximate mathematical model does not reflect, might have contributed to the variation.

The 15.5 percent degree of decrease in the unit cost for the F-35 case is a noteworthy output of the model. In other words, every time the F-35 production output doubles, the average unit cost decreases by 15.5 percent. (In theory, this specific curve is denoted as the 84.5 percent experience curve, 84.5 being the difference between 15.5 and 100.) This reinforces empirical evidence from numerous studies supporting cost reductions from 5 to 30 percent.

FIGURE 2: PREDICTED VS. ACTUAL DECLINE
The F-35’s actual cost over time, in blue, and predicted cost over time in red follow roughly the same downward path, but the absolute numbers are different, especially at the outset. Why the disparity? The mathematical model that generates predicted data is just that—a model—and can’t take into account some real-world events that can affect labor and part costs. (SOURCE: Sudhakar Arepally, DASA(DE&C))

THE EXPERIENCE CURVE AND ACQUISITION
As with the F-35 fighter aircraft, the Army, too, should be able to harness the cost benefits of the experience curve. The experience curve is all the more inviting to embrace because its advantages extend beyond labor hours saved to other functions across a firm’s (or service’s) operations. Both fixed and variable costs offer possibilities for lowering the cost structure with organizational learning. For instance, high-volume batch orders and long-term contracts could lower procurement costs.

The Army can accelerate the cost savings by routinely deploying industry best practices for achieving efficiencies: continuous improvement initiatives such as value analysis, value engineering and Lean Six Sigma to continually reduce or eliminate waste and cut costs while improving product quality. Even management and administrative functions, the “overhead” regarded as a necessary evil among customers, tend to shrink and become minimally burdensome when these practices are rigorously applied.

With reference to the Army’s acquisition process, the experience curve is most adaptable to the production and deployment phase marked by milestone (MS) C. To a lesser degree, it could benefit the system development and demonstration phase, denoted by MS B. But its prospects for the activities preceding MS A are projected to be marginal.

If we apply the experience curve approach to Army acquisition, as an integral part of the broader acquisition strategy for new Army programs, then program cost management over the long term is anticipated to be more disciplined. As a routine process, the acquisition team currently prepares an internal cost estimate before releasing the request for proposal (RFP) to defense equipment manufacturers before MS C. Along with several other performance criteria, the team weighs the cost parameters in the overall evaluation of contractors’ bid proposals.

FIGURE 3: WHAT WILL THE NEXT ONE COST?
With an estimate of what the first item will cost, a series of curves can be generated to show how the per-item cost could drop over time, assuming a decline from 5 to 30 percent. Studies have observed the experience curve’s ability to lower per-item cost by those amounts. (SOURCE: Sudhakar Arepally, DASA(DE&C))

Given an estimate of average unit cost of the first article produced (e.g., the first unit of LRIP), a series of cost curves, henceforth called iso-experience curves, can be generated using the power law model. (See Figure 3) As Figure 3 shows, the iso-experience curves illustrate average unit cost reductions ranging from 5 to 30 percent (or conversely, the 95 percent experience curve to 70 percent experience curve). (See Figure 4)

Figure 4 shows the experience curves for a notional production run of 10 units. To understand the calculations, let us consider the values pertaining to the 95 percent experience curve. It is assumed the cost for the first unit is 1,000. To calculate the cost for the second unit using the model, the values of 1,000 (first unit cost), 2 (second unit), and -0.07 (slope coefficient corresponding to the 95 percent experience curve) are assigned to the variables ‘A’, ‘X’ and ‘b’. Using this information, the model produces a ‘Y’ value of 950. Similar calculations are employed to generate all the other ‘Y’ values in Figure 4, including the predictions for the 100th unit associated with the iso-experience curves.

Following contractors’ bid responses to the RFP, when the source selection evaluation board begins the evaluation process, is where the novelty of this notional approach becomes clear. Instead of rating a manufacturer’s proposal on a single and fixed cost estimate (along with other performance criteria), the manufacturers should be required to provide projections of unit cost reductions for the future production units. The government then would compare these against its own reference iso-experience curves generated before the RFP.

Without a doubt, the data would provide an indication of the contractors’ motivation to manage costs over the long run. For instance, if a contractor’s proposal indicates only a 5 percent average unit cost reduction for every doubling of production output and another contractor’s proposal demonstrates a 30 percent reduction, such a glaring difference in cost structure would require further scrutiny. It might also reveal how determined contractors are to pursue innovative approaches to lowering costs. Both insights are a win for the Army acquisition process.

FIGURE 4: EVALUATE THE ESTIMATE
The calculations that underlie the notional cost curves in Figure 3, assuming a production run of 10 items. One way to make the source-selection process more rigorous would be to evaluate not just the absolute cost that manufacturers propose, but how much they could lower the per-item cost over time. The manufacturers’ estimates could be compared to model-generated estimates, to evaluate whether or not the manufacturers are prepared to fully exploit the experience curve’s ability to save money over time. (SOURCE: Sudhakar Arepally, DASA(DE&C))

CONCLUSION
Defense industry manufacturers need to be aware of cost-cutting opportunities and should create an environment in which the workforce wholeheartedly embraces best practices for efficiency and effectiveness. Only then will opportunities for cost reduction come to fruition. The defense acquisition community, in turn, should recognize the long-term benefits of the experience curve in galvanizing the industrial base.

To that end, the acquisition community should take necessary measures to maintain continuity of production operations. One such approach is to balance the demand for defense articles, stretching production over longer periods as opposed to intermittent bursts of production to avoid generally exorbitant costs of manufacturing start-up and shut-down costs.

In December 2016, President-elect Trump voiced his concerns about the high acquisition costs of defense products and singled out the F-35 aircraft. While a price drop for the F-35 was already in the works, according to defense market analysts, Lockheed Martin credited Trump with accelerating the reduction. In February 2017, the company announced an average cost reduction of 7.5 percent, or $455 million, for the government’s purchase of 55 planes, compared with the previous lot. Notwithstanding Trump’s conversations with Lockheed Martin, it is no surprise that the overall savings were a dividend of the experience curve.

Considering the economic concept’s financial implications, future Army programs should consider the calculus early in acquisition planning. As old-fashioned as it may be, the experience curve method is a source of optimism for cost management of large and complex Army programs. Just like the Chicago Cubs, whose extraordinary preparation and performance resulted in their long-awaited victory, the Army should posture now for a win when it embarks on a new major platform. It is time to put an end to the long dry spell.

For more information, contact the author at sudhakar.r.arepally.civ@mail.mil or (703) 545-9102.

