'Plethora of challenges' discussed at MAC Breakfast meeting

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • ESC Public Affairs
Hanscom AFB, MA (Apr 12, 2007) -- --  The Electronic Systems Center is working hard to deliver the power of information to air, space and cyberspace, Executive Director Fran Duntz told a mixed audience of government and industry personnel this morning.

Speaking at a Military Affairs Council breakfast meeting at Max Stein's restaurant in Lexington, Mrs. Duntz said the center is taking on a "plethora of challenges" to meet this charge. One of the most fundamental challenges is creating a culture wherein delivery speed trumps large requirement packages, which result in large, but slow deliveries. The challenge, she said, is "getting the whole team to move in this direction."

"We need users who are willing to accept smaller deliveries up front, because they know more deliveries will keep coming. We need contractors that are willing to design and deliver systems this way; and we need a test community that is willing to accept incremental testing."

Mrs. Duntz also spoke about the need for a common data strategy. The data being provided by any given system is likely useful not just to the customer who ordered it, but to many others.

"What about the other (Major Commands) that might need the data?" she asked. "What about the other (Combatant Commanders) who might need it?"

The answer, she said, is to create a common architecture through which those data and other critical information are available to those with access and need. "We need to find, label, store and make available all the data, so that any legitimate user can tap into and find exactly what's needed."

She also noted that it's important for ESC to keep working to improve its processes to help achieve the best results, in concert with industry.

"You can't give us good proposals if we don't give you a good Request for Proposal," she said, pointing to work being done at ESC to refine and enhance its source selection process. Proposals need to clearly state what the government wants, and more emphasis is needed on realistic cost-estimating.

"That's an area that we are really focusing on," she said.

The Air Force Materiel Command and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition are leading an Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century (AFSO 21) initiative with an even broader goal. The Develop and Sustain Warfighting Systems process improvement effort is aimed at providing better results for systems "from cradle to grave," she said, and ESC is playing a large role in that, too.

The other featured speaker was Joseph DeFee, a senior manager with CACI International, the corporate sponsor of this morning's breakfast. Mr. DeFee talked about using business process models to enhance the types of large-scale Enterprise Resource Planning tools that ESC is now using to provide combat support system consolidation.

The Military Affairs Council sponsors these industry-government breakfasts and a number of other activities throughout the year.