NO MYSTERIES, PLEASE
like we’re trying to hide something. And they’re going to ding us by default.”
“Te popular phrase here in the building is, ‘Mysteries are a bill- payer,’ ” Miller said. Bill-payers are programs whose resources are diverted to pay for other programs. “If you create a mystery for an appropriator, they’re going to take your money and pay for something else.”
“Tat holds true at the OSD and the Army level, too,” said Sacks.
ASA(ALT) encourages members of the Army Acquisition Work- force to learn more about writing effective J-books through workshops that bring together former congressional staff members and acquisition professionals to train the latter in delivering the kind of program justification that Congress is looking for.
Te idea is to “think like an authorizer, think like an appropri- ator,” Sacks said. “If I do that, then theoretically that’s going to help me write, because I know what they’re looking for. Tere are no magic words that you’re going to put in the justification document per se that are going to get you the money. … But we can do a better job at it.”
Materials for the workshops are on ASA(ALT)’s knowledge management website, accessible with a common access card.
“Whenever PEOs want to do it, they can do that. But we’re trying to do it on an annual basis.” Te ideal time is in July, to sync with the budget cycle, Sacks said.
THE FACE OF REFORM
“Te Army’s changing. Te Acquisition Corps is changing,” said Sacks. “We’re doing a lot of reform initiatives and trying to get after providing the capability to the warfighter in a more cost- efficient and expedited manner.”
Te Army Budget Office and ASA(ALT) are examining how they can improve the budget process, notably the preparation of J-books. “Other than AFC’s [Army Futures Command’s]
injection and some of the chief ’s hand in the process, we’re really executing the same PPB&E [planning, programming, budget and execution] process we’ve executed for years,” Miller said.
Contributing to the push for reform is the Section 809 Panel, established by Congress in the FY16 National Defense Authori- zation Act. Te 16-member panel has since published an interim report and a three-volume final report, containing a total of 98 recommendations “aimed at changing the overall structure and operations of defense acquisition both strategically and tactically,” according to the panel’s website.
Te most recent volume, released in January, summarizes the panel’s recommendations, including a section on the budget with 13 recommendations “to reduce inefficiency and dysfunction in the defense acquisition system’s budget formulation and appro- priations processes,” such as “empowering DOD managers to reallocate resources between programs as needed; flowing down decision authority to the lowest possible levels; eliminating or mitigating some of the perverse incentives that exist in fiscal law; and mitigating the harmful effects of late funding on DOD acquisition programs.”
In the end, “the general public needs to know that we’re being good stewards of their money,” Davis said.
MARGARET C. ROTH is an editor of Army AL&T magazine. She has more than a decade of experience in writing about the Army and more than three decades’ experience in journalism and public relations. Roth is a MG Keith L. Ware Public Affairs Award winner and a co-author of the book “Operation Just Cause: Te Storming of Panama.” She holds a B.A. in Russian language and linguistics from the University of Virginia.
“Am I telling Congress the same story I told last year and, if not, am I telling them why?”
60 Army AL&T Magazine Summer 2019
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