Breakout Session # 102 Linda Baier, Contracting Officer, U.S. Army Date April 25, 2005

2. From the Beginning: A Re-Look at Acquisition Planning Breakout Session #102 Linda Baier, Contracting Officer, U.S. Army Date April 25, 2005 Time 1:30 p.m. NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

3. An Observation on Planning… • Planning is something each of us does every day – Example of planning is building a house • Some level of planning for every acquisition, large or small • How much planning depends on many variables NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

4. Gets you what you need • when you need it • at the most economical price What Is Acquisition Planning – and Why Do We Need It? • A process of thinking through all the steps to go from idea to reality • Good AP begins as soon as the need is identified NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

5. An Observation on Acquisition Planning • “A nearly universal observation is that the entire acquisition planning process works more smoothly when coordination among the cognizant parties occurs early and often.” -- Procurement Information Circular 01-04, NASA NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

6. Why Should Contracting Be Involved in Acquisition Planning—Isn’t That The Customer’s Job? • The old role of contracting specialist: follow the rules; minimize exchanges; “throw it over the wall” • New era of contracting specialist as a business advisor needs new skills: • program management • budget • customer relationships • problem solver NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

7. But Why Do I Need To Make Time For Acquisition Planning? • Number of 1102s decreasing; workload increasing so time is limited • If we don’t have time to plan--then how can we have time to do it over later? • “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” One of life’s lessons learned and passed on to us. • Rule of thumb: every hour spent on acquisition planningsaves 2 hours later in the formation of the contract and/or contract administration! NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

8. More Reasons to Make Time For Acquisition Planning-- “Clearly, we have failed time, and again, to do our homework early-on or to make the up-front investments required for an informed understanding of the technical and cost risks inherent in a program before we launched off into full-scale development and procurement.” -- Hon. Thomas Christie, OSD, March 2, 2004 NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

9. More Reasons to Make Time For Acquisition Planning-- “Opportunities for obtaining or improving competition have often been lost because of untimely, faulty, or the total lack of advance procurement planning. Noncompetitive procurement or inadequate competition also has resulted many times from the failure to develop specifications….” -- GAO Decision, June 9, 2003 NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

10. More Reasons to Make Time For Acquisition Planning-- “Regrettably, we cannot remind ourselves enough of the need to follow the acquisition basics. Hardly a month seems to pass where Congress, the General Accounting Office (GAO), or agency Inspectors General aren’t citing the lax application of these basic functions as a major contributor to shortfalls in program performance.” -- Angela Styles, testimony before Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, February 27, 2002 NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

11. More Reasons to Make Time For Acquisition Planning-- “Our conclusion is that significant benefits may be gained from greater participation of contract…personnel during the pre-contractual stages of the acquisition process.” -- DoD Contract Administration Services Reform Process Action Team, March 1995 NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

12. More Reasons to Make Time For Acquisition Planning-- “Early meetings encourage maximum input from interested parties because all participants are working all options before any options have been foreclosed by earlier deliberations and some parties to the process have a vested interest in defending or championing one approach or option over the possible approaches/options.” -- NASA “Procurement Information Circular, Feb 2001” NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

13. More Reasons to Make Time For Acquisition Planning-- • The Contract That Could… • Cost-type that grew from $100M to $700M • No time to plan or define what was needed • Lots of change = lots of money • End product was a compromise • Moral: there is no substitute for planning! NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

14. “…there are three key elements to controlling the procurement risk and managing contracts more effectively. They are: (1) good up front planning to clearly identify the best capital asset to fulfill the performance gap; (2) stable funding; and (3) good acquisition planning that results in limited development, makes effective use of competition and incentives, and requires the use of a performance-based management system to provide program managers and others information on the achievement of, or deviation from, goals during the procurement process. These three key elements have been missing in the headline grabbing acquisition failures.” -- Staff paper prepared for President’s Commission to Study Capital Budgeting NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

15. But Why Do I Need To Make Time For Acquisition Planning? • Because if you don’t you are accepting a risk that may be very difficult to mitigate. • Conclusion for acquisition personnel – take the time upfront to do good acquisition planning and save time later on in re-soliciting, termination, protest, and/or contract administration. • PLANNING IS VITAL!! How can you be a part of it? NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

16. How Can You Be A Part of AP? • Develop your skills • Market your skills • Be a value-added member of the team • Know the potential obstacles and be prepared for them NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