BIG TANK, BIG COST, BIG LEARNING-CURVE POTENTIAL
This Abrams tank from the 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, shown here in a December 2016 aerial drone image at Fort Stewart, Georgia, is one of the Army’s “big five” combat platforms, all of which date from the 1980s. Several attempts to launch a new ground-combat platform have fallen victim to soaring costs; the learning curve could offer a simple, time-tested way to control the cost of big, complex manufactured items like the Abrams or its successor. (Photo by Master Sgt. Erick Ritterby, 3rd Infantry Division)

MR. SUDHAKAR AREPALLY is on a one-year developmental assignment in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Defense Exports and Cooperation, Arlington, Virginia. He is tasked with developing internal strategic plans. A graduate of the Senior Service College Fellowship program in May 2016, he served previously as associate director for systems engineering and analytics at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, where he was responsible for planning, directing, reviewing and coordinating efforts in computational modeling and simulation. He also has extensive private industry experience, having worked as a senior project engineer for General Motors Co. and as a senior project engineer and program manager for what was then TRW Automotive Systems. He holds MBA degrees from Lawrence Technological University and the University of Michigan, an M.E. in industrial engineering from Tennessee Technological University and a B.E. in mechanical (production) engineering from Andhra University. He is Level III certified in engineering and a member of the Army Acquisition Corps.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

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JLTV, Army’s and Marines’ newest wheeled asset, follows in the venerable tracks of Jeep, HMMWV

Mr. Robert Coultas

Over the past few decades, the character of military conflict has changed substantially as “front lines” and “rear areas” have blurred into a single, full-spectrum operational environment. That increasing complexity is reflected in the tactical vehicles that commanders need to address that spectrum of operations. When the Army looked to replace the venerable Jeep, the July-August 1981 issue of RD&A magazine, Army AL&T’s predecessor, described the new vehicle it sought to acquire, the High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), this way:

“The HMMWV will be diesel powered and have an automatic transmission. It will carry a 2,500-pound payload, have a cruising range of 300 miles, accelerate from 0 to 30 MPH within 6 to 8 seconds and achieve a maximum speed to 60 MPH. Since the HMMWV will be operated in forward areas, it will feature run-flat tires and ballistic protection up to 16-grain fragments traveling at 425 meters per second, as well as explosion-proof fuel tanks for some models. The vehicle will use off-the-shelf civilian hardware and military standard parts wherever possible.”

It was, essentially, a better Jeep. There was nothing in that description about blast resistance or networking. It would have been hard to imagine a tactical network such as today’s in 1981. Nor was any consideration given to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Contrast that with the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), which is currently in low-rate initial production.

JLTV is an Army-led, joint-service program designed to replace a portion of each service’s light tactical wheeled vehicle fleets while closing a mobility and protection gap. The intent is to provide protected, sustained, networked mobility for warfighters and payloads across the full range of military operations.

DOORS NOT INCLUDED
Willys-Overland was awarded the contract for the 1940 Willys Quad Original Pilot, the Jeep’s precursor, which began production in 1941. The vehicle underwent countless modifications and upgrades, and remained in service for the next 44 years. (Photo courtesy of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)

PROGRESSIVE CAPABILITY

During World War II, the Jeep was considered the workhorse for logistical and support tasks. The early vehicles were used for laying cable and hauling logs, and as firefighting pumpers, field ambulances and tractors. However, the vehicle didn’t include armoring, a radio, seatbelts—or even doors. After the war, the Jeep went through many modifications and upgrades and remained in service for the next 44 years.

The HMMWV was fielded in 1985, a couple of years later than anticipated back in 1981, and they have been used since as troop carriers, command vehicles, ambulances, for psychological operations and as weapon platforms. In the early 2000s, HMMWVs faced an entirely new threat in the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—the IED—and they proved vulnerable. DOD responded with up-armoring and the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, which was designed specifically to resist and deflect IED explosions.

JLTV gives the current warfighter significantly more protection against multiple threats while increasing mobility, payload and firepower, something that Soldiers and Marines from past conflicts could only envision in their wildest dreams.

“The JLTV has been designed to keep pace with the fast-changing nature of today’s battlefield,” said Dave Diersen, vice president and general manager of Joint Programs at Oshkosh Defense, which won the JLTV contract. Diersen added that JLTV offers “a leap forward in performance and capability that can only come from a vehicle that is purpose-built for a spectrum of light vehicle missions.”

BIGGER, STRONGER, SAFER
Army leaders from the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command tested a production model of the JLTV, right, at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, on May 2. The JLTV bridges the capability gaps in protection, performance and payload of the HMMWV on the left. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Teresa J. Cleveland).

The JLTV has two variants, to cover the requirements of both the Army and Marine Corps, and can be transported by a range of lift assets including rotary-wing aircraft. It can traverse rugged and dangerous terrain including urban areas, while providing built-in and supplemental armor against direct fire and IED threats. The JLTV features advanced networking, by being wired for current and future command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

JLTV was purposely built for the Army’s tactical network and designed to have MRAP-like protection, but also to improve fuel efficiency, increase payload and provide greater maintainability, reliability and performance—and the potential for continuous improvement to meet future mission requirements.

 The first production vehicles are intended to serve as the first assets for JLTV’s performance and operational testing programs. Roughly 40 vehicles have been delivered to test sites thus far, and will undergo complete reliability, transportability, survivability, network and other testing to verify the production vehicles’ ability to satisfy the program’s requirements. The most important outcome of this testing is to ensure that Soldiers can effectively interact with the JLTV and all of its integrated equipment.

As the Jeep and HMMWV did on past battlefields, JLTV will no doubt face challenges of 21st century military operations that the Army and DOD can scarcely imagine today, as well as provide a much-needed tactical vehicle capability for the Army and Marine Corps that doesn’t compromise among payload, mobility, performance or protection.

For more information on JLTV, go to http://www.peocscss.army.mil/.

For a historical tour of Army AL&T over the past 56 years, go the army AL&T magazine

Archives at http://asc.army.mil/web/magazine/alt-magazine-archive/.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

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‘Trail bosses’ in evolving NIE, JWA seize the chance to grow professionally as their roles expand in planning and executing the large-scale exercises.

by Ms. Nancy Jones-Bonbrest

The Army’s Network Integration Evaluations (NIEs) and Joint Warfighting Assessments (JWAs) were meant to be fluid and flexible, adaptable to current demands. In keeping with that design, both events are undergoing sweeping changes that will improve the integration of emerging technologies and meet the call for readiness in an ever-changing global threat environment. As the Army shakes up the process, the people who conduct the NIEs and JWAs are also adapting their roles and responsibilities—and making the most of the opportunity to burnish their skills.

The NIE and JWA are Soldier-led, complementary exercises designed to integrate and mature the Army’s tactical network and emerging capabilities in an operational environment. Through simulated combat missions, including combined arms maneuver, counterinsurgency and stability operations, the Army has been able to integrate, assess and improve hundreds of government and industry technologies using Soldier feedback. Since its inception, the combined NIE and JWA process has made possible the evaluation of more than 270 capabilities with the execution of more than 130 other demonstrations and risk reduction events.

At the center of it all are the NIE and JWA trail bosses, acquisition professionals who serve as the vital link between the operational units that put on the events and the many government and industry stakeholders that provide capabilities for evaluation. Trail bosses communicate the operational intent of the various systems, ensure that the proper training and equipment are in place, and conduct end-to-end integration and planning to execute successful exercises. From a talent management perspective, trail bossing is a rare and valuable chance for a junior or midcareer acquisition officer to interact with multiple capabilities and stakeholders in a high-profile setting.

ACQUISITION AMBASSADOR
The new evaluation construct of NIEs and JWAs has elevated the trail bosses’ interaction with the test unit, making them “more of a planner to senior leadership” than before, said trail boss Maj. Carlito Flores, right, shown talking with Soldiers during the VALEX phase of the NIE 16.1 at Fort Bliss in October 2015. (Photos by Vanessa Flores, SoSE&I CPD)

Indeed, as the NIE and JWA evolve, even the term “trail boss” no longer describes the full scope of these officers’ duties. What began as an assignment to guide the unit through the validation exercise (VALEX) and operational evaluation has evolved to include a heightened level of planning, preparation and coordination akin to the job of a program manager responsible for guiding a portfolio of products through development and fielding. Reflecting this change, some trail bosses now have the formal title “assistant product manager” (APM).

“It used to be about getting the unit through the validation exercise that shows how the network works prior to an NIE,” said Maj. Carlito Flores, APM with the System of Systems Engineering and Integration Directorate’s Capability Package Directorate (SoSE&I CPD). Previously, Flores served as the APM for Nett Warrior with the Program Executive Office (PEO) for Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. “Now, we are able to see the larger operational picture by being part of the whole planning process. We’ve stepped up our role in interacting with the unit, and serve as more of a planner to senior leadership.”

