MODERNIZING ARMY MODERNIZATION
Tis time, there is an uncommonly strong consensus among government, Congress and industry that the Army has the slowest acquisition machinery of the three military departments and urgently needs to shift its focus from hidebound processes to useful and quick results.
Te Army’s new approach centers on the creation of a futures command, which will launch this spring and become fully operational by next
summer. Te new
command will center on the eight cross- functional teams working the Army’s six near- to midterm modernization priori- ties and using acquisition processes that speed up requirements generation, foster early prototyping and involve Soldiers in developing solutions from the very begin- ning to avoid wasting time, money and manpower on systems that prove unus- able. (See “One Roof,” Page 19.) Of equal urgency to modernization is speeding vital capabilities to the warfighter, start- ing with the six priorities but ultimately applying the same rigorous schedule to other acquisitions as well.
Since his swearing-in Nov. 20, Secretary of the Army Dr. Mark T. Esper has made acquisition reform one of his top three
CHANGE TAKES ROOT
Lt. Gen. Paul A. Ostrowski, principal military deputy to Dr. Bruce D. Jette, ASA(ALT), addresses members of the Army Acquisition Workforce Jan. 24 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, about ways they can streamline acquisition. He has approved a new curriculum for acquisition personnel that places a greater emphasis on the technical aspects of program management. Ostrowski and Jette worked together in the early years of the REF, and some see their reunion as a harbinger of success for the latest modernization effort. (Photo by Catherine DeRan, U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center)
priorities. Te first priority, he said in his initial message to the force, is readiness
“to deploy, fight and win across the entire spectrum of conflict, with an immediate focus on preparing for a high-end fight against a near-peer adversary.” Te second is modernization to build greater long- term capacity and capabilities—“growing our operational force while maintaining quality, reshaping it to be more robust and successful in all domains, and mod- ernizing it with the best weapons and equipment available to guarantee clear overmatch in future conflicts.”
To accomplish reform, Esper said, the Army must improve “the way we do busi- ness, including how we implement these priorities, to make the total Army more lethal, capable and efficient. Tis means changing the organizations, policies, processes and tasks that consume time, money or manpower without delivering real value, and applying the savings to our top priorities.”
In prepared testimony Dec. 7 to the Sen- ate Armed Services Committee, Esper stated, “Our failure to modernize as quickly as possible will most likely exac- erbate the significant risks the total Army
now faces. Tis makes reform of our industrial-age acquisition system a strate- gic imperative. … We intend to reduce the requirements development process from up to 60 months to 12 months or less.”
FUTURES IN PROGRESS A task force led by Lt. Gen. Edward C. Cardon, director of the Army undersecre- tary’s Office of Business Transformation, has been laying the groundwork since last summer for senior Army leadership to make decisions on the new futures command. Te official launch of the command took place March 26, the opening day of
United States Army
the Association of (AUSA)
the Global
Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama.
Already, the command has become Topic A in Army acquisition, starting at AUSA’s annual meeting Oct. 9-11 in Washing- ton, where it was discussed in numerous forums. It’s no small wonder. At a presen- tation Feb. 8 at the Brookings Institution, Undersecretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy said his office is keeping Con- gress informed of the evolving details because some of the changes being con- templated would require legislation.
12
Army AL&T Magazine
April-June 2018
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