The team has identified changes to the quantity of armor tiles required to support the prototype vehicle test program, which saved just over $1.5 million. This required numerous consultations with the test, engineering and acquisition communities and with BAE Systems.
understanding early in my career how the operational Army works,” he said, “and what our true job is as acquisition profes- sionals—to produce safe, suitable, supportable and survivable products for the critical needs of our warfighters.”
Herrick believes that a major factor in AMPV’s program success was shaped years ago by the late Maj. Gen. Harold J. “Harry” Greene, then the ASA(ALT)’s deputy for acquisition and sys- tems management; Col. William Sheehy, then the PM for the ABCT; and Ed Lewis, then a deputy product manager on spe- cial assignment from the Bradley program office. Herrick said Greene was the beacon that kept AMPV on the agenda in senior Pentagon leaders’ meetings and in the executive summaries that followed; at the time, the AMPV program was preparing to release its request for proposals for the EMD phase, and Greene’s counsel and leadership kept the program tracking through its reviews with senior leaders and helped manage the expectations of all involved. Herrick credits Sheehy and Lewis with devising plans to rotate a steady flow of AMPV program office personnel through the Pentagon as DASCs to keep the program in the forefront and shepherd it through its reviews.
“A colleague and I combined for 16 months of the two-year ‘rent- a-DASC’ phase,” Herrick said. “We came back to the program office, shared our experiences and explained to other AMPV personnel what these stakeholders at the Pentagon do and how the process ‘actually’ works.”
Herrick said his greatest satisfaction in being a part of the AMPV program “was the feeling of family. We came to work and had
William “Bill” Cuneo
fun.” Te program office got through multiple acquisition strategies; protests; congressional meetings, issues and reports; milestone documentation; meetings; long hours; no support and too much support; and awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to support and produce a product our Soldiers need. “I can’t say it enough: AMPV personnel are some of the finest professionals, friends and people I have ever known,” he said.
His career advice is to never turn away from challenge or adver- sity, because either or both can lead to great and unexpected things. “Get out of your comfort zone and move around in your career field,” he said.
Director of Logistics and Product Support Manager William “Bill” Cuneo has 35 years of service, a B.A. in English and Level III cer- tification in acquisition logistics. He came to the AMPV program seeking a change after several years in various positions culmi- nating as the logistics director for the Stryker family of vehicles. It was there that he learned every- thing from early life cycle analysis and testing to vehicle condemna-
tion and demilitarization—during a time of war. “It was one continual Defense Acquisition University class with a whole lot of real-life examples,” he said.
Cuneo said his logistics team at AMPV interacts with primary stakeholders during quarterly supportability IPT meetings that address all 12 product support elements; working group meet- ings, usually weekly, that focus on a subset of the 12 product support elements; and milestone events. Behind the scenes, he said, there is a constant flow of emails, teleconferences and one- on-one discussions that flesh out issues and challenges that need addressing, risks that need mitigating and proposed courses of action to be evaluated on the way to a decision or path forward.
“I believe in early and constant communication with all stake- holders,” Cuneo said. “Bad news does not get better with age, and the sooner we know the bad news, the more time we have to develop a solution. Te more brains we have working on the problem, the more likely we are to come up with a good fix.”
Cuneo said that the AMPV program was unusual in that, upon contract award, it immediately entered Milestone B. Tis
ASC.ARMY.MIL 147
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