WHO IS THE CUSTOMER?


VEHICLES OF THE FUTURE


A Mission Enabling Technologies Demonstrator, rear, and two Robotic Combat Vehicles maneuver through a Fort Carson, Colorado, training area in early July at the control of Soldiers from 4th Infantry Division. But before such vehicles can be utilized, basic questions need to be answered. Why does a mechanized infantry vehicle need to be operated remotely? Under what conditions would the main gun be fired remotely, and when, on the battlefield, would that ever occur? (Photo courtesy of Ground Vehicle System Center)


Is this what the customer wants to replace the Bradley, or is the Army more interested on riding the autonomous vehicle hype? Is the customer defined? Is the customer defining the Option- ally Manned Fighting Vehicle value and quality? Or does the Army have other priorities, like proving the value of the newly established Army Futures Command or the high-profile, newly established Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Func- tional Team?


Te leaders and professionals in these offices are extremely dedi- cated to the mission, intellectually capable and technologically savvy. However, they are working on an effort that has struggled in the past to properly define its customer—jeopardizing their hard work and the potential success of the effort.


CONCLUSION Recent acquisition reform initiatives have incrementally improved defense acquisition. Examples include the empowering of the services for their own acquisition programs, the adoption of the Adaptive Acquisition Framework and the emphasis on the use of other-transaction authorities when appropriate. However, until defense acquisition addresses the challenge of properly defining the customer for acquisition efforts, obtaining the desired acqui- sition outcomes may be challenging.


Putting in the effort upfront and early to specifically define the customer and determine who best represents the customer will pay dividends in getting improved capability to the warfighter. Leadership, open lines of communication, collaboration between subject matter experts and transparency with stakeholders will provide the unity of effort and establish the trust needed for the acquisition efforts to be successful at delivering improved warfighting capability at the speed demanded by rapidly changing threats while capitalizing on technological advances.


ROBERT F. MORTLOCK, Ph.D., Col., USA (Ret.) managed defense systems development and acquisition efforts for the last 15 of his 27 years in the U.S. Army. He’s now a professor of the practice and principal investigator of the Acquisition Research Program in the Graduate School of Defense Management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, an MBA from Webster University, an M.S. in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and a B.S. in chemical engineering from Lehigh University. He holds DAWIA Level III certifications in program management, test and evaluation, and engineering, as well as the Project Management Professional and Program Management Professional credentials.


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Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2021


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