On 17 April 2007, the DAU Alumni Association sponsored the 24th DAU Acquisition Community Conference/Symposium. The theme of the conference was: "Trends in the Acquisition and Program Management of Services in DoD;" The theme served to energize both the presenters and the attendees. The keynote speech was delivered by Mr. Dave Ahern, Director of Portfolio Systems Acquisition, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, who offered first-hand perspectives from his time as a major system program manager. He was followed by Service Acquisition Executive, Industry and Congressional panels, plus two break-out tracks covering the latest policy and guidance. Later in the day we heard from Mr. David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States – and his perspectives on the acquisition of services in DoD.
The conference looked beyond just the contracting aspect of acquiring services, covering all aspects of acquisition ranging from systems engineering to program management. It got into tools and techniques that are critical to the program management professional who acquires services for DoD, including lessons learned for a successful acquisition.
At the evening banquet, the DAUAA David Acker Award for Skill in Communications was awarded to Mr. Ken Krieg, Undersecretary of Defense for AT&L – a most deserving award based on Mr. Krieg's outstanding support of defense acquisition in general and DAU in particular, through the Defense AT&L eLetter and as a guest practitioner at DAU executive training courses. The DAU Hall of Fame awards were also presented as part of the banquet event. The recipients were Mr. Mike Wynne, Secretary of the Air Force; Mr. Ed Hirsch, a former Dean and current professor emeritus at DAU; Mr. Norm McDaniel, a former professor, Department Chair, and Associate Dean at DAU, and Ms. Joyce Valloza, the former head of protocol for many years at DSMC and DAU.
At the end of the conference, the DAU Alumni Association President – Bill Bahnmaier – presented the "State of DAUAA." A copy of the presentation is under "What's New" at the top of the Alumni Association Home Page (www.dauaa.org <http://www.dauaa.org/> ) . Part of the presentation includes a new initiative – The DAU Research Paper Competition – led by DAU's Director of Research, Mr. Paul Alfieri. The Alumni Association is prepared to make significant outlays in prize money to the winners of this competition. The plan envisions a research paper competition that will generate more interest and participation in the Defense Acquisition Review Journal.
As a follow-on to the Conference, the Alumni Association is assisting their partner organization – the Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability Partnership (RMSP) (see www.rmspartnership.org) - by announcing the RMSP Conference for 2-3 May at the at the Waterford Conference Center in Springfield, Virginia The RMSP – led by their president Russ Vacante – has the primary goal of enhancing communication, coordination and collaboration between industry and government to adopt an integrated systems engineering approach when addressing RMS issues. This conference provides a great opportunity to attend a logistics-oriented event which will provide knowledge for practitioners to do a better job in the program office.
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