Review Learning Objective Six (LO-6).For this paperyou will need to use the article that is given and relates to Learning Objective Six (LO-6) and summarize and discuss the articlein the required paper.Write a two-page paper, plus the
title pageand a
reference page.As always, read all the lesson notes before you start this assignment as new or current events may have been updated since the start of class.
DEFM 310 – Introduction to Program and Acquisition Management Week 1 Welcome again to a course in program management. This course serves as an introduction to the requirements of successful program management in the Department of Defense (DOD). Your forum and assignments are designed to help you gain an understanding of the various definitions of this concept. Okay so why are you here? You are in this course to learn the requirements of successful program management. Where do we start? During the first week, your mission is to find out the following: What would necessitate (DoD) to have a structured, regulated, and robust acquisition system? To justify structure you need to learn out government requirements for making the systems acquisition cycle work to meet operational capabilities. You also need to understand the role of a program manager and contractors in this process. Now you are saying what are some resources to help me gain a better understanding of program management requirements and terms such as “the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS)” and resource allocation processes? The base documents you will travel with along your education journey are the DOD 5000 Series documents. The good news is this: Your reading requirements and collaboration with others in the forum is designed to expose you to the program management process employed throughout the Department of Defense today. After gaining a better understanding of Program management history, roles, responsibilities, and authority of a program manager, you will be able to answer the first forum question: What would necessitate the Department of Defense (DOD) to have a structured, regulated, and robust acquisition system? Once you start to understand how the acquisition structure works in the joint environment, you will be able to bridge between program management and acquisition. Your big challenge during the first week involves looking at the roles and responsibilities of the Executive Branch, Congress, and defense industry in Defense Acquisition. Once you understand where defense acquisition authority is derived, the responsibility roles of the Lead Component, Participating Component, and Joint Program Manager will become evident. So why are you here? You are here to learn about structure, function, and responsibilities of several different agencies and why they are necessary for the DOD. Don’t stress out; just start out by reviewing chapter objectives. The first week will provide you with an opportunity to review military and civilian Acquisition Authority Chain and why the structure is necessary for the Department of Defense. You will have an opportunity to explain and add to the field of knowledge later by stating your scholarly position with the support of citations (expert opinions) using APA 6th Edition format. Use this first week to think about the structure of program management. We want to know what you think about the current trends and issues. Do you agree with what the experts are saying? If so, say so. Enjoy the first week of your program management journey. · DEFM 310 – Introduction to Program and Acquisition Management Week 2 Last week we talked at length about why the DOD has such a robust acquisition system with many rules and regulations. As we learned, these rules are in place to save taxpayer dollars while ensuring that the warfighter receives the support they need in the field. After all, any acquisition system that does not serve the overall customer (the end user of the system or service in the field), does not provide value to the DOD. Likewise, the diversion of DOD funds (which are so limited in this age of sequestration) to underperforming programs can negatively impact the warfighter by not providing them what they need to accomplish the mission. This week we will learn more about how the initial decisions about acquisitions are made. Specifically, we will learn about how the needs of the warfighter are translated into a 'requirement.' This week we start to look more at the acquisition process. From the syllabus we find out learning objectives. Please refer to the syllabus now and again to see where we are and where we are headed in this course. Learning Objective 1: Know what the military capability areas are which make up DOTMLPF, and be able to describe two transformation tasks that impact acquisition within the DOD. DOTMLPF, and thought to yourself “another DoD acronym that really doesn’t mean anything.” Rest assured that this is not the case. DOTMLPF stands for Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel (yes that is spelled correctly), Leadership and Education, Personnel, and Facilities and is a crucial aspect of the Joint Capabilities Integration Development System (JCIDS) process (Defense Acquisition University, 2010, p. 34). As you may recall from your week 1 reading, JCIDS is the process that is used to identify and document warfighter needs (Defense Acquisition University, 2010, p. 18). This is the starting off point in the Department of Defense acquisition process, as there is no acquisition without a “bona fide need” (we will come back to this concept next week when we discuss acquisition policy). I won’t bore you by going through each element of the process (as your reading does a great job of describing these elements) but ensure that you read and understand what takes place each step of the way. So let’s take a look at the DOTMLPF process