AN EXERCISE TO EXPERIENCE
1015: The unit selected for IOT&E calls the PM to say they are having trouble with the training materials provided. (They don’t know about the potential delay.) Further, the contractor personnel who were supposed to do the train- ing have been called back to the company. The IOT&E unit is stuck and can’t move forward on the training. What does the PM want them to do?
(Why the contractor’s training team was called back is deliberately ambiguous so as not to predetermine how the PM and her team respond: Will they question the action? Insist that the contractors come back? Ask why and how the underlying issue could be mitigated? This is the guts of the learning that will take place.)
1027: The program executive office calls to say they may have an extra $2 million available from end-of-year sweeps; what can the program do with this money, and what will the effect be on the program?
1031: (Seven weeks later in simulated time) The contractor PM calls again to say that the low-rate initial production problem is bigger than first thought. Rework will now take at least another 90 days. He is still working the new cost estimate and will provide it ASAP.
Exercise controllers are generating reports and forward- ing them to the PM. The latest earned-value results, for example, show a schedule performance index of 0.76 and cost performance index of 0.81—a sign of potential problems, as the values are less than 1. Throughout the exercise, earned-value data will be reported to gauge reactions of the PM and team.
1045: The PM and her staff are slowly getting acclimated to the hectic pace of the exercise. They receive updated earned-value information. Shortly thereafter, the program executive office calls and wants to schedule a meeting with the PM on earned-value results and problems in IOT&E.
The exercise continues to a natural pause around 1800, when the senior mentor leads an after-action review. The exercise team walks through the day’s events. The PM and staff provide their feedback. The PM and team will receive the results of the review at the end of the exercise so they have a record of what happened and why. Then they are released until the next morning.
A FULL SLATE OF CHALLENGES
During a simulation, participants will encounter a variety of issues that would require them to make decisions in the day-to-day management of an acquisition program. These are some of the potential issues, among many others and variants:
• Administrative changes to schedule, including updates to the acquisition program baseline, changes to the acquisition decision memorandum, decision delays and associated secondary delays.
• Technical delays. • Testing delays.
• Delay in availability of key capabilities or facilities (e.g., vehicles, testing facilities, initial operational test and evaluation units).
• Budget and funding delays. • Delays attributed to the contractor. • Delays because of rework.
• External events such as inflation, earthquakes, labor strikes, etc. (force majeure).
• Delays because of contracting, contract negotiation and award delays.
DAY TWO
As on the previous day, the PM and her team are pushed to react to an ever-increasing tempo of acquisition manage- ment events. Generic events drawn from acquisition data but tailored to this exercise drive the pace. The events are designed to cause reactions from all team participants. They range from direction received from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Congress, to reviews and restric- tions, to funding instability, to requirements changes and force majeure, keeping the participants on their toes.
The day ends with the final after-action review, and the exercise concludes. Data from the exercise feeds future exercises to ensure continuous improvement.
—DR. CHARLES K. PICKAR
122
Army AL&T Magazine
Fall 2019
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