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News, announcements, training, search functions, Ask-a-Professor, and similar services with direct links supporting DoD acquisition.
Acquisition Process
Three processes cooperate to deliver capabilities needed by warfighters: the requirements process (JCIDS); the acquisition process (DAS); and the program and budget development process (PPBE). Includes links to DoD and Service policies, guidance, tools, and resources:
Policy
Encyclopedic source of acquisition policy that follows a hierarchy of policy issuance (i.e., executive, legislative, federal, etc.) and filtered according to organization, career field, and special topics.
Communitiesof Practice
Links to communities of practice and special interest areas, the latest contribution and discussion posts for open ACC communities, community highlights, and links to related communities.
Training andContinuous Learning
Information on training and continuous learning that supports DoD acquisition, information that helps manage professional training portfolios, and information on training available from DAU and DoD and Services activities.
Industry
Information on DoD industry partners that helps the participation and execution of DoD processes; including industry support pages, news, information, and links to private sector acquisition contractors.
Applications
AT&L Knowledge Management Systems (AKMS) applications.
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Portals
Functional Gateways
Sixteen functional knowledge gateways, one for each of the defense acquisition career fields.
Special Topics
Links to gateways about important topics outside the general portals and beyond the standard career fields:
Bill Kobren Director Logistics & Sustainment Center
A recent student query about moving workload out of an organic depot prompted me to do a bit of thinking and research on the subject. I’d like to share some of those personal perspectives and insights here in case the information may prove useful to some of you.
Moving workload between depots, I would contend, should be an action of last resort – essentially after all other options to alleviate the issue(s) have been exhausted. Indeed, before making such a decision, it’s very likely to be in everyone’s best interest to first have a clear understanding of exactly what the issues are that are driving customer dissatisfaction. Cost? Performance? Schedule? Product? Process? Responsiveness? Quality? Priorities? Metrics?
Remember the old adage “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” which somewhat sardonically reminds us to also “be careful what you ask for, because you might just get it.” Walking away from a challenging or even a seemingly untenable situation may ultimately not be the best option.
First, I’d make sure we’d clearly articulated and documented our requirements and expectations. I’d also make every effort to keep the lines of communication open with our teammates and partners. There should be no surprises. Communicate, communicate, communicate!
Second, I contend we should identify all of the potential issues, being sure to separate symptoms from causes. When conducting this evaluation, stick to the facts and base decisions on data -- leave emotion, opinion, and anecdotal evidence out of the equation. Conduct a rigorous root-cause analysis, bringing in subject matter experts to assist as required. Evaluate the situation thoughtfully and clearly, considering both near- and long-term implications.
If expectations and metrics still aren’t being achieved, I’d want to meet with the depot leadership to discuss specific issues, identify potential root causes, and examine a range of potential options to resolve the underlying issues before undertaking efforts to shift depot level workload to other sources of repair. Funding? Training? Supply Chain Management? Leadership? Manpower?
Same goes for potential solutions. Process improvements? Lean events? Benchmarking? Reviewing successful execution examples at same depot, other depots, or other Service or commercial depot level maintenance organizations? Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements? Performance Based Logistics (PBL) product support arrangements?
Engage your Service and major command-level experts on this subject. Be fully cognizant of the applicable statutory and policy requirements. Understand the range of potential options, along with the costs, benefits and limitations of each.
It’s possible you could look to implement a performance based logistics (PBL) product support arrangement (PSA) that that establishes clear performance measures and metrics, as well as incentives and remedies that drive the desired behaviors. In addition to CLL 011 Performance Based Logistics continuous learning module and LOG 235 Performance Based Logistics distance learning training course, we also have a number of ACQuipedia articles on these subject at:
Or you might also want to consider a public-private partnering (PPP) arrangement that brings in a commercial entity to work with, support, or subcontract with the current depot. Very often these are done in conjunction with PBL arrangements, but not in every instance. Several available PPP resources include:
Would also become familiar with some of the key statutes and DoD and Service policies that govern depot workload, Core workload, and source of repair decisions. Policies include:
DAU also offers a suite of ACQuipedia articles on depot level maintenance, including:
In addition, DAU also has several continuous learning modules on these topics, including:
Bottom line, thoroughly understand the issues, consider all potential options, keep lines of communication open, exhaust the simplest and easiest solutions first, work closely with all key stakeholders, and let best value cost, schedule, performance, supportability, Service policies, and validated warfighter requirements guide your decision making.
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