WORKFORCE IN PROGRESS: The Defense Civilian Training Corps is a pilot project intended to attract new civilian talent to careers within the Department of Defense. (Photo by Pixabay)
Mark E. Krzysko, Principal Deputy Director, Enterprise Information
Q&A with Mark Krzysko
by Holly DeCarlo-White
The Defense Civilian Training Corps (DCTC) is a congressionally mandated talent development scholarship program currently piloting in partnership within four U.S. universities to educate, immerse and hire future civilian acquisition leaders within DOD.
Mark Krzysko, principal deputy director of Enterprise Information in the Acquisition Data and Analytics organization and the designated lead for DCTC within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, interviewed with Army AL&T magazine following the pilot program’s launch in June.
What is it that DOD/Army/your office specifically hopes to gain from making this pilot into a program of record?
Our goal is to foster a continuous and increasing stream of multi-disciplinary, cleared talent directly from the higher education system into the DOD acquisition civilian workforce. The Defense Civilian Training Corps pilot provides a classroom curriculum that introduces scholars to the DOD culture and acquisition system, develops a collaborative mindset through projects based on real-life challenges and develops critical skills through multi-disciplinary internship experiences. Upon graduation, DCTC scholars will be immediately ready to make an impact in the DOD organization they join.
How does this program differ from other ROTC programs or intern hire programs the DOD already has in place?
DOD needs an educated civilian acquisition workforce that can collaborate across disciplines to improve the speed and agility in delivering enhanced capabilities to the warfighter. While ROTC focuses on military accessions, DCTC provides a solution to enhance the civilian acquisition talent pipeline across many disciplines while complementing other Department workforce initiatives such as the Science Mathematics and Research for Transformation scholarship program and DOD Cyber Scholarship Program, which recruit and develop exceptional STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] civilian talent. DCTC will help close identified skill gaps in acquisition and equip future DOD civilians with the digital literacy needed to work innovatively in and across multi-discipline teams.
How long does it take/do you estimate it could take to make a pilot like this into a program of record?
Our current task is to execute the DCTC pilot through 2025 and create a proposed implementation plan for the future. We will explore and test many approaches and concepts in the pilot, and the initial cadre of students will help us decide the final program design. We are targeting fiscal year 2025 for DCTC implementation.
What is an example of a “DOD challenge project”?
We recognize that active learning is a key part of the educational experience. DCTC will include immersive and cohort-based learning that provides scholars hands-on experience developing and deploying capabilities to address real-world challenges. Scholars will work in small teams of mixed academic majors to mirror the operational, organizational and systematic realities they will face in their future careers as DOD technologists, program managers, financial managers and acquisition professionals. The experience will be project-based, with participants working in small teams to understand requirements, design solutions, build prototypes, and test/deploy a capability and contribute innovative solutions to the project sponsors.
Is there anything important you feel should be noted to the public about this pilot program?
We are designing and piloting DCTC as a comprehensive development program for the acquisition and sustainment community. In building innovative leaders for the defense acquisition workforce, DCTC is focused on developing the whole person. One of our foundational principles is for each university to build a culture of care for its cohort of scholars by creating a shared purpose, commitment to wellness and creative-minded optimism.
Read about DCTC in “Civilian Workforce of the Future” from the Fall 2023 issue of Army AL&T magazine or for more information, go to https://dctc.mil.
