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PM DCATS Change of Charter Ceremony Scheduled for August
By Paul L. Tremblay, DCATS Public Affairs
Fort Belvoir, Va., July 29, 2014 – Mr. Douglas Wiltsie, Program Executive Officer, Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), will host a change of charter ceremony on Aug. 13 to recognize the accomplishments of COL Clyde E. Richards, Jr., current Project Manager, Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM DCATS), and to transfer the PM DCATS charter from COL Richards to COL Charles “Charlie” Stein.
PM DCATS is an organization with a diverse systems portfolio and a global mission consisting of six major programs and more than 130 distinct projects. During his tenure, which began in Oct 2011, COL Richards and his team led the delivery of critical communications capabilities to customers across the globe, including the White House, the National Security Agency, the United States Special Operations Command, and functional and geographic Army Combatant Commands, as well as individual units deployed on battlefields during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
Under COL Richards’ leadership during this period, PM DCATS:
- achieved Initial Operational Capability for its $800 million Modernization of Enterprise Terminal program, which is a main system in a Department of Defense (DOD) Acquisition Category 1D (Defense Acquisition Board) program that enhances the strategic military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) and Missile Defense capabilities;
- supported activation and Full Operational Capability (FOC) of four Wideband Global Satellites, and implemented Wideband Control subsystem upgrades to six global Operation Centers and two Remote Monitoring and Control Elements in Australia that significantly enhanced DOD strategic MILSATCOM capabilities;
- achieved FOC for 3,620 Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) and 39,375 Combat Service Support Automated Information Systems Interface (CAISI) systems, establishing the largest global VSAT network in the DOD and providing end-to-end communications support to every Brigade Combat Team in the Army;
- implemented FOC for Land Mobile Radio systems at 10 Army installations worldwide, providing a life-saving radio communications backbone in support of First Responders and emergency services personnel; and
- achieved Full Rate Production and initial delivery of the new Army/Navy Vehicle Intercom 5 system, providing significantly enhanced intercom capabilities and safety protections for most tactical and wheeled vehicles in the Army and other Services.
COL Richards will be moving to the Defense Contract Management Agency in Crystal City, Va., to serve as the Army Portfolio Director. “It’s been a great honor to serve as Program Manager for DCATS,” he said. “We’re back on track after all the disruptions of the BRAC [Base Realignment and Closure] transfer from New Jersey, and we’ve put together a great team with some robust processes. I am proud of the organization that I am turning over to COL Stein.”
COL Stein enlisted as an infantryman in the Marine Corps in 1982. In 1990, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Quartermaster Corps. He held a variety of command and staff positions before becoming a Product Manager. Since June 2013, COL Stein has served as the Technical Center Deputy Director of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command /Army Forces Strategic Command in Huntsville, Ala.
For more information, please visit http://www.eis.army.mil/programs/dcats.
Posted July 30, 2014
LTC McGrew Promoted
By Ellyn Kocher, PEO EIS Public Affairs
LTC Timothy McGrew, Army Enterprise Systems Integration Program (AESIP), was promoted June 16 at the Hoffman Building, Alexandria, Va., in a ceremony hosted by Project Manager COL Harry Culclasure. BG Francisco Espaillat, Commanding General, 143rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) (ESC), pinned LTC McGrew and presented him with his awards. LTC McGrew currently serves as the Deputy Chief in AESIP's Business Management Directorate, and he is an APM for GCSS-Army. LTC McGrew will be departing AESIP at the end of July and transitioning to PM GFEBS.
Congratulations, LTC McGrew!
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Posted July 18, 2014
MET Achieves Major Milestone
By Michael Mcgarvey, Deputy PdM WESS
Mr. Douglas Wiltsie, Program Executive Officer Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 17 to recognize the achievement of Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET) program.
The MET program is administered by Product Manager, Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems (PdM WESS), which falls within the Project Manager, Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM DCATS) portfolio of products. The program is replacing aging, bandwidth-limited infrastructure with state-of-the-art satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals that can leverage the vastly increased data throughput capabilities of the DOD’s constellation of Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites.
“Together,” said LTC Samuel Ancira, PdM WESS, “MET and WGS are finally putting us ahead of the DOD’s increasing demand for data, voice and video throughput. It’s moving us past our reliance on hard-to-maintain, limited throughput legacy equipment, and our increasing dependence on commercial satellites, which are expensive to use and are not standardized, not interoperable, and often times not even secure.”