This year, for the first time since the inception of the NIEs in 2011, the operational test unit will no longer be the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. Instead, the Army will rotate in other formations to meet readiness goals and provide fresh perspectives on new technologies. At NIE 17.2, to be held in July at Fort Bliss, Texas, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (2/101), a light infantry unit based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, will serve as the test unit. Next spring, JWA 18.1 will take the changes a step further when the event moves to Europe and features the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division along with a large cast of joint and multinational partners.

And that’s only the latest twist. In 2016, the Army changed the NIE from a biennial event to a yearly event and introduced the newly established Army Warfighting Assessments (AWAs, now called JWAs), which also take place once a year. While the NIEs focus primarily on formal system test events, the JWAs’ primary focus is on concepts and prototypes. Together, they pack a one-two punch of operational assessments that provide Soldier feedback on emerging concepts and capabilities to improve the combat-effectiveness of the joint force.

SETTING PLANS IN MOTION
Trail bosses, from left, Maj. Carlito Flores, Maj. Paul Santamaria and Maj. Alicia Johnson review plans for JWA 18.1 during an April meeting at Fort Bliss. JWA 18.1 is scheduled for May 2018 in Europe. Trail bosses are tasked with developing schedules and budgets, as well as leading design, integration and VALEX coordination efforts with a variety of partners, including Army and joint organizations.

The change in operational units means that they are no longer working in established relationships, said APM Maj. Alicia Johnson of the SoSE&I CPD. Before taking this assignment, Johnson worked as an administrative contracting officer for the Defense Contract Management Agency in Springfield, New Jersey. “It’s really about getting out to those installations, educating the units because they may or may not understand what the NIE is, and explaining how they are going to participate. We also let them know the importance of what they are doing,” she said.

Trail bosses also serve as the glue that binds the many pieces of the exercises. Because the units are operational brigades with their own missions in addition to the NIE mission, trail bosses must balance resources and time. They work to ease the burden on the units that are learning new systems being evaluated as part of the NIE while meeting traditional unit training requirements.

Trail bosses can often be found chairing a meeting, conducting close coordination with stakeholders on when and where equipment will arrive for training and integration, performing cost analysis, briefing leaders or managing direct support to units. They work regularly on future requirements for upcoming exercises, including developing schedules and budgets. They spearhead efforts for design, integration and VALEX coordination with partners that include the U.S. Army Joint Modernization Command, Army Rapid Capabilities Office, U.S. Army Europe, U.S. Army Forces Command, Army PEOs and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s capability managers.

“You speak both languages by translating operational requirements and objectives to the technical requirements and objectives,” Flores said.

Maj. Paul F. Santamaria, SoSE&I CPD APM, said the role has a distinct rhythm.

“When it comes to execution of each exercise, our scope gets less wide and more deep in order to drill down into a unit’s needs to successfully accomplish the exercise,” said Santamaria, who previously worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Systems Engineering of the United States Military Academy at West Point. “At the conclusion, we then widen our aperture and coordinate with all external organizations for the next one.”

MAXIMUM MULTITASKING
Trail boss Maj. Paul Santamaria inspects a vehicle during the VALEX phase of AWA 17.1 at Fort Bliss in October 2016. Trail bosses have broad responsibility at the NIEs and JWAs, which gives them a better understanding of the larger operational picture. That, in turn, enhances their acquisition expertise.

Working with so many different capabilities—and so much operator input—provides a wider perspective when they move on to future assignments in the Army Acquisition Corps.

“At the NIEs, we are exposed to so many different concepts and see them work together as a system of systems,” Johnson said. “With [this experience] comes a larger concept of understanding of where modernization is heading. As we look to future assignments or look at what is going on in the acquisition community, we can see the direction we are heading, which is really a unique opportunity.”

CONCLUSION
Originally designed to focus on the tactical network, the exercises are evolving to look at a wide variety of capabilities, such as advanced tactical power, counter-unmanned aircraft system capability and cyber and electronic warfare technologies.

This continuous cycle of NIEs, and now JWAs, helps the Army keep pace with the speed of technology while incorporating Soldier feedback into system design and training. The exercises inform tactics, techniques and procedures for using the technologies in the field.

As the NIEs incorporate new units and the JWAs new partners and locations, the trail bosses are embracing their expanded roles. For example, they are now planning multiple exercises at one time and starting the process earlier than ever to coordinate with rotational units.

“I’m capturing all these lessons learned from what we are doing at Fort Campbell, and I’m trying to apply them not just with an operational unit but with one with an operational mission in what seems to be an operational theater,” said Santamaria, who recently returned from a trip to Germany to plan JWA 18.1. “The role of trail boss has evolved from having a static unit conducting exercises with new technology, to a not-so-static unit conducting an exercise in a different environment—and how do you bring all those forces to bear? So bringing all those pieces together is something really unique.”

GETTING AN EARLY START
Trail boss Maj. Carlito Flores exits a command post during NIE 16.1 at Fort Bliss in October 2015. Trail bosses are embracing expanded roles as NIEs incorporate new units. They are planning multiple exercises at one time and starting the process early to better coordinate with rotational units.

MS. NANCY JONES-BONBREST is a staff writer for Data Systems Analysts Inc., providing contract support to the Army Rapid Capabilities Office. She holds a B.S. in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has covered Army modernization for several years, including multiple training and testing events.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

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Predictive Resource Staffing Models make staffing a program office easier and faster. A model for the program management community is available now; models for contracting, R&D, T&E and logistics are in development.

by Ms. Rebecca Meyer

You’ve just been selected as the program manager for an up-and-coming system. Congratulations! Its capability promises to revolutionize the way the Soldier operates on the battlefield. It checks all the buzzwords: Lean Six Sigma, cost efficient, auditable. There’s just one problem—a program management office (PMO) has not yet been established to carry out the mission, and you’ve been charged with developing the workforce requirement. Where do you start? How many people will you need? What skill sets will your staff require?

Anyone who has been in this situation can tell you that the thought of standing up a program office is daunting. You’ve asked around, and your fellow program managers relayed to you that they developed their staffing requirements through something called a concept plan. They mentioned that the timeline they experienced for development and approval was quite lengthy, averaging 12 to 18 months. And that doesn’t include using your requirements to request resources in the program objective memorandum (POM). One program manager even told the story of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle. MRAP followed the concept plan process to establish its program management office and did not receive approved workforce resources until after the program was already in sustainment. You find yourself asking, “What is this concept plan and why does it take so long?”

“Army Regulation 71-32, Force Development and Documentation” defines a concept plan as a detailed proposal to create or change units at specified thresholds. The purpose is to ensure that requirements are thoroughly reviewed and support Army objectives and priorities, and that HQDA understands the changes. In 2010 guidance, the deputy chief of staff (DCS) G-3/5/7 laid out an eight-step approach to developing, analyzing and presenting manpower staffing requirements through a cost benefit analysis (CBA). Those eight major steps would need to be completed whenever a new program was established or a current program changed significantly.

After the CBA is completed, the U.S. Army Manpower Analysis Agency (USAMAA) and DCS G-3/5/7 validation and approval are required before the requirements can be used in the Army’s resourcing processes. Although the concept plan process works, it does not provide flexibility or time-sensitive results. You begin to wonder why a more streamlined process has not yet been established.

Well, you’re in luck.

Your program executive office (PEO) notifies you that in 2013, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)) began work on a new approach to developing workforce requirements. This approach stemmed from the need to provide flexibility for different levels of programs, identify future requirements and accommodate human resource challenges. From this, the Predictive Resource Staffing Model (PRSM) was born.

