Fall 2006 PEO/SYSCOM Commanders' Conference: the will to change.

Institutionalizing cultural change throughout the defense acquisition process was recognized as a key component of acquisition reform when Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Technology) John Deutch championed the establishment of the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition Reform) in 1993. A constant refrain since the mid 1990s has been the necessity for a cultural change in DoD's acquisition process.

Since then, the acquisition, technology, and logistics senior leadership has brought to the forefront the companion concept of inculcating in the workforce the will to change as paramount to the Department's ability to meet the challenge of developing and maintaining needed warfighting capability. Incorporating and institutionalizing a will to change into the cultural fabric of the procurement business is a tall order, but the benefits of such an approach are clear: buy-in from the Services to work together, buy-in from the program executive officers/program managers to work together, and a proactive approach to optimizing processes that work through sound change management.

Responding to this challenge, the 2006 PEO/SYSCOM Commanders' Conference, held at Fort Belvoir, Va., Nov. 7-8, was dedicated to a single theme: "The Will to Change." Keynote speeches, panels, workshops, and networking all focused on instilling a will to change DoD's high-risk program areas that result in cost overruns, schedule delays, and overpayments to industry for cost-plus programs. The conference further expanded its reach by providing webcasts of keynote speeches and panels to the field.

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The Best of the Best

Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Technology) Dr. James Finley delivered this year's keynote address, stating that "The bottom line is the will to change. There is nothing new here," he told the conferees, "but the will to change and work together starts right here at this podium, with myself.

"The ideas that I have used in industry do not necessarily work here, and the ideas that we will work [during this conference] will not necessarily work for where we have to go in the Department of Defense. But, between the two of us, I really believe we can come up with the best of the best; and listen, process feedback, work as a team, and be willing to make changes as we go forward to maintain our competitiveness."

It all starts with leadership, Finley noted. "I am a strong advocate of leadership; without it, we really do not set the pace and the up tempo for where we want to go." Finley also expressed a strong interest in innovation, competition, and "furthering the agenda on communications, up, down, and side to side," leading to broadened globalization.

Three Major Stovepipes

He spoke of the three major stovepipes or the "The Big A" in acquisition: requirements, programmatics, and budgeting. "Typically, these three stovepipes ... do not talk to each other very well," said Finley, who called for "communication, communication, and more communication."

Finley sees PEOs/PMs as an important part of the "Big A" in acquisition. "It's OK to work the requirements process as a PEO or PM. In fact, we are counting on you to help be part of this process," he added.

Acquisition of services is another area in which Finley sees the potential for big savings. "Acquisition of services, where it's costing us hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, for virtually no value-added service, is potentially an area of big savings for DoD," he said.

Speaking about funding stability, Finley equated it with predictable performance. "When you have a good program and it's running to schedule," he cautioned, "it is a prime time to get nicked: 'You don't need that money; we'll take that money.' We are trying to stop that, and capital/corporate accounting is one of the ways to do it."

THE NEXT 24 MONTHS

Finley called for aggressive implementation of goals he has set for the Department over the next 24 months (Figure 1). "Making a program start right and making those decisions that balance the trade space takes a will to change," he said. "We are starting to at least work the system to start to talk about integrating additional assessments so the PEOs and the PMs can have very successful programs starting from the get-go."

Optimally, Finley would like to see DoD removed from the high-risk list published by the Government Accountability Office. GAO's audits and evaluations identify federal programs and operations that, in some cases, are high-risk due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. That achievement, Finley said, brings DoD full circle back to the will to change. "We all have to have the ability to listen, make the business case, and work together. Let's go forward."

Johnson is a contributing editor and former editor in chief of Defense AT & L. View other conference presentations, including a presentation by Comptroller General David Walker, at <http://view.dau.mil/dauvideo/view/channelCategory.jhtml;jsessionid=GFA3XCBPCLKKFAF4VLHSFEO?categoryID=72>.