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Pentagon can't fix software acquisition until it gains a better understanding of its own workforce Dec 04, 2020

Show notes

A new Pentagon working group is trying to bring more rigor to DoD’s management of its software acquisition workforce. But the department faces a major hurdle: it knows almost nothing about the workforce as it stands today – not even how many people are in it. The RAND Corporation recently published recommendations on how DoD can identify the workforce, and also how to build a standard competency framework for software professionals. Our guest this week is Bonnie Triezenberg, a RAND senior engineer and co-author of the report.

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Navy came late to the OTA game, but spending on IT, cyber now 'exploding' Nov 19, 2020

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In August, the Navy announced it was increasing the ceiling value for its Information Warfare Research Project OTA to $500 million. That’s after IWRP exhausted its initial 100 million dollar ceiling in just a little over a year and a half. To talk about how that happened and some of the technology that’s come out of IWRP since the OTA was first signed in 2018, Jared talks with two guests with us from Naval Information Warfare Center-Atlantic: Kevin Charlow, the Deputy Executive Director and chairman of the IWRP Executive Steering Group, and Don Sallee is the NIWC-Atlantic Acquisition Services Manager. Later in the program, Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro (Ret.) joins us to talk about recent leaderships shakeups at the top of DoD's civilian leadership structure and how they might impact the presidential transition process.

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DoD's Space Development Agency shows how fast the FAR can be Nov 03, 2020

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The Pentagon's acquisition system often gets a bad rap -- often deservedly so. But DoD's fledgling Space Development Agency is offering the latest example in why the Federal Acquisition Regulation doesn't have to be synonymous with slowness. SDA just awarded a major multi-million dollar systems integration contract in the span of three and a half months as part of its effort to build the new National Defense Space Architecture. On this week's show, Ryan Frigm, SDA's deputy director, joins Jared Serbu to discuss the work involved in building the new satellite constellation and why the agency sees itself as a "constructive disruptor" in the space domain.

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Army cutting costs by sharing services with local communities Oct 08, 2020

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The Army is finding new ways to partner with the communities around its bases. Thanks to a 2015 law that lets the military services sign service agreements with local governments without the pain of traditional federal contracts, the Army has now signed dozens of Intergovernmental Service Agreements for everything from snow removal to animal control. The latest of those agreements happened just last month at Fort Stewart Georgia. Later in the program, we discuss how the Navy is using digital twins and digital threads to change the way it supports its ships. Ashley Holloway, the chief architect for the NAVSEA's Model Based Product Support program joins us for that discussion.

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Gearing up for great power competition also helped the Air Force prepare for COVID-19 Sep 23, 2020

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On this week's program, Maj. Gen. Cameron Holt, the deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for contracting joins Jared Serbu to discuss a wide range of lessons the acquisition community learned from COVID-19.

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How the Army is rethinking its financial managment systems (it's not just an IT problem) Sep 09, 2020

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On this week's program, Jonathan Moak, the Army's top financial management official, and Greg Garcia, its top IT official, join Jared Serbu to discuss a new initiative to modernize the Army's approach to financial management.

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Unresolved IG recommendations piling up at DoD Aug 12, 2020

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Troy Meyer, DoD's principal deputy inspector general for audit joins Jared Serbu to discuss why open recommendations are headed in the wrong direction (there are now 170 that are five years old or older, compared to 80 last year). Later, we get an update on the Air Force's experiments with Enterprise IT as a Service from Maj. Gen. Kevin Kennedy, the assistant deputy Air Force CIO for digital transformation.

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Pentagon CMO claims billions more in savings as Congress seeks to eliminate the position Jul 09, 2020

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Lisa Hershman, DoD's chief management officer, joins Jared Serbu to discuss the role and mission of the CMO. The office only existed since 2018, but has achieved billions of dollars in savings through long-term business reforms, Hershman says. Congress is leaning toward eliminating the CMO position altogether, but Hershman says lawmakers need to give the department more time to fully prove the value of a senior official dedicated to business transformation.

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Pentagon IG offers advice for effective contracting during pandemic Jun 17, 2020

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With billions of dollars in CARES Act funding yet to be spent and several billion more potentially in the appropriations pipeline, it’s far too early to tell how effectively the Defense Department is spending its share of the disaster funding. But according to the Pentagon’s inspector general, DoD – and its auditors – have more than enough experience with prior emergencies to know what to do, and what not to do, to make sure money is spent well even when contracts have to be executed quickly. On this week's program, Theresa Hull, the assistant inspector general for acquisition issues joins Jared Serbu to discuss a new special report that tries to outline what the OIG considers best practices for contracting under time pressure.

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Navy aims to unify its IT networks with NGEN-R contract May 21, 2020

Show notes

On this week's show, Capt. Ben McNeal, the program manager for Naval Enterprise Networks talks with Jared Serbu about how the Navy hopes to use its latest NGEN contract to consolidate its networks (there are still 140 of them). Later, Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro (Ret.) talks about the Defense Business Board's latest study on how to restructure the Pentagon's organizational chart to drive meaningful business reform.

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