17. How Can I Do This?Develop your skills • Continue training in contracting • best value, performance-based services, program management, risk management, relationship management, teaming, funding • Know your job and your role • Understand the budget process • Learn about what industry is doing • Stay current • Get certified NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

18. How Can I Do This?Market your skills • Be a business advisor • Be a contracting expert • Be a problem solver • Be a customer service provider • Be a mission-oriented team member NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

19. How Can I Do This?Be A Value-Added Member(aka Be Invaluable) • Do your homework… • Foster customer relationships/ manage expectations… • Be proactive… • Identify and use contracting-related resources… NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

20. Do your homework… • Know when information, like the budget, is approved, what actions impact programs • Review budget, look at prior year’s buys, learn mission statement, anticipate problems, identify risks, help with forecasting • Know the right people to have on the team • Be sure all decisions are supported • Research best practices, know trade-offs • Develop your toolbox so you have options NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

21. Foster customer relationships, manage expectations… • Put your customers best interest foremost to help them trust you • Be approachable • Be truthful; set honest expectations • Always be fair to customers and vendors • Clarify—remove assumptions and ambiguities • Be accountable for what you say and do NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

22. Be proactive… • The earlier you get on the team the more choices there are • The earlier the team is formed provides each member the ability to contribute and have buy-in • Establish good relationships for a win-win environment • Insist on time for AP—this is vital to success • Consider co-locating temporarily • Think “bigger picture” • Recommend training for team members NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

23. Identify and use contracting-related resources… • Acquisition Deskbook • NCMA • WIFCON • Specialized training: ESI; MCI; NPI; BRMA; etc • Colleges and universities: GWU; UMD; NOVA; etc • Nash & Cbinic; books, texts, publications NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

24. How Can I Do This?Know the potential obstacles and be prepared for them • Obstacle: PMs are in charge and may fear that you will add roadblocks that delay the process/ you’ll say “you can’t do that”/ you’ll make extra work. Obstacles and Actions to Overcome Them • Action: Never say “no”, always give options and explain pros and cons. NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

25. Obstacles and Actions to Overcome Them • Obstacle: Mistrust that you are only interested in contracting/ don’t know about the program. • Action: Do your homework. • Obstacle: Belief that acquisition planning is bureaucracy. • Action: No, planning is good common sense. NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

26. Obstacles and Actions to Overcome Them • Obstacle: Not being contacted until the solicitation is needed and you’re left with: • Only two options: go or stop • Trying to make a perfect contract • Action: Be proactive—understand the budget, work closely with your customer so you know what’s coming down the road. NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

27. Obstacles and Actions to Overcome Them • Obstacle: The contract will solve most of the problems. • Action: The best contract in the world can’t overcome lack of planning. • Obstacle: We’re in a hurry, the funding was just approved (the sky is falling) • Action: Most likely, since they put the budget together, they’ve know about it for 12-18 mos but waited until the last minute; be proactive, look at the budget, anticipate buys NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

28. Obstacles and Actions to Overcome Them • Obstacle: Predisposition to a particular vendor or solution. • Action: Ensure they justify any sole source completely; remove restrictive wording from solicitations. • Obstacle: Customer may not be adequately trained or held accountable for oversights • Action: Recommend training and/or provide guidance NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

29. Obstacles and Actions to Overcome Them • Obstacle: There aren’t enough people and there’s too much work/not time for training. • Action: Then there’s no time to do it over so better do it right the first time and put in the necessary time for AP. • Obstacle: Contracting Specialist should be permanently located in customer’s office. • Action: Not permanently but maybe temporarily if its early in the program life-cycle. NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

30. Obstacles and Actions to Overcome Them Perform steps 1 through 3; repeat as necessary! • Step 1: Develop your skills • Step 2: Market your skills • Step 3: Be a value-added team member NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

31. Conclusion/Summary • You plan all the time • Use common sense • Determine the end result and plan the best way to reach it • If it isn’t illegal, immoral, or unethical… • Advantages to you: stay current, understand your customers, get training • Facilitate the planning and the planning will facilitate a successful end result NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”

32. Conclusion/Summary PLAN EARLY, PLAN WELL – THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PLANNING NCMA World Congress 2005 “Prime Time: Contract Management at the Core of the Enterprise”