CATALYST FOR CHANGE


T


lhe signing of the Under Secretary of


Defense for mentation Directive


Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics memorandum, Imple- for


Better Buying


Power – Obtaining Greater Efficiency and Productivity in Defense Spending, on Nov. 3, 2010, ushered in a new era of defense acquisition.


The term “efficiencies”—and the units of measurement used to identify and cap- ture them—have taken on an entirely new meaning. As the adage goes, “What it means to you often depends on where you are standing.” So it is with capturing tangible monetary savings and the not so tangible, which have come to be known


as savings and avoidance, respectively. The Budget Control Act of 2011, passed by Congress in August, requires DoD to cut $487 billion in projected spending over the next 10 years.


As a result, the defense budget will be more competitive than ever. The necessity to represent the affordability and cred- ibility of Army acquisition programs to Congress will be more critical than ever. Enter the concept of better buying power, which in its simplest form represents the dichotomy of the economic theories of positive economics, or “what is,” and nor- mative economics, “what ought to be.” In this contrast lies the underpinning for the change in defense acquisition culture.


GETTING MRAPS TO SOLDIERS FASTER


PEO Combat Support and Combat Service Support and the Joint Program Office Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles, through a Lean Modernization Project, were able to economically recover vehicles to avoid long procurement lead times. Here, rows of MRAPs are lined up at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, as the 2nd Squadron, 183rd Cavalry Regiment, Virginia Army National Guard prepares for its final convoy out of Iraq Dec. 2, 2011. (Photo by SPC Anthony Zane.)


SOURCES FOR EFFICIENCIES The model for sources of Army efficien- cies (Figure 1) illustrates that the Better Buying Power initiatives (BBPi) are not the only source of practices and ideas to cut a path to a leaner more efficient Army. Long-standing efforts in the disciplines of value engineering (VE) and Lean Six Sigma (LSS) have been and continue to be mediums for gathering and realizing both monetary and nonmonetary efficiencies across the Army.


Value engineering, to quote the U.S. Army Materiel Command’s Contrac- tor’s Guide


to Value Engineering, is “a


systematic and creative way of analyz- ing an item, system, process, facility, etc.,


102


Army AL&T Magazine


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