DATA IN, FORECAST OUT
PRSM is a suite of five functional-based models developed to provide Army leaders with validated tools to inform resourcing decisions at both the organizational and agency levels. The model outputs, based on sound statistical analysis and input from functional communities, forecast the manpower requirements needed to support Army acquisition programs. Functional areas include program management, contracting, research and development (R&D), test and evaluation (T&E), and logistics.

Each functional PRSM is developed individually, based on the critical factors and workload drivers most relevant to the population being modeled. Workload factors and drivers are determined based on the organization’s mission, input from functional subject matter experts, policy, business processes and workload trends.

Remember those eight major steps required to build the concept plan? They’re completed on the front end of PRSM, during model development, allowing the user to employ a simple process and receive outputs in minutes. Like the concept plan, the models are validated by USAMAA and outputs are approved by DCS G-3/5/7. Best of all, once a PRSM model has been validated, it replaces the need for a concept plan.

“The PRSM – Program Management model has greatly improved the process of obtaining approval for manpower requirements,” said Vincent Dahmen, a cost analyst at the PEO for Ammunition. “Because the output of the model is accepted and respected by all of the stakeholders, the user doesn’t have to start from scratch with new analysis every time there is a change to the organizational structure.” Models predicting the workforce for contracting, R&D, logistics and T&E are in development; the model for program management was completed and validated for use by USAMAA in 2015.

Your PEO’s manpower analyst sends you a copy of the model and mentions that you’ll need to provide the outputs by close of business today. The PEO is getting ready to submit manpower requirements for this POM and wants to make sure your requirements are included. This gives you less than eight hours to provide the staffing requirement that took your peers 12 months to develop.

You also have some concerns that the model won’t work for your program, as it’s a new start developing a previously unseen capability. Teresa Gonda, director of organizational development and competency management at the PEO for Ground Combat Systems (GCS), has encouraging news on this point: “The real value of PRSM is in seeking requirements for new starts. PEO GCS is kicking off several programs in the next two years and has started using PRSM, with some innovative new processes in the Army, to help justify the requirements.” Normally with a new start, there is no analogous system to compare staffing baselines, so PMOs struggle with deriving manpower requirements. You hope this PRSM model is as simple and effective and provides results as quickly as advertised.

WHAT DRIVES THE MODEL
When you open the model, you find PRSM – Program Management (PRSM-PM) is built around a list of program management tasks and a set of workload drivers developed by the PEO community. You remember hearing about this back in 2014, when a sample set of users in the PEOs was asked to record workload time (actual time spent completing a task) against the task list for three months. Regression analysis performed on this data was used to develop the model you’ll be using today. Working with the model is straightforward: You answer a series of questions based on program schematics, including acquisition category, life cycle phase, use of government-furnished equipment and system type, among others. (See Figure 1.) These questions are the workload drivers—pieces of information that combine to tailor the model to your program and are changed to meet emerging mission requirements. Within 10 minutes, you’ve entered all the required information into PRSM and have computed your manpower requirement.

FIGURE 1 TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROGRAM
By providing responses to a series of questions related to program specifics, PRSM users can compute manpower requirements in 10 minutes—a dramatic improvement over the 12 months it used to take to complete the task. (Graphics courtesy of the author)

Your PEO provided a PowerPoint template to package your outputs. You copy and paste a few of the output reports, provide some narrative about your program and submit your requirements to the PEO analyst.

FIGURE 2 KEEPING UP WITH THE LABOR POOL
PRSM-PM provides results by labor class, as shown here, and by function, task list and combinations of all three. The system will be updated in 2019, with subject matter experts working to ensure that the tasks and workload drivers still accurately reflect the community and the model still accurately projects program workforce requirements.

FIGURE 3 NEW PROGRAM? NOT A PROBLEM.
Each functional PRSM is developed individually, based on the critical factors and workload drivers most relevant to the population being modeled. The sourcing model has proven easily adaptable to new programs, overcoming the challenge of not having comparable manpower requirements to serve as a baseline.

ANNUAL UPDATES
This isn’t the last time you’ll see PRSM. Every year you’ll use it to update your requirements as your program transitions. “PEO GCS uses PRSM both in the annual forecasting process and in standing up new programs,” Gonda said. “At the beginning of the annual forecasting process, PEO GCS looks out seven years at the budget cycle and uses PRSM to anticipate fluctuations in programs. Then, supervisors perform a detailed troop-to-task estimate in each program and come together in functional competency groups. They compare results to PRSM, look for trends and issues and see where they can find efficiencies across the PEO.”

You may not use the same in-depth review process as PEO GCS, but you’ll definitely be using PRSM to approve your manpower requirements on an annual basis as part of the POM. Furthermore, you’ll have a chance to share your thoughts on the model and enhance its capabilities: You’ve received word from your PEO that PRSM-PM will undergo an update in 2019. Another group of subject matter experts from the PEOs will come together to ensure that the tasks and workload drivers are still representative of the community and that the model still accurately projects program workforce requirements given the current environment, and to provide recommendations on how the model can better support PMO reporting requirements.

CONCLUSION
The PRSM models might look different for each functional community, but the usability and incorporation into Army processes remain the same. This is good news across the Army for those doing just what you’re doing. For the first time, the Army is able to develop consistent and reliable workforce requirements in a timely manner, reflecting the most current Army strategy. The requirements can be updated at any time to support what-if drills and programmatic changes.

There are still many conceivable refinements to the PRSM suite to make it a more robust set of tools, and the Army needs your help in making those improvements. The models require your subject matter expertise in Army missions, processes and community operating procedures to develop successful outputs.

For more information, contact the author at rebecca.s.meyer10.civ@mail.mil.

MS. REBECCA MEYER is a program support specialist for the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for plans, programs and resources. She holds an M.S. in cost estimating and analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School and a B.S. in mathematics from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She is Level II certified in program management and business – cost estimating.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

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COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Project Manager for Distributed Common Ground System – Army; Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors
TITLE: Product director, Machine Foreign Language Translation System
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 33
YEARS OF SERVICE IN MILITARY: 2
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level III in program management and engineering
EDUCATION: M.S. in engineering management, George Washington University; B.S. in civil engineering, Virginia Tech
AWARDS: Meritorious Civilian Service Award; Superior Civilian Service Award; Commander’s Award for Civilian Service (multiple); Achievement Medal for Civilian Service (multiple)

Product director puts translators in Soldiers’ pockets

by Mary Kate Aylward

“There will never be enough human linguists to meet the Army’s varied translation requirements.” That’s the problem Michael Doney’s team works to solve. The solution it’s building is the Machine Foreign Language Translation System (MFLTS), a family of software applications that will translate spoken and written material in any foreign language, anywhere in the world.

Commercial translation apps and services solve the general problems a Soldier trying to speak with a local vendor might encounter. But they stumble over DOD-isms, and they generally don’t work without internet access. “Moreover, the Army often requires translation of uncommon languages and specific dialects that are of little or no interest to commercial users and thus not typically available on commercial platforms,” Doney said. His team is integrating military-specific language into apps that will be hosted locally on a Soldier’s smartphone or similar device.

In effect, it’s a pocket translator that can go to the most remote corner of the world, a neat solution to the impossibility of having an Army linguist or local translator on hand at all times. “Developing innovative and creative solutions to complex problems is always professionally very satisfying,” said Doney. As product director of the MFLTS team, he leads a diverse group of acquisition professionals and is responsible for all aspects of the program, he said, “ranging from building the program team to the development of acquisition, contracting and sustainment strategies that result in the fielding of a required capability to Soldiers.”

