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2020 DEFENSE ACQUISITION WORKFORCE AWARDS

The virtual awards ceremony honored members of the Defense Acquisition Workforce—more than 185,000 devoted military and civilian professionals from across the Department of Defense

(DoD)—for their eforts to acquire increased lethality solutions for the Warfghter at the speed of relevance while protecting the taxpayer. In 2020, the acquisition workforce adapted to signifcant changes—keeping the acquisition of approximately $420 billion in products and services on track while supporting the national response to COVID-19. Though it was difcult to limit this recognition to only a few, components nominated and Pentagon judging panels selected the best of the best individuals, teams, and organizations for their outstanding contributions. Several awards refected the special eforts by DoD civilian and military personnel to address the COVID-19 emergency.

Examples of winner contributions included industrial base expansion to support increased COVID-19 support capacity in the areas of N95 mask production, testing solutions, and injection devices. Acknowledging the workforce’s exceptional achievements in 2020, the Honorable Ellen M. Lord, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, stated, “I am incredibly proud of the department’s response to the COVID-19 national emergency, including our work helping our inter-agency colleagues in the fght against the coronavirus. With that, I want to recognize and thank the members of the Defense Acquisition Workforce for their dedication and commitment to the acquisition mission and their hard work in the fght against COVID-19.”

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Ms. Lord hosted the 2020 Defense Acquisition Workforce Virtual Awards Ceremony and recognized the winners on the Defense.gov Livestream on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Distinguished guests attending the ceremony included Gen. John E. Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staf; the Honorable Bruce D. Jette, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology; the Honorable James F. Geurts, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition; the Honorable William B. Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics; Ms. Anita F. Bales, Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency; Lt. Gen. David G. Bassett, Director of the Defense Contract Management Agency; Mr. James H. Smith, Acquisition Executive of the U.S. Special Operations Command; and Maj. Gen. Garrett S. Yee, Assistant to the Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency.

The virtual awards ceremony is available for on-demand viewing at https://www.hci.mil/what-we-do/Awards. html. Additional details on the awardees’ achievements are also available on the HCI website. The winners’ accomplishments will be on display in the Pentagon “E” ring, outside the ofce of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

This virtual awards ceremony highlights the creativity and critical thinking of talented DoD personnel, through presentation of the:

• Defense Acquisition Workforce Individual Achievement Awards

• Small Business Vanguard Awards

• Software Innovation Team Award

• Flexibility in Contracting Award

• Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Innovation Awards

• David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Awards

The Defense Acquisition Workforce Individual Achievement Awards highlight individuals who demonstrated the highest levels of excellence and professionalism in developing, acquiring and sustaining operational capability that supports the Warfighter and protects the taxpayer. During 2020, the Defense Acquisition Workforce has worked hard to support the National Defense Strategy, to increase readiness and lethality, while also stepping up to support the Nation’s fght against COVID-19. These awards recognize the best-of-the-best in each of our functional disciplines.

The Small Business Vanguard Awards recognize the superior performance by government personnel, teams, and organizations who have helped increase the health and competitiveness of the small business industrial base. Small Business Vanguard winners demonstrate outstanding commitment to creating small business procurement opportunities.

Ms. Lord, established the Software Innovation Team Award in 2019 to recognize teams that are driving speed innovation and the use of best practices in software development and software acquisition. In parallel, Ms. Lord also deployed the new Adaptive Acquisition Framework for Software Acquisition—a tailored acquisition pathway for mission-focused government-industry software teams to iteratively develop, integrate test and deploy software capabilities rapidly. Across the DoD, new software teams are standing up to deliver frequent and high quality software capabilities into the hands of Warfghters. Supporting the National Defense Strategy is imperative to increase readiness and lethality.

