THE MAKING OF A PACKARD
Packard Award-winning reality. However, they are only several of many. Scores of people within the organizations contrib- uted to the success of the project, as did many other individuals and organiza- tions across and outside DOD who were brought in to find new ways to success- fully expedite the traditional acquisition process. From EW officers to Army head- quarters staff, from cybersecurity experts within the Office of the Assistant Secre- tary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)) to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, from the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force to industry partners and many others, the achievements leading to the Packard were a team effort that reflects the best of what the Army can do when the stakes are high. Here is a look behind the curtain.
AWARD WINNERS
The team received the 2018 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award in February. From left are Ken Strayer, deputy project manager for PM EW&C; Doug Wiltsie, former RCO executive director; Brandon Little-Darku, RCCTO engineer; Hon. David L. Norquist, performing the duties of the U.S. deputy secretary of defense; Lt. Col. Eric Bowen, former product manager for Prophet; Hon. Ellen M. Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment; Tanya Skeen, former RCO executive director; Vanessa Pittman, RCCTO business manager; Col. Kevin Finch, project manager for EW&C; and Marty Hagenston, Col., USA, Ret., former project manager for EW&C. (DOD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith)
THE DIRECTOR: DOUG WILTSIE
“Te big thing for us was speed. Where we had the opportunity to take risks, we did. It started with our board of direc- tors [BOD], which at the time comprised the secretary of the Army, chief of staff of the Army and Army acquisition execu- tive. We briefed the BOD, but there was no requirement to brief anyone else, due to the RCO’s unique charter. So the approval cycle was significantly shorter. Te power of the BOD was it allowed us to bring in a broad end-to-end solution for the type of capability we needed to provide. And
12 Army AL&T Magazine Spring 2019
then, working with the unit, we developed what the specific requirements would be for mounted, dismounted, and planning and management systems. We developed an incremental strategy that increased the capability performance over time. We got prototypes into the hands of the users, who got to train on the equipment and give us continuous feedback on the performance and how to improve it. With this strategy, we fielded the first increment in one year, which was very impressive.”
The power of teamwork: “Te user was actually in the lead of this project the entire time. From the delivery of the
concept of operations to the performance of the system they wanted, the Soldiers and the EWOs [electronic warfare offi- cers] in those brigades really helped shape how the system was going to operate. Tey were committed to the incremental strat- egy, where we put elementary pieces of equipment into their hands first, knowing that the capability was going to get better over time. PM EW&C was the other crit- ical element to this project. Te Rapid Capabilities Office had unique authorities but limited people to put on this proj- ect, so we partnered with PM EW&C to develop the solutions, prioritize the incre- ments, develop the sustainment process,
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