Understanding the program manager's role: Defense Systems Management College develops new course for DCMA - Program Management

Twenty-five Defence Contract Management Agency employees are better equipped to support program managers after completing a new course designed to expose Program Integrators and the Program Support Team to life as a program manager.

The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) developed the one-week course for DCMA last year. The most recent offering, held Feb. 25-March 1, at DCMA St. Petersburg, Fla., immersed DCMA employees in the program manager world by providing a hands-on orientation to the business and technical challenges facing program managers.

"DCMA is committed to providing the PM with high-level, quality support," said Army Brig. Gen. Edward M. Harrington, DCMA Director. "This course helps convey to DCMA professionals the challenges confronting Army, Navy, and Air Force PMs on a daily basis--and why on-site support can truly make a difference."

Support to the program manager is a fundamental and critical element of the overall DCMA mission. A Program Integrator is assigned to each Acquisition Category (ACAT I and II) program to focus the DCMA Program Support Team efforts on cost, schedule, and performance issues. The Program Integrator is responsible for ensuring timely insight, actions, and recommendations for the program manager to promote successful program execution.

"I now have a lot better appreciation for the value of our on-site role to the program manager community," said Kat Sizemore, a Program Integrator who completed the St. Petersburg course.

DCMA teaming with the customer starts with customer engagement on Acquisition Planning and Support Services. This pre-award support ranges from acquisition strategy formulation and request-for-proposal structuring, all the way to past performance evaluations and source-selection participation. It extends throughout contract performance, beginning with a well-documented Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The MOA identifies key program risk elements requiring special DCMA attention, as well as discrete program outcomes and sub-outcomes deemed critical by the program manager during various stages of the program.

Why Develop the Course?

To promote the proper teaming environment within DCMA, Program Integrators and Program Support Team members must fully understand the breadth of the PM's responsibilities.

"For DCMA to be value-added in the eyes of the PM, we must first internalize and appreciate the challenges faced by the PM on a daily basis in today's acquisition environment," said Harrington.

In the summer of 2000, Navy Capt. Michael Tryon, DCMA West District Commander, and DCMA Headquarters representatives met with Dr. Robert Lightsey, Chair, DAU Systems Engineering Management Department, and Dr. Martin Falk, Systems Engineering Professor, to explore developing a course for DCMA Program Integrators and Program Support Team members across the country. The course would promote a greater understanding of the program manager's responsibilities and challenges.

In short order and with superb support from Lightsey and Falk, along with Tryon and DCMA Headquarters Program Support Team members Armond Darrin and Navy Cmdr. Max Snell, the first weeklong pilot was underway.

In April 2001, Army Col. Mark Brown, DCMA Baltimore Commander, hosted "Understanding the Program Manager's Role" in Baltimore, Md. Thirty students representing multiple contract management disciplines from different DCMA field sites, along with several Program Integrators, participated in the pilot.

The Course is Hands-On

The course is technically oriented and uses a hands-on approach, as students are introduced to the systems-engineering view of program management. In-depth discussion of topics such as requirements analysis, the progression from solicitation to contract award, and project management are also part of the curriculum. Lessons learned in earned-value management, configuration management, functional analysis and design, risk management, design tools, technical reviews, and best-value trade-offs are all woven into a team project.

Each course offering consists of approximately five teams per class, and the last day includes a live-vehicle test, followed by a discussion of performance trade-offs and best-value analysis.

Building the Advanced Unmanned Ground Vehicle (AUGV)

Many educational programs use tools such as models and simulations to reinforce learning objectives. All of the technical management subjects covered in the course such as design, risk management, and technical reviews come to life by having the students actually perform them while they go through the process of designing, developing, and testing a simulated mine-detection vehicle called the AUGV, or Advanced Unmanned Ground Vehicle.

The vehicle is built from a kit originally developed by Lego Corporation, in cooperation with the Massachusetts institute of Technology Students are required to develop a concept, build it, complete software programming, and test their product against the requirements of a system specification.

The students are introduced to the AUGV prior to arriving at the course. All receive a packet of information that includes a letter from the AUGV Program Office notifying them that their respective contractor teams have been awarded an AUGV prototype contract. Operating within their own Program Support Team, the students assume the role of a contractor; five teams then compete in the design, development, and testing of their AUGV prototypes.

The course proceeds in a workshop forum that integrates each stage in the AUGVs development with lectures and discussions on the related topics of engineering management and the PM's perspective.

"We had to plan and design this whole vehicle" said Sizemore. "You learn quickly that just because the software says it can go 45 miles per hour doesn't mean the gearing is capable."

The course provides, in a workshop-like forum, lectures and discussions on the related topics of engineering management and the program management perspective that integrates each stage in the AUGV development.

Course Specifics

Different areas related to program management are introduced each day. Day 1 establishes the parameters and competitive environment that carries through to the testing and "grand finale" of source selection.

