HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Hanscom’s new site senior functional for Acquisition said his goal for the office is to continue to deliver high-quality support.
“I want to ensure we provide the program management and acquisition support to the program offices so they can execute their programs, providing our warfighting customers the capabilities they need in support of the defense of our nation,” said Mike Giger.
Giger took over the job at the end of April, but he’s no stranger to the organization. For the past two years he has been serving as the Program Manager Workforce Development and Management chief, handling a lot of the human resources pieces.
In that role he oversaw promotions, recruiting, hiring, rotations, awards, career-based mentoring and more, including working with more than 40 trainees, “developing the next set of future leaders.”
There are also two other teams under the organization; the Acquisition Center of Excellence, which provides acquisition planning and source selection support; and the Center Test Authority, assisting with tasks such as initial test strategies, test teams and reviewing plans.
The office provides support for the Digital Directorate, the Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence and Networks Directorate, along with their geographically separated units, the Survivable Airborne Operations Division, and other divisions on a regular basis. Its personnel also support the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications Integration Directorate when requested.
Giger, who has been in and around the Hanscom acquisition community for 35 years as a civilian employee, an Air Force Reserves acquisition officer, and a contractor, also has personal experience using the services of the office when he was working on programs such as AWACS, mission planning, force protection and Milstar. He also used the office’s resources when working in the Strategic Services Division.
“I’ve been a customer of this organization for a long time,” he said. “I’ve benefitted from using their services and expertise, from ACE personnel providing me templates for documents to helping organize about 35 source selections. Now I get to lead, and hopefully optimize, this organization.”
The role is not without challenges, however. Giger said one of the biggest will be being able to provide the same level of high-quality, timely support and program advice to about 900 military and civilian program managers during a time when there are many vacancies, both in the PM community and in their own office. He noted that Hanscom is in an area with a low unemployment rate, and between that and current budgetary considerations, recruiting can be challenging. Giger also said he wants to keep the current PM workforce motivated.
“This organization has a strong history of providing good support and I want that to continue,” he said. “We have a team of experts here that personnel can call on.”
For additional information about any of the teams, or to contact them, call 781-225-1624.