$
Kendall also wants to see improvement in outreach to and finding technology in global markets. “We have a lot of very capable partners in the world, a lot of other countries who do good work, and we’re looking for opportunities
to
and I think we can be more productive in the return we’re getting on that, as well.”
co-
develop and do sharing of the burden of developing the product, and better … economic scale of production, once we get into production.”
SERVICES TRADECRAFT
“Because we spend as much money on ser- vices as we do on products,” Kendall said,
“this is also going to remain a core part of Better Buying Power. It’s also something that we still have a lot of work to do on.” For Kendall, this is an excellent oppor- tunity for small businesses, which can provide expertise along with low overhead and a leaner company structure. Mar- ket research—“understanding what’s out there, understanding what’s available”—is how to get the best value, he said.
He wants to see the same kind of over- sight that products receive applied to services. Whether the service is infor- mation technology, installation support, maintenance or translation, “We need to focus on best practices and improve our capabilities.”
Tat includes defining requirements bet- ter. “One of the critical things we’ve found to having a successful services contract and getting good value for your money is that you write the requirements well. Tis enables people to bid well. Tis enables people to understand what you need. And this allows us to get a better business deal where the product and the performance are well-defined.”
New to BBP 3.0 is an effort to improve the effectiveness and productivity of con- tracted engineering and technical services. “We spend a fair amount of money here,
WORKFORCE PROFESSIONALISM Kendall was quick to praise the workforce for its efforts over the past year. “We have a very professional workforce, and I’m very proud of it. We have terrific people [who] went through a nightmare year in [FY]13, and they came through it with a great deal of resilience.”
Tat aside, he said, “Every single mem- ber of that team, including myself, can improve in professionalism.” Tat means establishing and adhering to high quali- fication standards
for key leadership
positions and strengthening requirements for specialty positions in acquisition.
Also important is ensuring that DOD leadership of development programs is technically qualified to manage R&D activities. “Tis is a bit of a shift. Some people have the idea that if you’re a good leader and a good manager, you can lead anything. I don’t believe that. … I wouldn’t ask someone who’s not an engineer to run a development program. I think that’s a recipe for failure.”
DOD also needs to improve its ability to understand and mitigate technical risk, Kendall said. While people talk about risk management, he said, “My percep- tion is that what they’re doing is they’re not managing risk, they’re watching it. Tey’ve identified it, they see it … Man- aging it is about doing things to change the nature of that risk and reduce it— carrying backups, early testing, how we structure programs.” Te product development cycle “is essentially a risk management process,” Kendall said.
Finally, Kendall wants to see DOD improve its support for science,
technology, engineering and math—or STEM—education because it is critical for
“our economic well-being, our economic competitiveness, our military competi- tiveness and our military superiority.”
JUST A DRAFT Kendall emphasized that the version of BBP 3.0 unveiled on Sept. 19 is a draft.
“We put it out, get feedback from stake- holders on the Hill, at think tanks and in industry, particularly in industry, and then we modify it and develop implementing instructions. So, in about the January time frame ... we’ll put out the final ver- sion with implementing instructions.” His introduction of the draft at CSIS was the start of that dialogue.
For more information, go to http://bbp.dau. mil/
references.html.
MR. STEVE STARK provides contract- ing support to the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC) for SAIC. He holds an M.A. in creative writing from Hol- lins University and a B.A. in English from George Mason University. He has worked in a variety of positions supporting commu- nications for the Army and Navy, and has written about defense-related topics for more than a decade. He was the founding editor of the Program Executive Office Soldier Port- folio and edited the Army’s Weapon Systems handbook for six years.
MS. SUSAN L. FOLLETT provides con- tracting support to USAASC for SAIC. She holds a B.A. in English literature from St. Lawrence University. She has more than two decades of experience as a journalist and has written on a variety of public- and private- sector topics, including modeling and simulation, military training and tech- nology, and federal environmental regulations.
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