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Work, Kendall Honor Best in Acquisition

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Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work and his acquisition chief, Frank Kendall, yesterday honored excellence in acquisition, innovation and cost savings, hailing the work that achieved superior capabilities while saving taxpayer money and ensuring warfighters have the best available resources.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall stand with the Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems winner of the David Packard Excellence in Acquisitions Award, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2017. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall stand with the Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems winner of the David Packard Excellence in Acquisitions Award, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2017. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall stand with the Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems winner of the David Packard Excellence in Acquisitions Award, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2017. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
Deputy Secretary of Defense hosts the David Packard Awards
Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall stand with the Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems winner of the David Packard Excellence in Acquisitions Award, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2017. DoD photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
Photo By: Amber I. Smith
VIRIN: 170106-D-SV709-050

The 2016 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition and the Should Cost and Innovation Awards are extraordinary achievements that recognize the "best and brightest of acquisition" and of the Defense Department, Work told attendees of the Pentagon ceremony.

He noted the three teams receiving the Packard Award only represent a small fraction of the thousands who work in the acquisition field.

The Packard Award is the Defense Department's highest acquisition team honor. It is named after David Packard, a deputy defense secretary in the Nixon administration and co-founder and chairman of the Hewlett-Packard Company.

The winners demonstrated superior program management and accomplishment in the successful execution of one or more of the Better Buying Power efficiencies and associated initiatives, Work pointed out.

The recipients of the 2016 Packard Award are: Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems team, the Next Generation Jammer Increment 1 team, and the United States Special Operations Command's Acquisition Rapid Response Light Tactical Vehicle team.

'Should Cost' Recipient Saves Billions

The Should Cost and Innovation Award recognizes organizations, groups or teams that have displayed outstanding commitment, innovation and results to should cost management.

Work pointed out the extraordinary achievements of the recipient of the Should Cost and Innovation Award -- the Joint Program Office, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles team.

Its cost-saving initiative, competitive strategy and vehicle design are projected to save $7.9 billion dollars across the end-stand of the joint light tactical vehicles, Work said.

2016 David Packard Award Winners:

Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems is presented the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award for its innovative Acquisition strategy and rapid delivery of non DoD standard ammunitions (or NSA), to Iraq, Afghanistan, domestic and other allied partners engaged in the counterterrorism and other hostile domestic situations. The team realized the need to shorten delivery times of NSA in the fight against ISIL and the ongoing conflicts throughout U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility. The swelling demands on a limited supplier base were slowing delivery times to unacceptable levels. The ability to provide rapid NSA delivery was becoming critical to the United States National Security interests and our allied partners. Through an innovative systems contracts approach, coupled with the establishment of a global urgent supply, the team achieved greater agility and effectiveness that reduced NSA deliveries to a fraction of the time. Requirements with delivery times of 12-24 months were reduced to 6 months, and in some cases when partnering with other government agencies, to less than three months.

The Next Generation Jammer Increment 1 team is presented the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award for their revolutionary approach in the evolution of airborne electronic attack. Responsible for the design, development and procurement of the Next Generation Jammer System, the team will equip future warfighters with a state-of-the art technology to address emerging electronic warfare gaps and ensure kill chain wholeness against growing threat capabilities and capacity. Handpicked as the pilot program in the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Better Buying Power Skunk Works initiative, the NGJ Inc 1 team demonstrated unparalleled commitment by applying grassroots initiatives to develop this crucial capability. Using Should Cost management to incentivize productivity and reduce cost, the team achieved $1.2 million as a cost avoidance savings by modifying the pod design, and realized a $2.4 million cost savings when the program altered the pod structure requirement composition. The team’s focus on speed to the fleet, improved affordability and platform integration proved relevant as the increased jamming capability is critical to sustaining the future missions of the Navy, other services, and international partners. With a recent $1 billion engineering and manufacturing development contract award, the team is one step closer to providing this pioneering radar jamming system.

The U.S. Special Operations Command’s Acquisition Rapid Response Light Tactical Vehicle Team is presented the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award for leveraging the commercial marketplace, existing supply chains, and worldwide distribution networks and successfully accomplishing multiple tests, certifications, field assessments, and fielding activities in months versus years. The ARRLVT quickly and efficiently conceptualized an acquisition approach to leverage a commercial off the shelf solution, conducted a series of combat evaluations to identify shortfalls, and rapidly modified, trained and fielded a capability directly into combat areas of operations to collect real-time feedback. The LTATV provided small unit mobility, decreased soldier combat fatigue and physical injuries. In fewer than 180 days, the ARRLVT rapidly fielded an initial gasoline powered LTATV to Afghanistan and Iraq that reduced soldier physical burden while increasing mobility. Based on the evaluation success, the team quickly achieved internal air transport and airdrop certifications, expanding the utility of the LTATV for immediate operational employment. Concurrently, the team embarked on development of a diesel variant of the LTATV, which enabled the groundbreaking introduction of a fully tested, combat-ready, diese-powered vehicle in only two years. That helped special ops forces in the field maneuver combat loads over long distances across treacherous terrain and severe climatic conditions. Ultimately, the 82nd Airborne Division Global Mission Response Force and the Marine Corps were able to accelerate procurement and fielding of LTATVs by leveraging Socom testing, certification and contracting vehicles enabling significant cost avoidance savings across the department.

2016 Should Cost and Innovation Award Winner:

The Joint Program Office, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles is presented the Should Cost and Innovation Award for implementing should cost initiatives which were in alignment with Better Buying Power and resulted in significant cost savings. The Joint Program Office utilized competitive prototyping to understand relevant cost structures within a warfighter-defined performance trade space. Cost and performance data provided by the competitive prototyping initiative was used to develop an innovative source selection criteria, which enabled industry to make cost-informed design decisions. The winning offeror’s proposal is anticipated to save $2.2 billion in life-cycle sustainment costs for vehicles procured on the current production contract. The ground-breaking source selection criteria positioned the program to achieve significant cost savings, control future life-cycle costs, and maintain effective competition within the awarded JLTV initial production contract and follow-on production contracts. In total, the competitive strategy and vehicle design are estimated to save $7.9 billion across the end-state of the JLTV fleet. JPO staff has worked with several offices to ensure the best practices used to develop the JLTV solicitation are documented for use across the department.

(Follow Lisa Ferdinando on Twitter: @FerdinandoDoD)

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