The Flexibility in Contracting Award recognizes DoD civilian and military professionals who have, in their approach to program management and contracting, demonstrated outstanding innovation and use of flexibilities and authorities provided by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and DoD Instruction 5000.02 (Operation of the Adaptive Acquisition Framework). The award was established by Congress in 2017 and recognizes exceptional teams that smartly use fexibilities and authorities as part of changing how the DoD does business to become more agile and obtain greater efciency and productivity.

The Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Innovation Awards recognize excellence by acquisition organizations in developing unique and innovative solutions to ensure that their workforces are well equipped to deliver world-class capabilities to the Warfighter. The awards highlight exceptional outside-the-box thinking and progress in tackling workforce development challenges.

The David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Awards, recognize DoD acquisition programs and their teams that have demonstrated exemplary acquisition excellence, innovation and reform. Recent Packard Award winners are proof of the tremendous strides we continue to make in changing how we do business to become more agile and obtain greater efficiency and productivity. Their outstanding accomplishments are critical to delivering the enhanced lethality and Warfghting readiness needed to protect our nation and ensure a decisive and sustained U.S. military advantage.

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https://www.hci.mil/what-we-do/Awards

https://Defense.gov

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNERS

Acquisition in an Expeditionary Environment Lt. Col. R. Ramsey Oliver, U.S. Army, U.S. Special Operations Command As Program Manager for Counter Proliferation at the Program Executive Ofce for Special Operations Forces Warrior Systems, Lt. Col. Oliver transformed the fielding of Special Operation-peculiar systems and drove the Counter Unmanned Systems community to adopt testing protocols prior to deployment. He led the charge to counter an emerging Improvised Explosive Device threat, resulting in no casualties. Lt. Col. Oliver facilitated the development of critical lifesaving capabilities, including more than 15,000 Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, 1,000 Controlled Improvised Explosive Devices, and 650 Counter Unmanned Systems equipment items.

Auditing Mr. Joel Lehman, Defense Contract Audit Agency As a Branch Manager, Mr. Lehman’s leadership saved more than $68 million on forward pricing and equitable adjustments audits. With his guidance, his feld audit ofce realized signifcant sustention rates on forward pricing and incurred cost audits, and met forward-pricing agreed upon dates 100 percent of the time. Mr. Lehman routinely fosters a motivated workforce, enhancing stakeholder relationships and providing the acquisition workforce with the right capabilities.

Contracting and Procurement Mr. Kevin Eversgerd, Defense Information Systems Agency Mr. Eversgerd, Chief, Transport Systems and Support Branch, successfully reduced burdensome regulatory requirements by 46 percent and reduced 362 individual contract actions to eight in regional network solutions. Mr. Eversgerd developed the Covered Defense Telecommunications Equipment contract terms and conditions in response to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. His rapid actions invoking National Security and Emergency Preparedness authorities, due to COVID-19, slashed the normal 30-day contracting processes, enabling the U.S. Navy Mercy and Comfort hospital ships to receive critical communication capabilities in less than 48 hours.

Cost Estimating Ms. Laura Lucas, U.S. Air Force Ms. Lucas, Chief, Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Cost-Price Factor, for the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Materiel Command, shepherded the organization through the sole-source environment by integrating the cost estimating and contract price negotiation best practices. Ms. Lucas is responsible for identifying more than $200 million in savings for DoD while delivering the Chief of Staf of the Air Force’s top acquisition priority. Her business practices are directly responsible for the new nuclear weapon system acquisition of more than $83 billion.


Earned Value Management Maj. Bryan Fanick, U.S. Air Force As a Program Manager at the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Ofce, Maj. Fanick delivered a unique asset to meet the Secretary of Defense’s orders. He developed a process, to respond to COVID-19, using an agile rebaselining methodology to update supplier delays in near real-time. His eforts allowed mitigation of supplier cash-fow impacts during COVID, saving $8 million in costs. Maj. Fanick led a review of a $1.8 billion contract proposal that culminated with the early award of three production lots valued at more than $1.5 billion.