MFLTS is a case in which an Army-built solution was appropriate and necessary, but Doney’s three decades in acquisition have given him an appreciation for the importance of “mutually beneficial and productive relationships with our industry partners.” During the run-up to the first Gulf War, “I saw how American industry could achieve previously unthinkable levels of production of complex high-tech equipment, and rapidly deliver capabilities to deployed Soldiers that were critical to mission success,” he said.

“Greening” has also been an important, and still continuing, part of his career. “I was fortunate to have an opportunity to work alongside NCOs early in my career,” he said. “Learning and understanding how the Army is organized provides the foundation for the development of POR [program of record] concepts, programmatic strategies, product requirements and testing methodologies, as well as development of fielding, training and sustaining approaches.”

The MFLTS undergoes testing during the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment 2016 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Soldiers used the MFLTS 2-Way translation app on the Nett Warrior device to speak with Soldiers from the 52nd Translator-Interpreter Company who played the role of Iraqi interlocutors. MFLTS translated on the spot from English to Iraqi Arabic. (U.S. Army photo)

Listening to Soldiers at field events is critical, he added. “It is equally important for acquisition personnel to gain an understanding of how Soldiers perform their individual and organizational tasks. If we understand the use cases for our products, which includes the usage environment that dictates constraints and limitations, as well as [understanding] the operators who will employ the capability, we are more able to provide a new or improved capability that easily transitions into service and achieves a high level of Soldier acceptance.”

When it comes to leadership, Doney espouses a “shovel the coal” philosophy: Shovel the coal yourself, that is, before you get to a position where you supervise others who do. Doney specifically emphasizes the importance of future program managers (PMs) participating in “as many source selection boards as possible.” He also recommends the PM course at Defense Acquisition University (DAU). “The staff instructors at the DAU PM course stand out as being particularly memorable,” he said. “These instructors created an experience that I continue to value greatly, as it thoroughly prepared me for the next steps in my career.”

Doney’s parents were in public service. Their example, and three college summers as a temporary hire with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, led him to federal service. He joined the acquisition workforce immediately after graduating from college, working in the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command community of scientists and engineers. “After 10 years of leading [research, development and engineering] projects, I was asked to support a program management office and found a natural alignment of my personal and professional abilities with program management tasks that I found extremely challenging and rewarding.”

Though he has been working in program management for the last 20 years, Doney can still recall one formative moment when he went “into the cauldron early.” As a relatively new GS-7 engineer, he briefed the three-star deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) on the status of an AMC-wide project that “had been experiencing some significant implementation challenges.” This drove home “the importance of organizing information and effectively communicating, very early in my career.”

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“Faces of the Force” is an online series highlighting members of the Army Acquisition Workforce through the power of individual stories. Profiles are produced by the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center Communication and Support Branch, working closely with public affairs officers to feature Soldiers and civilians serving in various AL&T disciplines. For more information, or to nominate someone, please contact 703-664-5635.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July – September issue Army AL&T magazine.

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USAMMDA’s highly specialized workforce needs training to match its mission. It’s getting it, thanks to DAWDF funding.

by Ms. Kathleen L. Berst and Ms. Judy L. Holian

As the premier developer of world-class military medical capabilities, the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity (USAMMDA) at Fort Detrick, Maryland, is responsible for developing and delivering critical products for the nation’s military forces. USAMMDA requires a particular type of workforce to accomplish this mission, with skills not only in acquisition but also in very specialized areas of medical product development. These highly skilled personnel enable USAMMDA to supply products that protect and preserve the lives of warfighters worldwide.

The products include drugs, vaccines, blood products, devices and medical support equipment designed to maximize the survival of casualties on the battlefield. USAMMDA’s dedicated team focuses constantly on the timely delivery of new, affordable and sustainable capabilities.

Because of the variety of specialized knowledge and skills required for its mission, in 2014 ­USAMMDA implemented a multifaceted training program geared toward developing the workforce effectively in the key areas of technical and acquisition competency and leadership—and the results have been noteworthy. Given the financial constraints that exist throughout the federal government, ­USAMMDA has drawn on its creativity to provide the best training possible within a limited budget.

USAMMDA personnel possess distinct talents and areas of expertise that do not exist elsewhere in the acquisition enterprise. Most of its product and project managers have a scientific or engineering background in addition to the traditional business skill set often expected in these positions. ­USAMMDA personnel frequently interact with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies, clinical research entities and laboratories—again, not the typical lanes of the acquisition arena.

TEACHING TO LEAD
Participants in the inaugural USAMMDA Leadership Development Cohort Program work through in-class assignments with coach John Riordan, center, in March at USDA offices in Frederick. Riordan frames the training in various scenarios for the group to analyze and discuss. His mantra is, “Be yourself with more skill.” (Photos by Erin Bolling, USAMMDA Public Affairs)

The Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund (DAWDF) has enabled USAMMDA to establish training in house to sustain and improve critical competencies in project management and regulatory affairs. DAWDF support has helped to develop USAMMDA personnel and prepare them to accomplish the mission. For example, Project Management Institute training has enabled more than 50 acquisition workforce members across the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, USAMMDA’s higher headquarters, to achieve Project Management Professional certification, in addition to receiving Regulatory Affairs Certificate Program training.

While competency training is important, however, it is not enough to ensure mission success. Leadership development remains vital in enabling USAMMDA team members to work effectively outside their program-specific sphere of influence.

The government has excellent leadership and development programs, but they can cost upward of $10,000 per person, which is simply out of ­USAMMDA’s reach. Therefore, USAMMDA created its own program, leveraging internal resources and additional funding from DAWDF. Without DAWDF funds, ­USAMMDA’s training council could not have funded any of the recent offerings from a leading nonprofit educational institute or other efforts, including USAMMDA’s Leadership Development Cohort Program. Providing the cohort program in house has saved us a significant amount of money, compared with the cost of sending USAMMDA staff to an off-site, privately run program.

USAMMDA’s Leadership Development Cohort Program involves extensive reading and study between scheduled classes, and participants tackle many of the assignments as a group.

Topics are based on the executive core qualifications identified by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, such as leading people, achieving results, leading change, business acumen and building coalitions and partnerships. Thus the program offers USAMMDA team members the opportunity to align their various talents more effectively to meet any challenge within the organization’s unusual acquisition space. The focus is on distinguishing between managing and leading, to develop valuable skills that will help strengthen the organization.

What makes this program so effective is that the small group—26 participants in each cohort—moves through the training together. Members of the group support one another between meetings. There are assigned readings and books, TED Talks and various activities to complete before a scheduled session, and the camaraderie that comes from working on them together creates a positive atmosphere in the classroom.

Heightening participants’ engagement is the interaction of the group with the program coach, John Riordan. As a professional leadership instructor for nearly two decades, Riordan has been involved with the Excellence in Government Fellows and other government-based leadership programs. He connects with his clients quickly and guides each group by presenting real-world scenarios based on the specific work of the organization. His mantra, “Be yourself with more skill,” is one of the reasons USAMMDA chose to contract him for this program.

USAMMDA’s training council designed and structured the coursework to develop leadership capacity, starting with branch chiefs, deputy directors, product managers and selected nonmanagement staff members. The ultimate goal is to help everyone realize that they can contribute meaningfully on a daily basis, regardless of their pay grade, because the bottom line is that you do not have to be a senior staff member or a commander to be a leader.

With this emphasis on “leading at all levels,” the cohort learns that when a problem arises, it needs to be resolved, whether the person confronting it is the most junior member of the staff or the one in charge. As the coach advocates, you cannot just walk by a problem; it has to be addressed—and that is the point of this program.

