New Horizons: Life Cycle Management Center plan and future opportunities revealed

  • Published
  • By Justin Oakes
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
NEWTON, Mass. --  With more than 3,000 Air Force programs falling under the Life Cycle Management Center umbrella, Lt. Gen. John Thompson, the center's commander, revealed his plan for the way ahead to an audience that will potentially help the Service reach its goals and deliver needed capabilities to the warfighter.

Focused on processes, people and products, the commander and myriad other speakers addressed more than 400 industry, academic and government attendees during the annual Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's New Horizons symposium here March 3.

Centered on Hanscom Air Force Base-managed programs, the symposium is sponsored by the Lexington-Concord Chapter of AFCEA and serves as the primary means of making industry aware of Hanscom weapons system acquisition opportunities.

"This is our most important industry event this year," said Steve Wert, Air Force program executive officer for Battle Management. "Make no mistake, our mission starts with partnering with industry. That's how we get things done."

At the forefront of the event was a topic that applied to many - cyber security.

"We've worked very closely with our industry partners, and this year, Dr. LaPlante, SAF/AQ, has approved LCMC to execute a 2015 cyber campaign plan," said Thompson. "We have a rock solid systems engineering process that we've used in the materiel enterprise for decades, but we need to make sure that we incorporate cyber security/system security engineering into that standard process."

In addition to integrating security into the engineering process, the campaign plan also includes improving operational cyber mission thread analysis.

The mission thread analysis itself involves: mapping out the mission, determining vulnerabilities, identifying risks and recommending mitigation and program actions.

The general used personnel recovery as a prime example.

"It's very complicated, and there are tons of cyber-oriented systems involved in that kind of assessment," Thompson said, referencing items such as communications, precision navigation, voice over internet protocol and crypto equipment.

Another aspect of the cyber campaign plan centers on workforce development.

"I've got 26,000 employees working on 3,000 programs every day, and I need to make sure they are cyber savvy," Thompson said.

According to the LCMC commander, development includes everything from building small teams of experts to ensuring people have the right tools and necessary education.

In addition to the LCMC commander discussing future plans of the center, both Hanscom program executive officers presented and identified a variety of potential business opportunities for industry attendees.

"There is money to be competed for," said Maj. Gen. Craig Olson, Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence and Networks Directorate PEO, as he began naming different opportunities within his department.

The first contract opportunity focused on internet gateways -- specifically, the Air Force Intranet Control Weapon System. AFINC gateways serve as a boundary between the AF network and the Department of Defense network.

"This year we are making a transition to buying more services and joint products, instead of buying Air Force-unique solutions," said Col. John Bedingfield, C3I Infrastructure senior materiel leader.

The contract will be based on NETCENTS-2 with an expected award date in the June timeframe.

Another opportunity within the division was in the Base Information Transport Infrastructure, or BITI program.

BITI delivers wired and wireless cyber network infrastructure at each Air Force, Reserve and Air National Guard base. It's a multiple contract opportunity that will provide information transport systems across 48 bases. The type of contract will be a lowest price technically acceptable, firm fixed price.

The Battle Management Directorate brought several upcoming contract opportunities to the table as well.

Battle Management's Joint Environmental Toolkit, a weather systems program, was one of them.

The JET program will offer a full and open source competition for the sustainment and modernization of the system. A final request for proposal is expected next month with an estimated contract value ranging between $40-60 million.

Another opportunity within the directorate can be found with the Air Force Modeling and Simulation Toolkit program, or AFMSTT.

Companies will be able to vie for a contract to develop and sustain activities relating to air operation center training, such as air warfare simulators, C2 systems interface and scenario generation systems.

The contract will be a full and open competition and estimated at $50 million, which includes options.

"AFMSTT will definitely be a small business opportunity," said Steven Wert, Battle Management PEO.

Wert also spoke in depth about his strategic priorities, including the need to factor weapon system sustainment into initial acquisition decisions. He noted that, under the LCMC construct, PEOs see the whole lifecycle.

"That's important because if we see a (potential) sustainment issue, we have to address it on the investment side," he said.