Day 1 workshop topics include the background and comparison of operational requirements, systems specifications, and contract requirements. By the end of the initial workshops, each team member has been assigned a specific role within the systems engineering process, and all members are infused with the knowledge that individual contributions can have major impacts on the group's success.

Day 1

The contractor teams are comprised of a PM, software engineer, mechanical engineer, head of testing, logistics and life cycle cost manager, and Earned Value Management analyst. Each team member plays the assigned role leading up to testing and source selection. This hands-on approach permits team members to share experiences across the various functional disciplines.

* Systems Engineering Overview

* Requirements--Operational Requirements Document and System Specifications

* Solicitation, Proposal, and Award

* Contract Requirements

* Integrated Product Teams

Day 2

* Earned Value Management--Work Breakdown Structure

* Configuration Management

* Risk Management

* Technical Performance Measurements

Day 3

* Functional Analysis and Design

* Software

* Design Reviews

* Systems Concept Design

Day 4

* Test and Test Planning

* Fabrication

* Testing

Day 5

* Fabrication and Testing

* Design Review

* Vehicle Test and Best Value Determination

Test Day

Day 5 of the training combines all the previous lessons from the workshops and gives the students an opportunity to compete head-to-head with their best designs. During the Baltimore pilot and again in St. Petersburg, team members approached the testing with excitement, enthusiasm, but also with a certain degree of trepidation. While no corporate bonuses or threats of pink slips were on the line, some aspects of the competition had the seriousness of a battlefront.

The AUGVs were evaluated based on strict AUGV Contract Section M requirements in areas of technical performance, producibility, supportability, and cost. The vehicle had to be assembled within certain time constraints, drop-tested, and finally, run through an obstacle course by both remote control and autonomously.

During the testing, plenty of interesting findings added to the overall source selection equation, with many notable examples coming to mind. Some of the AUGVs did not make the assembly time within established limits; others did not survive the drop-test portion of the assembly test unscathed; and some that lost parts were still able to limp through the remainder of the test.

Some of the AUGVs went speeding directly over the compact disks that represented landmines, while others correctly executed the delicate autonomous software maneuvers that allowed them to detect, alarm, and back away from these mines. When the final team was off the field, the groups--all in good humor and brandishing some battle wounds--were ready for the source-selection review and the announcement of the winner.

Students learned that source-selection criteria must be carefully articulated; but the criteria should also allow the source-selection authority the flexibility to consider cost and performance trades-offs that may sway a decision when considering extremely competitive contractors.

"The course gave a broad range of our people a much better understanding of the defense acquisition process and how it works," said Gerald Richardson, DCMA St. Petersburg Deputy. "I was most impressed with the DAU instructors. They were all top quality"

DCMA Teaming with PMs

In fiscal 2001, DAU conducted five course offerings for DCMA. The feedback has been excellent.

"I am thrilled with the results of our partnership with DCMA," commented DAU President Frank Anderson Jr. "It truly demonstrates the power and benefits when our faculty provide direct support to the workforce.

"We optimize the value of the learning experience by supporting action-learning initiatives in the workplace through just-in-time training targeted to meet specific job performance requirements. We are really excited about future action-learning opportunities with DCMA and other DoD organizations."

Prior to the tragic events of Sept. 11, fiscal 2002 course offerings were planned in Nashua, N.H., Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas. The St. Petersburg course is the most recent offering, and the other courses are in the process of being rescheduled.

Editor's Note: DCMA welcomes comments or questions on this article. Contact Gary Gustafson at gary.gustafson@dau.mil.

RELATED ARTICLE: DCMA APPOINTS DAU LIAISON

Gary E. Gustafson was assigned as the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) Customer Liaison Representative (CLR) to DAU in January 2002. Prior to joining DAU, Gustafson was DCMA's Customer Liaison to the U.S. Army Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command and the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division in Orlando Fla. He has also served DCMA as Chief, Contract Operations Group, DCMA Lockheed Martin, Orlando; Program and Technical Support Director, Defense Plant Representative Office Martin Marietta; and Program Integrator for the Navy F-14 program at Defense Plant Representative Office Grumman. Prior to joining DCMA Gustafson served in a variety of analysis, administrative, and production positions for the Naval Air Systems Command at Naval Plant Representative Office, Bethpage, N.Y.

Educated in New York, Gustafson holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Southampton College, and a master's degree in Education (Psychology) from C.W Post College. He is a graduate of the Senior Executive Management Development Program, Naval Aviation Executive Institute; the Program Management Course (PMC 92-1), Defense Systems Management College; and the Senior Executive Fellows Program, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University He is a member of the Defense Acquisition Corps and holds Level Ill certifications in Program Management and Production, Manufacturing, and Quality Assurance.

Fernandez is assigned to DCMA Baltimore-Manassas in Manassas, Va.; Darrin is assigned to DCMA Headquarters in Springfield, Va., as a member of the DCMA Program Support Team.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Defense Acquisition University Press
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group