DIRECT INTERACTION
Amy Brown, USAMMDA senior acquisition management liaison officer, receives feedback and guidance from Riordan on an in-class assignment for the Leadership Development Cohort Program. The complex, multifunctional nature of the organization’s work calls for leadership development at all levels.

As part of their prework during a recent executive training course, Strategies for Conflict Resolution, students were asked to provide a case study to discuss in class. As it happened, two people from different USAMMDA divisions had been experiencing ongoing stress from a joint work problem for which they could not agree on a solution.

They decided to use this real-life situation as their case study for class, and they wrote the assignment together. Bringing the paper to class, they allowed the course instructor to act as facilitator, along with the other participants, to work through their conflict. The result was successful: The two students reached a positive resolution that carried over into their daily business interactions, to the ultimate benefit of USAMMDA’s mission, which enlightened not only the two students but the entire class and the instructor.

As one of the two students involved said, “I really feel that the group setting was very beneficial in this case, because the other students—our peers—could remain neutral and objective, and they were able to offer helpful comments and suggestions. The conflict was not magically resolved, but we received some very valuable feedback that certainly helped to improve the situation.”

Even the Leadership Development Cohort Program, as valuable as it is to the growth of USAMMDA’s workforce, by itself may not be enough to fully cultivate the talents of the team within the organization’s unique space. Therefore, USAMMDA augments the program with invited guests, who speak on a variety of pertinent topics, and continuously looks for opportunities to send staff members on details and developmental assignments to broaden their skills and knowledge base in other areas of the organization, both internal and external to USAMMDA.

Mentorship remains a valuable component of USAMMDA’s training as well. Once the members of this current cohort, made up of senior staff, complete the program, they will be asked to serve as mentors to the junior staff during the next program offering.

USAMMDA plans to rotate each year between a Leadership Development Cohort Program geared toward senior staff and one geared to junior staff. Thus the training will help to develop the leadership skills of junior staff so they can progress eventually into senior roles, which will help strengthen USAMMDA’s bench and provide in-house candidates with the necessary skills for senior management positions.

ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM
Participants in USAMMDA’s inaugural Leadership Develop­ment Cohort Program work on a class assignment during a breakout session in March at U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offices in Frederick, Maryland, near Fort Detrick. Coach John Riordan’s philosophy is that you cannot just bypass a problem; it has to be addressed. Thus the cohort learns that regardless of who identifies a problem—a junior staffer or the chief of the organization—it needs to be resolved, and people at all levels can be leaders in the effort.

The nature of the work requires multifunctional teams that must lead through influence, communicate effectively, and prevent, manage and resolve conflict. What USAMMDA does on a daily basis is so complicated that it requires many people to make that happen—it truly is a team effort. Therefore, ongoing leadership development at all levels is both beneficial and necessary.

Although it is important to make training opportunities available to staff members, it is equally imperative to have support at all levels of the command for this endeavor. The USAMMDA leadership team fully encourages the professional development of staff members, which helps put them at ease when they must take time away from their daily work to complete assigned training.

Col. William E. Geesey, USAMMDA’s commander, remains a faithful advocate of the Leadership Development Cohort Program and has addressed the group at multiple sessions.

“The primary mission of USAMMDA is to support our war­fighters with whatever they need, whenever they need it, so they can complete their assigned missions successfully,” Geesey said. “This specific leadership training that we are providing to our USAMMDA team members will help us to accomplish our goal of protecting and preserving our military forces, which will benefit our entire nation in the end. It is certainly a win-win situation for all involved.”

With the implementation of a thoughtfully crafted training program, USAMMDA has already realized benefits as participants practice their skills in leading through influence and in preventing and managing conflict. The leadership remains dedicated to attracting, developing and aligning talent within this unique acquisition workforce to improve our ability to protect and preserve the lives of those defending our nation.

For more information on the work and mission of USAMMDA, go to http://www.usammda.army.mil.

MS. KATHLEEN L. BERST is deputy commander for acquisition at USAMMDA, responsible for oversight of five project management offices, one division and program support. She is currently completing an MBA from Hood College and holds a B.S. in molecular biology from Clarkson University. A member of the Army Acquisition Corps (AAC), she is Level III certified in program management. Additionally, Berst has achieved Project Management Professional certification and holds a Regulatory Affairs Certificate.

MS. JUDY L. HOLIAN is chief of USAMMDA’s Office of Research and Technology Applications, responsible for establishing technology transfer and interagency agreements to enable the advancement of biomedical research in support of medical solutions for the war­fighter. She holds a B.S. in microbiology from The Pennsylvania State University. She is Level II certified in program management and a Project Management Professional, as well as a member of the AAC.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

PEO CS&CSS makes a two-pronged effort to maximize the effectiveness of the SRPE and get the most from its workforce.

by Mr. Scott J. Davis

Last quarter, Craig A. Spisak, director of the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center, wrote about the importance of Senior Rater Potential Evaluations (SRPEs) in helping to identify and shape our community’s future leaders. I agree that the SRPE is a very important tool. Our current environment is uncertain and resource-constrained, and it’s often hard to spend the extra time to think critically about our workforce. Yet I’m convinced that we must make the time to shape our most important resource. We owe that to both the Army and our team members. A mechanism like the SRPE that helps us give employees, leaders and future selection boards an honest, transparent and consistent idea of civilian employee potential is powerful.

While our organization’s No. 1 priority is effective program management, we cannot do that without effectively developing our people. Shaping our acquisition professionals—from early mentoring through senior-level assignments—is a serious responsibility we all share. Everyone has a stake in how we recruit, retain, motivate and develop talent across the Army Acquisition Workforce, and every employee, supervisor and leader plays an essential role in the process.

Of course, the SRPE isn’t magic. It is just a tool. What matters is how we use it: how we have meaningful conversations with our civilian employees and how we communicate about our employees. A good tool used poorly—be it an integrated master schedule, a spend plan or a SRPE—usually fails to do the job well. Just as there are recognized best ways to use the tools of acquisition, so, too, must there be best ways to develop our people.

The author updates the PEO CS&CSS workforce on SRPEs, their implementation and benefits during a town hall meeting in March at U.S. Army Garrison – Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan. As the program executive officer, Davis initiated a communication campaign to ensure a clear understanding of the SRPE as a vital tool that helps provide civilian employees, leaders and future selection boards with an accurate, clear and consistent picture of employee potential. (Photo by Rae Higgins, PEO CS&CSS Strategic Communications)

The first is to integrate the SRPE into what should already be an ongoing conversation about every employee’s development. We can’t assess someone’s potential unless we understand who they are, what they’ve done and what they’d like to do. We cannot disconnect discussions about an employee’s potential from their career goals or the training, experiences and education they choose to pursue.

This ongoing conversation or cycle begins with the Individual Development Plan (IDP), whereby an employee and a supervisor talk about the employee’s goals for their career, education, training and so on, then lay out a plan. This is where the employee describes where they see themselves and where they want to go. Based on the IDP, the employee and supervisor should make choices about future opportunities.

In the SRPE, the supervisor and senior rater assess the employee’s potential—not just as an individual, but across relevant peer groups. This answers questions about where an employee is and where they can go, based on their potential:

• Are they skilled in the field they’d like to pursue?
• Have they experienced the right program type, phase and category to prepare them for the next level?
• Are they ready for the next step? If not, what training or experiences would get them there?

An honest conversation about the SRPE helps the employee understand strengths and weaknesses, their competitive potential and what they could do to reach their career goals.

After reviewing the SRPE and pursuing training or experiences, the employee and supervisor can return to the IDP and change or continue plans to meet the employee’s career goals, perhaps improving the employee’s demonstrated potential. Because this should be a continuous cycle of communication, nothing on the SRPE should shock or surprise the employee. If it does, communication was clearly lacking, and that needs to be addressed.

