Re-org, innovation, customer focus highlight 'State of ESC'

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Delivering his third annual State of ESC address, Electronic Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds talked about impending organizational changes, as well as the need to remain focused on innovation, program execution and customer needs.

He delivered the address Jan. 27 at the Marriott Hotel in Newton, Mass., and his speech was simulcast live to Hanscom Air Force Base desktop computers.

General Bowlds showed the most recent version of the plan for reorganizing the acquisition structure, which will eliminate wings, groups and squadrons and increase the number of program executive officers to six.

The ESC commander will retain the role of PEO for Command and Control and Combat Support, and for many of the major programs within the current C2/CS portfolio. However, five additional PEOs will soon share acquisition authority. There will be a PEO for C2 and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance; a PEO for Battle Management; a PEO for Cyber/Net-centric; a PEO for Enterprise Logistics; and a PEO for Enterprise Information Systems.

"The Pentagon wants PEOs to have an intimate knowledge of each program in their portfolio," he said. "To get that increased focus, you've got to reduce what's in each one's job jar."

General Bowlds said the projected stand-up date for all of this is June. A lot of paperwork stands in the way of making that officially happen, however, so in the interim PEOs will be named and begin filling PEO responsibilities while still operating in the current structure.

"I expect a seamless transition to the new PEO structure with a continued focus on program execution to meet customer expectations," the general said and also wrote in his 2010 Commander's Intent (see related article). "The programs that are executing well today need to be executing well tomorrow."

During the course of the hour-long presentation, General Bowlds not only unveiled his 2010 Intent, but took a hard look at progress made on 2009's objectives.

He said the center had made significant progress in several areas, including a "back-to-basics" approach to complying with all Air Force standards, rules and instructions. He graded performance against that 2009 objective a B.

The center, he noted, resolved all critical and most significant and minor findings from the November 2008 Unit Compliance Inspection. ESC also improved systems engineering processes and worked to increase program efficiency, and Hanscom became the first Air Force base to achieve Voluntary Protection Program 'Star' status.

He also expressed satisfaction with progress on recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining an effective workforce, another 2009 objective, which he also graded a B.

He noted some lingering challenges, including the fact that hiring is beginning to outpace the center's ability to provide adequate infrastructure, equipment and training. However, the numbers - 646 total and 379 net gains in 2009 - and quality of new employees mark positive trends, as do employee satisfaction surveys.

ESC moved from 82nd in 2008 to 39th in 2009's version of the annual Boston Globe survey, which uses employee feedback to calculate the state's top employers, the general said.

"That recognition provides huge kudos for ESC," he said.

He also noted that some key areas still require improvement. He graded his Lean Processes objective a C for 2009, listing several positive examples but adding that true culture change had yet to take hold.

He acknowledged that more acquisition policy oversight made 'leaning' initiatives harder, but added that ESC program managers have to keep working to improve the efficiencies of processes they control.

He added that "we have to get more of our processes base-lined" so they can be used repeatedly.

Regarding the objective to exploit 'Evolutionary and Revolutionary Information Capabilities,' the general rated overall performance at a C-minus.

"We've had some success, but not enough to say that we've got this one wired," he said.

Again, while he listed several examples - including thin-client servers in the Southwest Asia air operations center and cheaper, safer distribution of electronic keys for deciphering encrypted information - the commander said progress remains insufficient.

Lack of resources, cumbersome acquisition policies and difficulties associated with transitioning new technologies into funded programs combined to hamper advancements in this area, he said.

He handed out the harshest grade, a D, on his 'Venture Capital Approach.' Used well, this approach should equip ESC with the opportunity to tap into innovative, emerging technology, he said.

Once again, he listed several initiatives, such as the Senior Leader Decision Making Dashboard, in which he thought the approach had worked. Too often, however, people had trouble translating concepts into actual warfighting capabilities. Additional challenges included the difficultly of dedicating investment resources to unproven technologies.

He also thinks use of these concepts has been too limited. "We have several bright spots, but they're not being institutionalized," he said

General Bowlds urged ESC program managers and industry partners to keep driving for innovative solutions nonetheless. He talked about continuing to look at small businesses, because that's where "much of the innovation is taking place," and he emphasized the value of things like virtualization.

"It allows us to configure systems to meet actual operator needs," he said.

He said the vision is to provide even more user flexibility, though, saying that operators should be able to build applications onto these virtual systems to meet specific needs. The end result is "a virtual C2 app store," he said, which says to users: "Here it is; stitch it together and come up with what you need."

The general wants to build - and believes center staff have already begun building - that same type of flexibility into acquisition processes. He divided acquisition into three categories: foundational, rapid, and real-time.

"Think of that real-time piece almost as combat coders," he said, alluding again to an acquisition structure that supports operator development.

During the speech, General Bowlds also announced that he'd brought the center's vision statement in line with Air Force Materiel Command's. It is now: "Information systems -- on time, on cost."

"Anybody who has been watching things going on in Washington these days, they know how important that 'on-time, on-cost' piece is," he said.

The general's address was sponsored by the Lexington-Concord Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association and came at the conclusion of the chapter's annual New Horizons Symposium.