Tuesday Issue - October 2, 2012 - Air Traffic Control Association

TUESDAY, October 2, 2012ATCA TODAY57th ATCA Annual Conference & Exposition3Public and Private Sectors Discuss Acquisition StrategiesEven with the Government’snew acquisition managementsystem, communication withvendors is still an issue. DuringMonday morning’s “Acquisitions –Issues With Execution Problems andthe Delivery of Programs & Capabilities”session, a panel of public andprivate purchasing experts offeredtheir perspectives on the acquisitionsprocess and shared their ideasfor improvements.Panelists responded to a series ofquestions posed by the audience andsession moderator Dave Rhodes,CSC. One audience response statement—“byits nature, the AMS/FARprocess unduly inhibits competingvendors from frank communicationswith the government duringthe acquisition process”—summedup the divided feelings of the audience:50.6 percent answered “true,”while 49.4 percent answered “false.”Other questions and responsesincluded:What is your number oneconcern about the governmentacquisitions process?Most audience members answered:“Low-price awards with subsequentcost and schedule overruns.”Pat McNall, FAA, answers questions from the audience during the “Acquisitions –Issues with Execution Problems and the Delivery of Programs and Capabilities.”Pat McNall, Federal AviationAdministration, said her agency’sbaseline performance has improvedsince the advent of the Air TrafficOrganization, but there are still overruns.The main causes are complianceissues, budget cuts that changescheduling, and project changes dueto poor estimating.Edgar Wright, Department ofDefense, said historically, the DOD’sfocus has been on performance ofa new technology rather than costand schedule. Not only will a federalbudget sequester change that, butevolving technology dictates it, hesaid. For instance, lack of focus onscheduling means the DOD is stillacquiring ASR-11 components becausea schedule implemented 20years ago mandates it, Wright said.Ray Bevacqua, Aviation ManagementConsulting, said AMS hasshortened acquisition time significantlybetween requests for proposalsand project awards, “but we’restill looking at four to five years fromconception to installation, which imposesa very difficult burden on theservice team.” However, AMS hasopened up communication with industrythroughout the procurementprocess, he said.How can the acquisition cycletime frame best be reduced?The majority of the audienceresponded with: “Increase industryparticipation up front to sharpenthe requirements and business casemore quickly.”Keith Lippert, Accenture, likes theDefense Logistics Agency’s fixedpricecontract with incentives. Thecontract contains metrics that needto be achieved for Accenture to getits full profit margin, which meansthe “systems integrator has skin inthe game. The project turned out tobe a success because of the collaborationthat the contract in essenceforced on the players,” he said.McNall said some people maybelieve that the FAA has a period inwhich it blacks out communication,Continued on page 11