Engineering Mr. James Sarruda, U.S. Army Mr. Sarruda, a Senior Engineer and Project Manager for Combat Ammunition Systems, led a team of international engineers in evaluating existing anti-armor capabilities, outside of inventory, and drove the procurement of the best available immediate solution to fll a high-risk capability gap. Mr. Sarruda’s acquisition strategy leveraged the transaction agility of Section 815 of the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act and ensured that nascent design approaches are matured in a rigorous and disciplined manner for eventual demonstration and down-selection.

Facilities Engineering Ms. Kimberly Granville, U.S. Navy As Facilities Service Contracts Product Line Director for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Far East, Ms. Granville is responsible for complex service contracts at 10 feld offices. Ms. Granville’s program involves expenditures of approximately $150 million annually, spread over 250 contracts. Under Ms. Granville’s leadership, her team developed a replacement specifcation package for the current Okinawa, Japan, Base Operations and Support Contracts in only three months instead of the standard 12 months.

Financial Management Mr. George Sfakianoudis, U.S. Army As the Chief Financial Ofcer for the Joint Program Executive Ofce for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, Mr. Sfakianoudis obligated more than $200 million received from two coronavirus congressional acts and component funding. He obligated $82 million for rapid initiative eforts such as procuring test kits, funding clinical trials, and continued production of diagnostic systems and assays. Mr. Sfakianoudis was instrumental in developing a COVID-19 acquisition support agreement between the U.S. Army and the Department of Health and Human Services.


Information Technology Mr. Thomas Sampson, U.S. Navy Mr. Sampson serves as the acting Chief Information Ofcer for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Ofce. He is the visionary behind the implementation of a frst-ever DoD “Digital War Room” and expeditiously led the F-35 program’s transition to 100 percent telework capacity during COVID-19. He also conducted a 180-day sprint that created the baseline DevSecOps common platform for all F-35 stakeholders to reduce development timelines and enable faster software deployment.

International Partnership Ms. Balwindar Rawalay-VanDeVoort, U.S. Navy Ms. VanDeVoort is the International Sustainment Center Lead at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). She oversaw a multi-agency effort to establish a centralized sustainment capability known as the International Sustainment Center (ISC). Ms. VanDeVoort transformed the ISC into a regionalized and all-encompassing sustainment support option for our international partners. Ms. VanDeVoort enabled NAVAIR’s frst Other Transaction Authority vehicle for Foreign Military Sales to acquire multi-regional operations support for emerging requirements.

Life Cycle Logistics Mr. Kyle Matyi, U.S. Navy Mr. Matyi, Depot Lead, F-35 Product Support Manager Directorate, F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Ofce, established a global support structure for the total procurement of more than 3,200 aircraft and 6,000 engines. He led the F-35’s “Depot Source of Repair” strategy for Regional, and above Core and Non-Core logistics capability. Mr. Matyi led a cross-functional team of government and industry personnel to identify and prioritize aircraft degraders while ensuring depot-level maintenance and repair capability remained on schedule.

Production, Quality, and Manufacturing Ms. Stefanie Link, U.S. Navy Ms. Link, the Deputy Construction Manager for the COLUMBIA-Class Submarine Program, co-authored the Nuclear Shipbuilding Integrated Enterprise Plan that resulted in more than $550 million of investment across the industrial base to mitigate construction risk. She identifed high-risk areas across the nuclear shipbuilding supply base through the execution of 350 critical Supplier Readiness Assessments. Ms. Link’s actions ensured on-time delivery of the initial missile tubes to the United Kingdom’s DREADNAUGHT Program.


Program Management Capt. Jonathan Rucker, U.S. Navy As Program Manager for the COLUMBIA-Class Submarine Program, Capt. Rucker led the Navy’s top acquisition priority through transition from design phase to lead ship construction. Capt. Rucker enabled lead ship construction to begin on schedule with the highest level of design maturity; implemented an innovative contracting approach that saved the program $1.5 billion; and executed $348 million for the high-priority submarine industrial base expansion.

