TWI PROFILES
TWI PROFILE: MAJ JEFFERY RAMSEY, LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.
EXPLORING THE ‘OTHER SIDE’
As an Army acquisition officer working in ground robot- ics, MAJ Jeffery Ramsey knew the importance of requirements, those many details that determine what a contractor must deliver. He just didn’t fully understand the concept until he spent 10 months working at Lockheed Martin as a Training with Industry (TWI) officer.
Ramsey, whose TWI assignment began in late July 2013 at Lockheed Martin’s Training and Logistics Solutions line of business in Orlando, FL, saw how quickly requirements can change, and how significant the effects of a small change can be. It was the most momentous of many lessons he learned during his TWI assignment, which introduced him to areas of program management and contracting that otherwise he’d never have seen from an industry perspective, he said. At the same time, he had to navigate the many differences that separated him as an active-duty military officer from his industry co-workers.
For Ramsey and his Lockheed Martin host, retired Air Force acquisition officer Mike Behling, the breadth and depth of his TWI experience at Lockheed Martin underscored the potential value of the program and the need for TWI officers to prepare themselves to fully exploit that potential.
CULTURE SHIFT, NOT SHOCK Ramsey was working in the ground robotics program at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineer- ing Center (TARDEC) when he applied to the TWI program.
“I wanted to do something a little different, something a little more challenging … see what it’s like on the other side of the fence, with the defense contractors,” he said. At TARDEC, he had filled a number of roles: military adviser, program manager and systems engineering adviser.
Te corporate world did not seem the least bit daunting. In fact, the corporate culture at Lockheed Martin did not require much of an adjustment from Ramsey, who said he experienced far greater culture shock when he moved from the Signal Corps to the “more laid-back, more civilianized” Acquisition Corps in 2010.
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Ramsey wasted no time in laying the groundwork for his 10 months at Lockheed Martin. Behling presented him with a wealth of opportunities, including classes for the company’s pro- gram managers, and Ramsey developed his training plan. “You can change it, because nothing’s written in stone,” he said. “But it’s up to you to put it on paper.”
CORPORATE CLIMATE Two things soon became clear to Ramsey about the culture at Lockheed Martin. One was that because he is an Army officer, there were limits to his involvement in the company’s day-to-day business dealings, some borne of ethical concerns and some of unfamiliarity. Te other was that while the Army and industry share a commitment to serving the Soldier, the Army’s regular funding means that it has less concern for the bottom line than companies competing to earn government contracts.
Ramsey learned from day to day what he was able to do, ethically speaking, as an Army officer working in industry. “I probably could do a white paper, for example,” he said. But it would not have been appropriate to call a U.S. government office and ask for information to help Lockheed Martin develop a business proposal for a client. Te solution was simple, Ramsey said: Te company took care of getting any necessary information from the government to preclude any conflicts of interest. “Tey were real adaptive to me, so I know they understand completely. Eth- ics is one of Lockheed Martin’s strongest values,” he said.
On another occasion, early in his assignment, Ramsey met with resistance when he asked for information on the number of people involved in developing a business proposal. Again, the solution was simple: Behling spoke with the program office to let them know that Ramsey was working with Lockheed Martin and had a legitimate need for the numbers.
“At first they’re cautious,” Behling said of Lockheed Martin’s employees, “because we’re always worried about opening up our industry and secrets. Tey’re also used to, ‘I deal with an Army officer a certain way because they’re our government cus- tomer.’ So at first that happens. And that breaks down,” he said.
Army AL&T Magazine
July–September 2014
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