Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen today announced the
award presentation of four 1997 David Packard Excellence in
Acquisition Awards at the Acquisition Reform Week Kick-Off
Ceremony in the Pentagon. The 1997 awards program recognize
the best Department of Defense acquisition Integrated Product
Teams from the Navy, Special Operations Command, Ballistic
Missile Defense Organization, and the U.S. Air Force that have
achieved excellence in acquisition through acquisition reform
practices.
Joint Strike Fighter Program (JSF) (Program Management Integrated
Product Team)
The JSF follows adopted one of the Packard Commissioner''s
major recommendations to create a common family of aircraft.
Development savings are estimated at nearly $18 billion (in FY 95
dollars) and life cycle cost savings of projected at 33-55
percent compared to historical aircraft programs. The JSF
program also implemented Aanother Packard Commission
recommendation heeded was to by aggressively managing technical
riskbring technology to low risk prior to entering eEngineering
and Mmanufacturing Ddevelopment. The program is employing cost
as an independent variable, as well as enhancing competition by
sharing, an unprecedented amount of key process information with
competing contractors. The program is a model of the new way of
doing business in DoD. The JSF Program Office is led by Navy
Rear Adm. Craig E. Steidle, director; and Air Force Brig. Gen.
Leslie Kenne, deputy director. The JSF Program Office is located
in Arlington, Va.
Special Operations Forces Intelligence Vehicle Program (SOF IV)
(Program Management Integrated Product Team)
The SOF IV program used creative streamlining approaches in
using the areas of technology integration, economic ordering
contracts, and reducing life cycle support cost reductions.
These innovative processes are permitting maximum return on the
Special Operations Command investment. The SOF IV provides
Special Operations Forces users with a joint warfighting
intelligence processing capability that supports Joint Special
Operations Task Force operations. The SOF IV effort was lead by
Mr. James W. Cluck, program manager. The program office is
located at MacDill Air Force Base, near Tampa, Fla.
Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) Program
Office (Communications-Computer Systems Integrated Product Team)
MIDS, a multinational cooperative program to develop a
highly jam-resistant, secure digital information distribution
system aboard tactical aircraft, is, a model program in a number
of areas. Among other things, the program is for using an open
system architecture; using exploiting commercial products using
innovative acquisition streamlining techniques; implementing cost
as an independent variable; and obtaining international
cooperation. MIDS is being developed for use on at least 17
tactical air platforms, thus reducing engineering and
manufacturing development costs and reducing estimated recurring
production unit cost by 40 percent. The effort was led by Navy
Capt. David P. Fitch, and the program office is located in
Arlington, Va.
Construction Flight Working Group, formed from elements of the
319th Contracting and 319th Engineer Squadrons, Grand Forks Air
Force Base, N.D.
The Construction Flight Working Group was formed with the
intent to improve the solicitation process for construction
projects at Grand Forks AFB. The working group was able to
reduced reproduction costs of the construction solicitation
process, cut acquisition lead time, and maintained Grand Fork's
competitive contractor and supplier base by minimizing the
program's impact on contractor and supplier operations. Since
becoming fully operational, the program has achieved documented
savings of over $50,000 in direct costs to Grand Forks AFB alone,
and a 10 percent reduction in acquisition lead time. Moreover,
the program team is, and the establishment of the only
operational contracting unit in the Air Force to use electronic
media. Based upon calculations made by the Air Mobility Command,
if the solicitation process developed by the Construction Flight
Working Group were implemented Command-wide, annual savings would
be $1.1 million and, if implemented Air Force-wide, savings would
exceed $20 million. The three working group members are Ms.
Thana Prochko, the construction flight chief; Ms. Sherry Scheer
and Mr. Ken Barborak.
The 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 Company and chairman of the Presidential
Commission on Defense Management chartered by President Ronald
Reagan in 1985.The award winners were competitively selected from
nominations made by the military services and defense
agencies Service's or agency's nominations. Principal nomination
criterion that used the most was the demonstrated use of
innovative team techniques first advocated by Packard to achieve
excellence in defense acquisition.
The award is named in honor of the late David Packard,
founder and chairman of the Hewlett-Packard Company, former
deputy secretary of defense under President Nixon, and chairman
of a blue ribbon defense commission (the Packard Commission)
under President Reagan.