Requirements Management Lt. Col. Sean Richardson, U.S. Air Force As the Operational Lead for Development and Sustainment Activities in the Joint System Division’s Air Force Rapid Capabilities Ofce, Lt. Col. Richardson improved requirements processes to support a $1.4 billion portfolio of Acquisition Category I and II equivalent special access programs. He created a fve-layered nested Concept of Operations approach that reduced the six-year review process to three months. Lt. Col. Richardson eliminated duplication of requirements to accelerate product to the Warfghter by two years and realign funds, saving $10 million overall.

Science and Technology Manager Mr. David Cooke, U.S. Navy Mr. Cooke is the Technology Development Coordinator for the Program Executive Ofce Integrated Warfare Systems 3.0 Surface Ship Weapons. He updated the PEO’s Technology Master Plan that guides the implementation of new technologies and advises investments in technology development. Mr. Cooke led the highly successful development and transition planning of Small Business Innovation Research technologies in the areas of Missile airframe components, Guided Projectile power and fuzing, and Missile Launcher materials and inspection capabilities.

Services Acquisition Ms. Melissa Kennedy, U.S. Air Force Ms. Kennedy, a Contracting Ofcer from the Air Force Materiel Command, awarded $80 million, across fve service contracts, for agile software development services to 22 Air Operations Centers. Ms. Kennedy managed a $53 million Kessel Run cloud portfolio. She slashed the average Air Force Materiel Command contracting timelines by 80 percent and her eforts resulted in a 75 percent reduction of “time-to-plan” for the Air Operations Center enterprise.


Small Business Mr. Christopher Harrington, U.S. Special Operations Command As Director of Small Business Programs, Mr. Harrington set record-breaking achievements in Socio-Economic Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Woman-Owned Small Business, and Historically Underutilized Business Zone categories. He established virtual engagements with acquisition leadership and small business owners to discuss issues relative to the COVID-19 crisis, economic relief, and potential opportunities. Because of Mr. Harrington’s leadership, the Command awarded the most dollars to small businesses ever in its history.

Software Capt. Andrew Biehn, U.S. Navy Capt. Biehn is the Major Program Manager for the Aegis Fleet Readiness and Aegis Integrated Combat Systems. He managed the development of Aegis Baseline 10 and delivered urgent friend-or-foe identification fixes. He led the development of the AEGIS “Virtual Twin,” incorporating innovative computing technologies, agile processes, and rapid continuous combat capability upgrades. Working with the Royal Australian Navy, Capt. Biehn led the development of an in-theater emergent combat systems repair capability to maintain feet readiness.

Test and Evaluation Mr. Eric Fallabel, U.S. Navy Mr. Fallabel, the Chief Developmental Tester and Test and Evaluation Lead for the CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopter Program, drove major strategic change to the fight test program, to fnish development of the CH-53K and transition it to Initial Operational Test and Evaluation. Mr. Fallabel’s test strategy improved speed-to-the-feet, accelerated readiness for Initial Operational Test and Evaluation by more than three years, and achieved $30 million in cost avoidance.


SMALL BUSINESS VANGUARD AWARD WINNERS

Ms. Tracey L. Pinson Small Business Professional of the Year Award Mr. Thaddeus Martin, U.S. Army Mr. Martin, Deputy Associate Director for Small Business, enabled the Army Materiel Command to outperform all other Army Commands in dollars awarded to small businesses. In FY 2019, the Army Materiel Command obligated nearly one-ffth of all U.S. small business contracting dollars and nearly half of all U.S. Army dollars spent on small businesses. Mr. Martin and his ofce participated in more than 300 outreach events and established a reoccurring virtual small business strategy forum for senior Army leadership.

