New book on military program management highlights Naval Postgraduate School faculty expertise.

World-class Naval Postgraduate School faculty members have authored more than half the articles in the only book on best practices and lessons learned in U.S. defense program management.

U.S. Military Program Management: Lessons Learned and Best Practices, co-authored by NPS Graduate School of Business and Public Policy (GSBPP) lecturer and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rene Rendon, covers all aspects of Army, Navy, and Air Force program management from both the government and industry contractor perspectives, including specific recommendations for future improvements. The book was published in early 2007 by Management Concepts, a private corporation that trains management professionals and publishes articles and textbooks in the field.

"The U.S. Department of Defense and related defense industries develop and operate some of the most complex and expensive systems ever created, which present unique challenges that are systematically and exhaustively addressed in the book," said Rendon, who served for more than 22 years as an acquisitions contracting officer for the Air Force. "There is simply no other book on military program management based on acquisition research written by experienced military acquisition and contract management practitioners.

"We wanted the book to be the most current and most defense-relevant, which is why so many of the chapters are written by NPS faculty members," Rendon explained. "Where else can you find retired military acquisition practitioners conducting defense-relevant, defense-focused acquisition research but at the Naval Postgraduate School Graduate School of Business and Public Policy?"

While in the Air Force, Rendon was an acquisitions contracting officer for such high-profile programs as the Peacekeeper ICBM, the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter, and the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. He also conducted research for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) and the Navy.

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Several NPS faculty had a hand in this endeavor. "Our team of professors has produced a terrific book that reflects the great collaborative strength and depth of scholarship that makes the NPS Graduate School of Business and Public Policy a world leader," said GSBPP Dean Robert Beck.

"The whole idea of the NPS Acquisition Research Program is to get the great work we're doing out to the entire school and the world by encouraging the faculty to publish, and this book does that in a superb way," said NPS Acquisition Chair retired Rear Adm. Jim Greene. "It captures and synthesizes a lot of the key research that's been done at the Naval Postgraduate School over the last few years in the area of DoD acquisition management and program management and makes it available in one place. The book is an indispensable resource for everyone in the defense industry and a perfect example of the synergy that only NPS can provide."

The other NPS faculty contributors to the book are GSBPP Wagner Professor of Public Management Lawrence Jones; Professor of Public Budgeting Jerry McCaffery; senior lecturers and retired Army Cols. John Dillard, David Matthews and Michael Boudreau; and senior lecturer and retired Army Lt. Col. Brad Naegle.

"It's great that the outstanding research NPS acquisition and contract management faculty are doing is getting broader exposure and visibility," Rendon said.

Rendon's principal co-author on the book is Gregory A. Garrett, a highly decorated former Air Force officer and respected defense industry leader, who is currently senior principal at Acquisitions Solutions Inc. (ASI). At ASI, Garrett leads the consulting engagements for all U.S. federal government civilian agencies, including the U.S. Departments of State, Veterans Affairs, Commerce, Agriculture, Treasury, Energy, and NASA.

For more information about the Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program, go to <www.acquisitionresearch.org>. The program held its 4th annual Acquisition Research Symposium May 16-17 in Seaside, Calif., on the topic "Creating Synergy for Informed Change." Keynote speakers were Delores Etter, assistant secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition); Shay Assad, director, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics); and Dr. Jacques Gansler, former under secretary of defense (acquisition, technology and logistics). For more information on the annual symposium, go to <www.researchsymposium.org>.

Honegger is as senior military affairs journalist at the Naval Postgraduate School.