By Susan L. Follett
FORT BELVOIR, Va. (May 18, 2017) — Award nominations are now being accepted for the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) Acquisition Awards—a chance for the Army to highlight the organizations and individuals who have made noteworthy contributions to defense acquisition.
Awards will be given in six categories:
- The Workforce Development Innovation Award recognizes organizations for exceptional outside-the-box thinking and progress in tackling workforce development challenges.
- The Individual Achievement Award This award recognizes individuals in each of the acquisition functional disciplines.
- The David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award recognizes civilian and military teams that demonstrate innovation and technical excellence in acquisition to achieve more cost-effective outcomes for the warfighter and the taxpayer.
- The Should Cost and Innovation Award honors organizations that display outstanding commitment, innovation and results in should-cost management, a concept that’s fundamental to proactive cost control throughout the acquisition life cycle.
The deadline for submitting nominations for these awards is June 16.
Two other awards will also be given:
- The Secretary of Defense Product Support Manager (PSM) Award recognizes the PSM accomplishments and contributions in two categories: Major Defense Acquisition Programs/Major Acquisition Information Systems, Acquisition Category (ACAT) I PSMs; and Major Weapon System/Other Weapon Systems, ACAT II and below PSMs. The deadline for submitting nominations for this award is June 23.
- The Secretary of Defense Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) Award recognizes organizations that have made outstanding achievements in PBL development, implementation and execution at the system, subsystem and component levels. The nomination deadline for this award is July 21.
Each organization can submit one nomination for each award category—with the exception of the PBL Award, which permits one nomination for each level. Completed nomination packets must reach the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC) by the appropriate deadline. USAASC will compile the nominations and submit them to senior leadership, who will then select and forward the Army submissions to the USD(AT&L) for consideration.
Winners of the awards, which are considered the most prestigious in the defense community, will be announced later this year or early next year. Nominations for the 2017 Army Acquisition Executive’s Excellence in Leadership Awards will open next month.
Detailed information on each award and instructions on submitting nominations can be found at https://asc.army.mil/web/acquisition-awards/. And for tips on submitting a winning package, go to “And the Award Goes To…” at http://usaasc.armyalt.com/?iid=149666#folio=162.