MAXIMIZING THE SRPE’S VALUE
The second way we’ve leveraged SRPEs is to think diligently about how we maximize their value for our team members’ assessment and their competitive potential. SRPEs are most effective to the Army and the employee when they provide a consistent, accurate assessment of a civilian employee’s potential for future progress against a substantial set of peers in both grade and function.

Based on feedback from previous centralized selection boards, we understood that inconsistent phrasing, small cohorts, imprecise distinctions or multiple No. 1 enumerations (ratings) in the same organization caused confusion and did not enhance an employee’s competitive potential. Making distinctions meaningful, consistent and accurate is important not only for the board, but also for individual employees.

In PEO CS&CSS, we established the program executive officer as the senior rater for all NH-IV employees, giving us a large pool of comparable associates, both overall and by functional group. It also means that every associate will have a SRPE from the general officer or Senior Executive Service level, which is required for centralized selection list boards and provides a consistent evaluation and enumeration for all NH-IV personnel in our organization.

At the beginning of each SRPE cycle, supervisors think critically about each associate’s experience, training and demonstrated potential before participating in program manager—O-5 and O-6—meetings to negotiate and agree on an organizational order of merit list (OML). Teams develop OMLs within each organization and within each functional area. Then, at the PEO level, senior leaders negotiate a PEO-wide OML to rank our employees overall and by functional area, paying particular attention to ratings of “exceptional potential” in managing the senior rater’s overall profile. This process gives us a clear and fair assessment of potential across the more than 150 associates in our NH-IV workforce, based on discussions and input from all of our senior leaders. The process also collects draft narrative comments and recommendations for each associate’s training or experiences.

To make finalizing the senior rater’s comments as efficient as possible, our staff created a Microsoft Excel-based tool with unique macros that take in the OML and suggested comments. The tool aligns recommended senior rater comments, enumerations and potential training or assignment opportunities based on career fields and experiences. It is tremendously helpful, making the process of completing senior rater comments easier and far more consistent and fair.

The SRPE allows Army acquisition organizations to think critically about the workforce and each member’s competitive potential: Who are the future civilian leaders, and how can they and their supervisors best develop their potential when resources are limited? How can the SRPE be applied to generate ongoing, honest conversations with employees about their strengths, weaknesses and goals and how to meet those goals with training, education and job experiences? (Image by U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center/exdez/iStock)

Ever since, we’ve made fairness, consistency and transparency major themes of every change we’ve made in the area of human capital, including SRPEs. I’m pleased that two years later, our climate results showed approximately an 8 percent improvement across our O-6-led project management offices.

In the case of the SRPEs, many of our associates and their supervisors had to learn what a SRPE was and how it fit into their development activities, and our approach to consolidated SRPE management took some getting used to. We initiated a deliberate communication campaign, beginning with our supervisors, to ensure a clear understanding of not only what we were doing but why. We first briefed all leaders at the O-6 level, followed by a supervisory all-hands meeting, a discussion on SRPEs during organizational town halls and direct messages to the workforce from me.

I also wanted to position our supervisors for success, so our human capital and communications teams devised a specific guide to shape each SRPE review session. Not every supervisor needed the assistance, but developing our supervisors is no less important than developing the people they supervise. Giving supervisors standard questions to ask improves individual IDP and SRPE reviews, and helps embed consistency throughout our development cycle.

CONCLUSION
We’re only in our second year with this process, but so far, anecdotal feedback from centrally selected boards is positive. Just as importantly, our workforce appears to be understanding the process well, including their ability to better understand their own potential. This is important, especially as we begin the process this year of formal SRPEs for our larger population of associates at the NH-III level. We have to make sure to use the tools in a way that continues to enhance the way our team members, supervisors and those beyond our organization understand potential and possibility.

Fundamentally, understanding is about communicating, and when it comes to developing our people, that conversation should never end. Talking about goals, potential and opportunities must occur not just at SRPE time, but rather as part of an ongoing, everyday activity. Our people and our Army will be stronger as a result.

For more information, contact Liesel Folden, PEO CS&CSS’ workforce development lead for human capital and assistant PEO for strategic management, at liesel.a.folden.civ@mail.mil or read Mr. Spisak’s column on the importance of SRPEs, “Tough Choices, Powerful Tool,” in the April – June issue of Army AL&T.

MR. SCOTT J. DAVIS is the program executive officer for combat support and combat service support. He holds an M.S. in industrial engineering from Wayne State University and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 30 years, retiring at the rank of colonel in May 2015. He was selected for the Senior Executive Service in 2005. A member of the Army Acquisition Corps, he holds Level III certifications in program management and engineering.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

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The AALPC primes program managers for success as acquisition leaders

by Craig A. Spisak

Director, U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center

One of the imperatives for a program manager (PM) to succeed in Army acquisition is that they must own their battlespace.

Think of two concentric circles. The inner circle is what a PM is responsible for: What are the resources, what is the timeline, what are the cost effects of these factors on the program and, very specifically, what are the performance attributes that the PM is trying to get out of this particular system?

The outer circle consists of things that are outside the PM’s immediate control but could have an impact on the program: What’s going on with respect to funding on Capitol Hill? How does the test community view what’s going on? What’s happening on the resourcing side that may impact the program in the future? What’s happening in the requirements community? What is the contracting community’s view of the strategy being employed for this program?

When you can manage your internal circle and understand what’s going on around you in the outer circle, you own your battlespace. It was out of that imperative that the Army Acquisition Leader Preparation Course (AALPC) was born.

EQUIPPED TO LEAD
Lt. Gen. Michael E. Williamson, then principal military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and the Army director for acquisition career management, speaks to participants in the November 2016 AALPC, one of a number of initiatives designed to equip acquisition leaders with the skills to effectively manage their programs. (Photos by Michelle Strother, U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center)

Williamson saw a great disparity among our program managers: For some, their apertures weren’t wide enough to truly prepare them to proactively influence all of the stakeholders and have better control over their programs.

To address that disparity, he said we needed to develop some kind of learning event. The result: the AALPC. The intensive five-day course is run by the Army Director for Acquisition Career Management Office. Conducted twice a year since its April 2015 pilot, it’s designed to equip centrally selected PMs, contracting commanders and product directors with the knowledge and skills necessary to address challenges they’re likely to encounter in their new roles.

The AALPC is not a briefing. Instead, the attendees operate in small groups. They have remarkably intimate exchanges and dialogues with practitioners and senior leaders from all sorts of environments on topics including leadership, effective communication, talent and organizational management, risk identification and management, and understanding a program budget. There’s a fair amount of discussion about the moral and ethical responsibilities related to leading people and programs. There are also career field breakout sessions for PMs and contracting officers.

At our most recent AALPC, in April, speakers included the Hon. Chuck Hagel, the former secretary of defense and U.S. senator; Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, the vice chief of staff of the Army; and James A. MacStravic, performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. On one day alone, seven general officers participated as speakers or facilitators.

Our thought leaders come to AALPC not only from inside DOD, but also from the defense industry, academia and non-defense-related industries. At the April course, our facilitators included a staff member of the House Armed Services Committee and representatives from Amazon Web Services Inc. and Boeing Co. We’ve recognized that if you can look at a problem through a different lens, you may be able to apply what other people have done in a different and unique way in your more traditional environment. It allows you to broaden your mind.

BUILDING THE BASE
AALPC participants Lt. Col. Frankie Cruz, left, and Lt. Col. Cassandra Forrester, center, discuss talent and organizational management with facilitator Col. Maria Schneider during a speed networking session at the April 2017 AALPC. Such sessions are designed to strengthen relationships among PMs and build a network they can tap into when challenges arise.

