On May 4 at 9 a.m. (EDT) in the Pentagon Courtyard, Secretary of Defense William Cohen, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology Jacques Gansler and General Dennis Reimer, acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will join other senior Department of Defense officials to host the Acquisition Reform Week III kick-off ceremony.
During this ceremony, Cohen will present the David Packard Awards for Acquisition Excellence.
Presentations, demonstrations and displays reflecting the Department's reform efforts will be available in the courtyard following the ceremony.
For the past two years, the Department of Defense, as part of the National Performance Review Reinventing Government, has endeavored to ensure the acquisition workforce is aware of the Department's acquisition reform initiatives and how those initiatives apply to the way the Department conducts business through the observance of Acquisition Reform Week.
The DoD will observe Acquisition Reform Week III May 4-8.
As in past years, this year's Acquisition Reform Week provides an opportunity for acquisition professionals at all levels to assess ongoing reform initiatives and determine ways to accelerate the implementation of these initiatives. The theme for Acquisition Reform Week III is "Leading and Embracing Change: Institutionalizing and Accelerating Acquisition Reform."
"Accelerating acquisition reform remains one of our most important priorities in the Department of Defense," said Cohen.
"Without institutionalized acquisition reform, we cannot ensure that our warfighters will have the best weapons and equipment to carry out their missions in the future."
The Packard Award is named in honor of the late David Packard, a former deputy secretary of Defense during the Nixon administration. He was also the founder and chairman of the Hewlett-Packard Co. and chairman of the Presidential Commission on Defense Management chartered by President Ronald Reagan in 1985. The awards are intended to recognize acquisition programs that achieve excellence through the use of innovative team techniques first advocated by Packard.
Additional information on this year's observance of Acquisition Reform Week can be found on the Internet at http://www.acq.osd.mil/arweekIII.
Media interested in attending the kick-off ceremony are asked to contact Lt. Col. Bob Potter, Directorate of Defense Information, (703) 697-3189 to make arrangements.
