PLAN FOR BETTER PLANNING


LOGISTICS AND CONTRACTING GO TOGETHER


Spc. Yulin Ge, a watercraft operator with the 545th Transportation Company, briefs attendees at the Joint Senior Enlisted Logistics Forum, which was held Jan. 31 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor – Hickam, Hawaii, to help enlisted logistics leaders better organize joint capabilities. Including the perspective of operational contracting support personnel into logistics planning and training would make contin- gency operations and joint exercises run more smoothly, the author argues. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Michael Behlin, 8th Theater Sustainment Command)


The experience of learning with a diverse group of other Soldiers produces better planners.


Evaluations of contracting over the last 15 years of contingency operations have shown repeated proof of this disconnect. Even up to August 2011, with the release of the final report from the Commis- sion on Wartime Contracting, analysis of contracting operations showed that ill-conceived projects, no matter how well-managed, are wasteful if they do not fit the cultural, political and economic norms of the society they are meant to serve. Te report went further, stating that poor planning and oversight repeat- edly resulted in costly outcomes and misspent money that could be used for other mission objectives. Clearly, a gap needed to be filled in the contracting


90


efforts for contingency operations, and the contracting community’s answer was OCS.


Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and particularly the release of the Gansler Commission report on contracting in October 2007, the Army’s OCS planners have improved their understanding of the joint planning process and their proper roles as an integral part of operational planning for all of the services, such as defining requirements and understanding units’ needs. However, the various military services’ planners have shown no intent to expand the involvement of the opera- tional contracting community in the joint


Army AL&T Magazine


October-December 2018


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144