Williamson used the term “building your Rolodex.” Of course, no one under 35 has any idea what a Rolodex is. But the idea is to build a trust network and a knowledge network, a base of people who already have experienced a similar problem—that colonel or that GS-15 civilian who talked about this same kind of thing—and be able to reach out, pull on that resource and say, “You talked about this. Could you walk me through it so that I don’t have to travel the learning curve again?”

The big thing we often talk about in our community is that even though there’s a lot of uniqueness to what we do, there’s a ton of similarity in the types of problems we face while running our programs. Walking that PM path doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel every time there’s a problem.

CONCLUSION
We ask a lot from our AALPC facilitators and speakers. We’re asking them to engage in potentially an all-day activity. Even for the lunch and dinner speaker, it’s a commitment of several hours, and often they stick around afterward to continue the dialogue and engagement. It’s draining to participate. And we’re grateful for their contributions.

The feedback we’re getting from the participants, facilitators and speakers has been incredibly positive. Almost to a person, participants have said this is probably one of the best events they’ve attended to prepare them to take on the roles and responsibilities they are about to enter.

But the more difficult question is whether the AALPC is having a successful impact on the management of programs. That’s very difficult to measure, because there’s really no way to tell today that it’s having a net positive effect on acquisition program outcomes. But the overwhelmingly positive feedback suggests that we’re moving in the right direction.

Here’s the overarching concept for the AALPC: You can never over-prepare a leader to lead.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

This career basic helps acquisition workforce members keep track of what they need to do and when.

By Mr. Robert E. Coultas

Jobs in defense acquisition are unlike most others because of the legally mandated training, education and other requirements that employees must fulfill. The central tool for planning and tracking those requirements and compliance with them is the Individual Development Plan (IDP).

Fortunately, there’s an app for that, and it’s accessible through the Career Acquisition Personnel and Position Management Information System (CAPPMIS) portal at https://rda.altess.army.mil/camp/. (A Common Access Card is needed to log in.)

Acquisition workforce members are required to create and maintain a five-year IDP. While that sounds a little onerous, the good news is that it’s not difficult. In fact, based on the individual’s initial assignment in the acquisition workforce, as entered into the Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS) by their human resources point of contact, the IDP pretty much creates itself.

DCPDS data are available to CAPPMIS within three or four weeks of hire. When the employee logs in, CAPPMIS uses the particulars of the individual’s position and their credentials from DCPDS to create a basic IDP, including all of the courses required for certification under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA). It’s then up to the individual to customize and add other courses and objectives. For example, the course starting dates are recommended from information initially entered in the employee’s file, but the individual can change these dates to fit their schedule.

The IDP is designed in part to help maintain meaningful communication between the employee and supervisor about the employee’s career. Its main purpose, however, is to help the employee understand, track and accomplish what’s expected of them to keep current in their certifications. The IDP remains a living document throughout the acquisition professional’s career.

SUPERVISOR INPUT IS KEY
Stephanie Watson, acquisition career manager at the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center, described how the IDP supports the supervisor-employee connection.

“Once an IDP is created, the individual must submit requests on almost everything through their supervisor,” Watson said. “For example, all online and resident courses—with the exception of continuous learning modules—as well as objectives and education must be added to the IDP, then submitted to the supervisor for review and approval. This facilitates the discussion between the employee and supervisor on where the employee wants to go [with their career] and where they see themselves in three to five years.”

Watson noted that the system has additional capabilities. For example, the U.S. Army Director for Acquisition Career Management (DACM) Office monitors IDPs, which helps the DACM Office carry out its responsibility for ensuring acquisition career development, talent management initiatives and certification of the Army Acquisition Workforce.

“It helps us get quotas for seats in DAU [Defense Acquisition University] courses,” she said. “When they [employees] sign up for training in their IDP, we find out how many other members need the same training for their certification. We petition the DAU for Army quotas. If we have more people needing the training, we may get more seats, which means we can get more people certified quicker.”

GREEN MEANS GO
The most recent update to the IDP site on CAPPMIS incorporates a dashboard that uses red, yellow and green indicators to represent compliance with workforce standards. As new standards are identified, the dashboard adjusts to reflect progress toward those requirements. (Image by U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center)

IDP UPGRADE ROLLED OUT
A January update to the IDP system (version 3.9) promises workforce members and their supervisors an easier way to keep track of requirements and report core training and certification status. This includes email notifications to both parties when the items related to the employee’s DAWIA compliance are coming due or are past due.

A new dashboard feature uses a “stoplight” color scheme to signal where the employee stands vis-a-vis continuous learning points, primary certification requirements, annual mandatory training, the status of goals and objectives and the Senior Rater Potential Evaluation requirement. As the employee’s acquisition career progresses and they meet requirements, the dashboard updates accordingly.

CONCLUSION
The IDP provides acquisition professionals a means to keep their career on target, but it is by no means an “autopilot” tool. Ultimately, it’s up to the individual to remain certified and qualified in their current position. Consistently maintaining the IDP plays a necessary and useful role in fulfilling the obligations of acquisition professionals.

For more information, go to http://asc.army.mil/web/dacm-office/.

This article is scheduled to be published in the July – September issue Army AL&T magazine.

Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.

By Michael Bold

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (July 3, 2017)—The Army Acquisition Workforce is charged with equipping Soldiers to fight and win America’s battles. And it’s that workforce that stands front and center of the July – September issue of Army AL&T magazine. From developing capabilities for Soldiers in the field to nurturing and inspiring future Army scientists and engineers in the classroom, we’ve got it covered.

Read about:

Network Integration Evaluations and Joint Warfighting Assessments are evolving, and as they do the Army’s ‘trail bosses’ seize the chance to grow professionally as their roles expand in planning and executing the large-scale exercises. Find out how in “CENTER OF THE STORM.”

Logistics demonstrations reduce fielding risk and Soldier burden by ensuring that units have the logistical capability needed to successfully operate, maintain and troubleshoot systems in the field. Read how in “TECHNICAL MANUALS THAT WORK.”

CERDEC’s STEM Superstar program uses pop culture, superheroes and everyday activities to show elementary schoolchildren that science, technology, engineering and mathematics are everywhere. Discover how in “ENGINEERS DON’T NEED TRAINS.” And read how RDECOM’s STEM outreach program is targeting students from kindergarten to college, in “BUILDING A LOVE FOR MATH AND SCIENCE.”

Harvard Business School Professor Linda A. Hill has made it her life’s work to study what makes a good manager a good leader, and vice versa. The former “Army brat,” the daughter of a Medical Service Corps officer, has seen the numerous ways that understanding the individual and the organization well makes for better managers and leaders who can build thriving teams. Read about her findings in “FIRST, MANAGE YOURSELF.”

Credibility is especially key in the world of acquisition, where trust equals money. Program managers need the right mix of character and action to build a foundation of trust. To understand how that can be done, see “BUILDING CREDIBILITY.”

PEO CS&CSS launches a two-pronged effort to maximize the effectiveness of the SRPE and get the most from its workforce. Read how in “THE SHAPE OF SUCCESS.”

Even if you’re a die-hard hard copy reader, there are many reasons to take a sneak peek at what’s online. Go to http://usaasc.armyalt.com/#folio=1 to read the e-magazine, or visit the archives at http://asc.army.mil/web/magazine/alt-magazine-archive/ to download the PDF version.

For more information on how to publish an article in Army AL&T magazine, visit http://asc.army.mil/web/publications/army-alt-submissions// to check out our writers guidelines, upcoming deadlines and themes.