The Belvoir MET installation is comprised of a fixed 12.2-meter antenna reflector assembly and associated SATCOM equipment, including control, monitor and alarm; performance measurement and testing; frequency and time standard; and transmit and receive subsystems. The installation also is hardened to protect against interference produced by High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse threats such as low-yield nuclear explosions.
The MET IOC dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony occurred adjacent to the 596th Signal Company’s earth terminal facility on Fort Belvoir. Mr. Wiltsie and BG (Promotable) John B. Morrison, Commander, Network Enterprise Technology Command, spoke at the ceremony, as did COL Clyde E. Richards, Jr., PM DCATS, and LTC Ancira.
Approximately 120 invitees attended the event, including Mr. Sheldon Fox, President, Government Communication Systems, Harris Corporation, and LTC Billy Miranda, Commander, 302nd Signal Battalion.
Click to view photos from the day's events:
Posted July 18, 2014
LMP Assumption of Charter Ceremony
By Judith Avery, AESIP Public Affairs
A ceremony was held July 17 at Fort Belvoir, Va., to officially recognize the Assumption of Charter for the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP). LTC Robert Williams assumed the duties and responsibilities outlined in the charter in a ceremony hosted by COL Harry Culclasure, Project Manager for the Army Enterprise Systems Integration Program (AESIP).
The LMP is one of the world’s largest, fully integrated supply chain, maintenance, repair and overhaul, planning, execution, and financial management systems. It is an SAP-based commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solution that manages and tracks orders and delivery of materiel from the Army Materiel Command (AMC) to Soldiers where and when they need it. The support that the LMP provides is critical to the Army achieving an integrated Enterprise solution that enables materiel readiness and provides asset management and accountability, architecture and acquisition compliancy, and financial transparency from factory to foxhole. Under the stewardship of the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), the LMP provides state-of-the-art automated support to the U.S. Army’s arsenal and depot activities worldwide by providing a modernized logistics and finance solution that allows the AMC to provide world-class logistics readiness to Soldiers.
“The management and staff of LMP have grown the program to be an Acquisition Category 1 (ACAT 1) Major Automated Information System (MAIS) with approximately 21,000 Increment 1 users and more than seventy Department of Defense system interfaces. As a result of the team’s accomplishments to date, senior Army leadership is exhibiting confidence in the program by elevating its leadership position to that of a military Product Manager,” said COL Culclasure at the ceremony today.
LTC Williams is a former Military Intelligence Officer and has held positions within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA[ALT]). He most recently served in a role of program analysis and evaluation for the Army G-8.
“The previous accomplishments of both LTC Williams and the LMP program combined with our plans for increased capability and the addition of another 14,000 users with the fielding of Increment 2 offers us great opportunities for the future, and I am confident LTC Williams is ready and able to lead the program to more success.” remarked COL Culclasure.
Posted July 18, 2014
GFEBS Change of Charter
By Pamela Gray, GFEBS Public Affairs
COL Patrick W. Burden relinquished the General Fund Enterprise Business Systems Charter to COL William (Matt) Russell on July 10 in a ceremony held at the Fort Belvoir Community Center. Mr. Douglas Wiltsie, Program Executive Officer Enterprise Information Systems, presided over the ceremony. In addition to commenting on all the successes of the GFEBS Project Management Office, Mr. Wiltsie emphasized COL Burden’s successes during his tenure.
“I wanted to highlight these program accomplishments to reiterate that in the words of a former colleague, this stuff is not easy; but for the past four years, Pat, you have made it look like it was,” Mr. Wiltsie said. Burden expressed his sincere appreciation to a list of individuals for their leadership, guidance, support and dedication.
“It wasn’t me, it was a talented team of individuals,” COL Burden commented. “This ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) stuff is hard, but people make all the difference.”
COL Russell most recently served as the Director for Fires and Force Protection for the Assistant Secretary of the Army Acquisition Logistics and Technology.
He started his remarks with a personal note to his mother. After completing college with a degree in finance, Russell joined the Army commissioned in the Infantry and worked with the Military Intelligence Community. His mother wanted to know when he was going to use his degree in finance. Russell then made a promise to his mother he would indeed use his degree one day.
