WANT A HIGH RETURN?
requiring that PMs have formal business education.
In my 17-plus years in this profession, the command climate of every program management office I was part of centered on getting solutions to the warfighter as quickly as possible that would meet their needs affordably and be supportable. Te competence and leadership of PMs has been exemplary, yet defense acquisition is in a continual state of “reform” as the result of a relatively small number of very high-profile failed acquisition efforts. One acquisition reform that would pay big dividends without adding bureau- cracy or oversight would be to require more fundamental business education for PMs—defense acquisition is, after
all, fundamentally a business endeavor. Acquisition attracts mission-driven pro- fessionals who want to apply business skills to saving the lives of Soldiers, as the Hon. Heidi Shyu noted when she was the assistant secretary of the Army for acqui- sition, logistics and technology.
FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS—OR NOT Defense acquisition as
Management System (commonly referred to as “little A”); and a third for allocating resources,
Budgeting and Execution process. Te
“big A” fails, despite PMs’ best efforts, because of the complexity of the interac- tions among the requirements, funding and management systems as well as the effects of competing stakeholder priorities.
an institu- Within
tion—commonly referred to as “big A” acquisition—comprises the three deci- sion support templates used to guide programs: one for generating require- ments, known as the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System; a second for managing program mile- stones, known as the Defense Acquisition
this framework, the causes of most program failures
specific are
easy to identify: changing requirements, unstable funding, immature technolo- gies, misalignment of requirements and funding,
competing political agendas,
schedule-driven programs overempha- sizing milestone achievement, the rapid pace of change and innovation in tech- nology and the rapidly evolving threat environment against the backdrop of a deliberate acquisition system.
PMs who are more business-savvy could more easily make financially astute rec- ommendations even with the continuing fiscal challenges and constantly chang- ing environments. Requiring that PMs receive more fundamental business edu- cation would simply double down on the professionalism of the acquisition work- force, not add a new layer of government.
Currently, Level III certification in DRESS FOR SUCCESS
Spc. Saurav Udas, a supply specialist assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 25th Infantry Division (ID), holds new items in the operational camouflage pattern, to be used in the tropical environments of the Pacific region. A program’s schedule—how quickly the Army wants to get gear in the hands of Soldiers—requires considering return on investment. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Armando R. Limon, 3rd BCT, 25th ID)
program management, as dictated by the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act, requires 24 busi- ness credit hours—without specifics on the types of required courses. Te requirement is an acknowledgment of the importance of formal business education for PMs and is a fundamen- tally critical
step in establishing PMs
as acquisition professionals, but DOD should go further: Increase the PM selection requirement to an accredited business degree (preferably a business master’s degree or MBA with a defense
94
the Planning, Programming,
Army AL&T Magazine
July-September 2017
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