ASA(ALT) Principal Military Deputy Challenges Army Acquisition Workforce

ASA(ALT) Principal Military Deputy Challenges Army Acquisition Workforce

WASHINGTON — Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski, the Principal Military Deputy to Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) (ASA (ALT)), met with members of the ASA(ALT) staff at the Pentagon Jan. 22 to discuss initiatives to streamline the acquisition process and change the culture in order to improve efforts to deliver timely capability to the Soldier. The so-called “Road Show” has taken Ostrowski to Army Program Executive Offices (PEOs) nationwide, to inform the 39,000 member workforce about how the acquisition process is changing and why these changes are being made. “The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) and the NDAA FY16, what did they […]

Driving out “the Stupid” Leveraging IT Lessons Learned from DOD and Industry

Driving out “the Stupid” Leveraging IT Lessons Learned from DOD and Industry

By Col. Richard Haggerty Imagine yourself as the Project Manager (PM) of an Acquisition Category (ACAT) III basket portfolio who has just been tapped to lead an ACAT I Special Interest cyber-Information Technology (IT) program with direction from Congress to immediately deliver capability to all Cyber Mission Forces (CMF) across the Department of Defense (DoD). Additionally, your first task as the PM is to brief Congressional members and staffers on your plan to execute this program, despite a lack of personnel, a defined requirement document, or an acquisition strategy. What do you do? A good place to start is an assessment of applicable Lessons Learned. Unfortunately, these lessons all point […]

Army Opens First-of-its-Kind Training System for Wideband Satellite Operators

Army Opens First-of-its-Kind Training System for Wideband Satellite Operators

By PM DCATS Public Affairs Fort Gordon, Ga.—The U.S. Army’s Cyber Center of Excellence (USACCoE) unveiled the Army’s first-of-its-kind Wideband Training and Certification System (WTCS) here on Jan. 11. Students attending the USACCoE’s Satellite Systems Network Coordinator Course will use WTCS to apply classroom learning to simulations generated from real-world events. Soldiers training on WTCS will soon staff the Army’s Wideband Satellite Communications Operations Centers (WSOC) located at five military installations worldwide. At the WSOCs, operators perform satellite payload management tasks for the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) constellation of satellites, delivering world-class, resilient, assured, secured, and reliable strategic communications capability worldwide for the U.S. Army, all of DoD, other government […]

World-Class Technology, According to Plan

World-Class Technology, According to Plan

By Ms. Argie Sarantinos-Perrin Information-gathering drones swarm the air as unmanned Army vehicles push just ahead of infantry Soldiers into a mega-city overflowing with people, vehicles and high rises. Army cyber warriors fight a silent battle for the city’s internet of things while an unmanned warship shoots down an aircraft, which explodes in the air, creating a massive fireball and a barrage of fragments that plummet to the ground. Meanwhile, the first artillery crew to the battle is trading targeting and friendly forces information with Air Force bombers and Navy gunners. The technologies in this future multi-domain battle scenario may seem far-reaching, but the Army’s primary science and technology arm, […]

One acquisition process at a time

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text][printfriendly][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text] From the standpoint of ASA(ALT)’s test and evaluation unit, there’s a better way to support test and evaluation events, one that would directly improve operational readiness. by Ms. Laura Pegher, Mr. Adam Bussey and Ms. Amber Dufour In an acquisition environment concerned with all things cost, schedule and performance, logistics and product testing historically have tended to be an afterthought or overlooked altogether. The Army places a high priority on validating performance requirements in various developmental and […]

Holding all the ‘ACE’s

Holding all the ‘ACE’s

How one Army product office used strategic acquisition to drive competition and improve readiness in a specialized market dominated by two vendors. by Ms. Kimberly Davidson and Mr. James Christophersen Late on a January afternoon in Texas in 2015, gunfire shattered the typical silence and echoed through the halls of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical clinic at Fort Bliss. In a scene too familiar to Americans today, active shooter alarms sounded in the William Beaumont Army Medical Center and two nearby schools—thousands of innocent people were suddenly in danger. Within two minutes of the first shots, a handful of first responders entered the building. Behind the scenes, multiple […]

Changing network, new name

Changing network, new name

In continuing evolution of its network, Army renames WIN-T program office PM Tactical Network by Ms. Amy Walker As the Army continues to modernize its network in today’s complex world, it has renamed its tactical communications network transport program office from the Project Manager for Warfighter Information Network – Tactical (PM WIN-T) to PM Tactical Network. The new name, which the Army initiated over a year ago, more accurately reflects the numerous programs within the PM’s portfolio, not just the core at-the-halt WIN-T Increment 1 and on-the-move WIN-T Increment 2. PM Tactical Network still manages WIN-T Increment 1 and WIN-T Increment 2, and those names will remain the same. But […]

Army streamlines warfighting functions inside command post

Army streamlines warfighting functions inside command post

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Oct. 24, 2017) — A paradigm shift is set to occur inside the Army’s command posts. Today’s generation of Soldiers use a computing ecosystem — connected and synchronized smartphones, tablets and laptops, unknown to Soldiers a decade ago. These younger Soldiers have embraced the thousands of applications that have transformed communication and collaboration. The Army is now implementing a plan to modernize software applications and hardware used in command post operations to more closely align with what Soldiers have come to expect in their personal lives. Currently, the computing environment in the command post primarily consists of separately developed systems. CPs are filled with a dozen […]

A strategy for success

A strategy for success

Nine objectives together guide the Army Acquisition Workforce to support Soldiers’ success on the battlefield by embracing efficiency, adaptability, knowledge, innovation and other key principles of professionalism For 242 years, the Army has been associated with some of the bravest men and women our nation has to offer. And for these men and women to continue doing what is asked of them, they need us to continue being a top-notch acquisition workforce. Our acquisition community is charged with a very important task: ensuring that Soldiers around the globe are always equipped with the best and most advanced tools available in the timeliest manner possible. This is no small job, and […]

One acquisition process at a time

One acquisition process at a time

From the standpoint of ASA(ALT)’s test and evaluation unit, there’s a better way to support test and evaluation events, one that would directly improve operational readiness. by Ms. Laura Pegher, Mr. Adam Bussey and Ms. Amber Dufour In an acquisition environment concerned with all things cost, schedule and performance, logistics and product testing historically have tended to be an afterthought or overlooked altogether. The Army places a high priority on validating performance requirements in various developmental and operational tests, but acquisition test events such as the logistics demonstration (log demo) and verification of the technical manual often take a back seat. Based on historical data, the U.S. Army Forces Command […]