Once he relayed this story, COL Russell turned to Mr. Wiltsie and said, “Sir, thank you for letting me fulfill a promise to my mother.”
COL Russell also stated that he was humbled to be selected to the GFEBS program and assured COL Burden that he would continue to keep GFEBS moving on the ERP fast track.
COL Burden has been selected for promotion to brigadier general. His next assignment has not yet been announced.
Following the ceremony, guests enjoyed a reception honoring the Burden family and welcoming the Russell family to the GFEBS team.
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Posted July 11, 2014
CHESS Change of Charter
By Ellyn Kocher, PEO EIS Public Affairs
A ceremony was held July 10 at Fort Belvoir, Va., to officially recognize the change of charter for Computer Hardware Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS). Project Director Mr. Brendan Burke, who has led CHESS since April 2011, transitioned leadership of the project office to Mr. Tom Neff in a ceremony hosted by Mr. Douglas Wiltsie, PEO EIS.
PD CHESS is the Army’s one-stop shop for commercial IT, and manages more than $30 billion worth of contracts. CHESS provides a no-fee, flexible procurement strategy for Army users to buy COTS hardware, software and services, leveraging the Army’s buying power by creating competition among vendors and consolidating requirements for contracts. The CHESS Consolidated Buy is the best example of this ingenuity, providing the most cost-effective approach to fulfilling user requirements for desktop and notebook computers and printers for the Army at the Enterprise level. The CB directly supports the Army CIO/G6 strategy for acquiring products which are fully compliant with Federal Desktop Computing regulations as well as Department of Defense and Army security and interoperability standards.
During Mr. Burke’s tenure, the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions (ITES-2S and ITES-2H) contracts, estimated to be worth up to $27 billion over a nine-year period, have gained traction as the primary source of IT equipment supporting the enterprise at a reasonable cost.
The ITES-Software (ITES-SW) was crafted as one of Mr. Burke's initiatives to provide a centralized contract vehicle for specialty software products not currently on a ESI or ELA, but that have a Certificate of Networthiness (CON).
“Because of Brendan’s leadership, [the ITES-SW] effort will streamline the Acquisition process for the Army by allowing customers to go directly to the contract vehicle and purchase software that can be placed directly on the network,” said Mr. Wiltsie in his remarks at the ceremony. “Brendan has also been instrumental in building the case for small business competition within the CHESS marketplace, which has saved a lot of money and created opportunities.”
Mr. Burke leaves PD CHESS to attend the National Defense University’s prestigious Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy Acquisition Course (formerly ICAF), one of only seven acquisition employees selected this year for this prestigious opportunity.
“Brendan’s departure will be a monumental loss for PEO, but it is a tremendous gain for the Army and the Acquisition Corps,” said Mr. Wiltsie at the ceremony today.
Mr. Tom Neff has a long history of program management leadership within PEO EIS, having served most recently as the Deputy Project Manager for the General Fund Business System (PM GFEBS). Among his many accomplishments at GFEBS, Mr. Neff championed contract actions for GFEBS Sustainment and the Army Contract Writing System (ACWS) and worked tirelessly on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data center migration efforts during a time of continuing budget restraints.
Mr. Neff also previously served as the Project Director, Reserve Component Automation Systems (RCAS), and as the Deputy Product Manager for the Joint-Automatic Identification Technology (J-AIT), which has since aligned under the Product Director Automated Movement and Identification Solutions (PD AMIS).
“I am excited that you are a part of the team again, Tom, and I look forward to your continuing the great work that Brendan has started at CHESS,” remarked Mr. Wiltsie. “You have a legacy of strong leadership at PEO EIS and we are fortunate to have you on board at CHESS.”
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Posted July 11, 2014
PEO EIS Organization Day – June 27, 2014, Fort Belvoir, Va.
By Ellyn Kocher, PEO EIS Public Affairs
PEO EIS employees enjoyed an organization day on June 27 at the parade field adjacent to the PEO EIS headquarters at Hall and Chapek Roads on Fort Belvoir. Attendees enjoyed a cookout and games, to include a Mr./Ms. Universe Fitness Competition, volleyball, cornhole, a dunk tank, a moonbounce for children, and various other activities.
Click to view photos from the day's events:
Posted July 03, 2014