to gain a better understanding of each element. Let’s assume that a new laser technology is created that can be used as a weapon. Let’s run through the DOTMLPF analysis: Doctrine: How will this new laser be deployed? Will this be available on the battlefield? Will the laser be shoulder fired, fried from a tank, fired from a plane, fired from a ship? Will it be more of an offensive or defensive weapon? Will this laser replace all current conventional forms of firing weapons? Is this laser only going to be effective at long ranges, or can it be used near troops? Can this laser be used in all settings, such as forest, desserts, plains, or swamps? How many lasers do we need? Organization: Who controls the laser? What type of team is utilized to fire, reload, etc.? Will there be a separate laser unit, or will they be deployed within other units? If we have a separate laser unit, how will that unit be organized? Is organization and use different if in a defensive posture versus an offensive posture? How do we organize the supply, maintenance and replacement of lasers and their supplies? Training: Once leadership has determined the right doctrine and organization for lasers, they need to decide how soldiers are going to be trained to use them. Who will conduct the training, what will they be trained on, where will they train, how will they train, and how will their training be evaluated? Who is trained to repair lasers and their accessories, how are they trained and how often? Materiel: How do we ensure of lasers and support parts/materials get to the where they are needed, when they are needed? How do we maintain the laser? If the laser is deployed via a vehicle, how is that vehicle maintained? Will we have enough qualified individuals to repair and maintain the laser and its associated components? If not, how will we ensure we will in the future? Leadership and Education: How will junior and mid-level leaders be trained to use the laser in tactical operations? How will infantry and other leaders be trained to work with the laser and utilize laser units? How will we evaluate the entire process so we know that our decisions about doctrine and organization were right? If we have separate units for lasers, how will these leaders get promoted? Personnel: If the laser is a more specialized weapon, as opposed to current shoulder fired weapons, what type of personnel are needed to handle this new weapon? Is there any currently comparable military occupational specialty? Is there specific training of skills that are required to utilize the laser? Does the person utilizing the laser need to be stronger to fire the weapon? There is a recent push to put more women in combat roles; will the laser make that more possible? How can we get enough of the right people to where we need them, when we need them, and in the right condition to accomplish the laser’s mission? Facilities: Where do we produce and lasers, ammunition, and the other required components of the laser? What security do the storage facilities need to have? Will existing resources be sufficient to house this new weapon? As you can see from the above analysis, it’s not as simple as just saying “this technology is great! Let’s deploy it and use it today!” There is a lot of analysis and decision making that has to take place before deployment. Your reading this week also goes on to discuss the capabilities-based assessment (CBA) process, which is the “backbone” of JCIDS Defense Acquisition University, 2010, p. 35). There is an excellent chart on page 36 of your textbook that details the CBA process. The CBA is an analytical approach utilized by the DOD to identify the needs of the warfighter. The purpose of the process is to find out what requirements the warfighter has. “Requirement” is just the acquisition way of saying needs, supplies, or equipment. In a DOD contracting activity, the “requirement” is the item or service that is being acquired. The ground work discussed above is imperative to set the stage for the acquisition process. Without solid research and analysis early on, the acquisition process will go down the wrong path and result in lost money and time. Learning Objective 2: Describe several historical legislative acts that have institutionalized better business practices within the DOD acquisition community Our textbook details several legislative acts or “initiatives” that were passed to improve defense acquisition. I am not going to discuss all of these legislative acts, but know that defense acquisition is highly regulated, with new statutes being passed and new rules being published all the time. The first initiative detailed in the text is “Requirements Management Certification Training,” which was passed in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2007. This new initiative led to the development of a new training program to certify both military and civilian employees of the DOD who are responsible for generating requirements. In a DOD contracting activity, this person is often referred to as an “Item Manager” who is responsible for a specific defense related system. The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) was tasked with developing this program. Another important initiative is the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation. This program ensures that the person generating the requirements conducts an independent cost estimate and cost analyses for major defense acquisition programs. No longer could a program manager simply state that something was needed and the acquisition process would begin as if there was a blank check. The Independent Government Cost Estimate (or IGCE, as it is called in the acquisition community) was a prerequisite for a project to move forward. The IGCE would be supported by objective facts and documentation. Learning Objective 3: Characterize the