Ms. Tracey L. Pinson Small Business Professional of the Year Award Ms. Angela Harris, U.S. Air Force Under Ms. Harris’ leadership as Director of the Air Force Sustainment Center’s Small Business Ofce, Robins Air Force Base obligated $712 million in prime contract awards to small businesses. Her eforts had a direct economic impact on 803 companies operating in 45 states. In FY 2019, she supported 24 acquisition strategy panels, with estimated expenditures of more than $27 billion. Ms. Harris provided counseling to 695 small business contractors at seven industry events and locally met with more than 146 small businesses.

Small Business Innovation Research Award Naval Sea Systems Command Small Business Innovation Research Team, Washington, D.C. Left to right: Mr. Bradley Goodrich, Mr. Richard Park, Mr. Dean Putnam, and Mr. Douglas Marker The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) team implemented improvements to the SBIR program and eliminated bureaucratic processes. The team improved the SBIR Program by accelerating technology development to enable development, adoption, and insertion at the pace of innovation to expand the Department’s advantage over peer competitors. The NAVSEA SBIR team demonstrated results by reducing their evaluation time from 90 to 14 days, decreased their contract award timelines from 143 to 59 days, and accelerated select Phase 2 eforts from six to three years.


Verdure Award Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Systems Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) Team Fort Meade, Maryland Left to right: Mr. Christopher Riley, Ms. Carlen Capenos, Mr. Christopher Gray, Mr. Travis Vaughan, and Mr. Jefrey Lopez The team awarded a contract vehicle for innovation that was in and of itself innovative. They designed a new, 10-year multiple-award $7.5 billion indefnite delivery indefnite quantity (IDIQ) to capture and grow the Defense Industrial Base by removing barriers for 25 small businesses. This Defense Information Systems Agency team promoted innovation in the acquisition process, while also reducing the overhead required for industry to respond to proposals.

Vanguard Award U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics MacDill Air Force Base, Florida Left to right: Mr. Christopher Harrington, Mr. George Padilla, Mr. Paul Ward, Mr. Michael Longdon, Mr. Jerry McGhee, and Mr. Richard Schnabel The team innovatively used the Small Business Administration’s Mentor-Protégé Program to maintain a $360 million, 316 Full-time Equivalent person acquisition in the Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business program. They set new benchmarks for the most dollars ever awarded to Small Businesses, Small Disadvantaged Businesses, Woman-Owned Small Businesses, and Historically Underutilized Business Zones.


SOFTWARE INNOVATION TEAM AWARD WINNER

U.S. Air Force Cloud One (HNII) and Platform One (HNCP) Team Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts Left to right: Maj. Rob Slaughter, Maj. Austen Bryan, Mr. Jefrey McCoy, Mr. Matthew Huston, and 1st Lt. Cody Paul This team, in support of the Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, and Networks Directorate of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, built a cloud infrastructure platform, called Cloud One, and software development tools, called Platform One. The team helped multiple mission-critical programs adopt these tools and deliver new operational capability within weeks. The team migrated 56 systems to this cloud environment, protecting them against 200,000 cyber threats quarterly. Additionally, “Mattermost,” a new collaboration tool used across the DoD, was stood up in 28 hours, just as COVID-19 hit.

FLEXIBILITY IN CONTRACTING AWARD WINNER

Department of the Air Force Acquisition COVID-19 Taskforce (DAF ACT) Washington, D.C. Left to right: Maj. Jason Rathje, Mr. Brian Lark, Ms. Tifani Akers, Mr. Shawn Walles, and Maj. Jessica Steinhof The task force formed in 48 hours to synchronize the Air Force Acquisition’s response to the pandemic. This included awarding a $13 million contract for a self-administered oral testing solution that eliminated the need for protective gear or health-care worker oversight as well as awarding two contracts that expanded the N95 mask production capacity by 372 million units per year. This task force awarded over $1 billion of COVID-19 direct-support contracts, led eforts to invest another $1 billion of support into the Defense Industrial Base, tracked more than $2 billion in potential program risk inputs, and provided technical evaluation support to $645 million of contracted activity.


WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS

Large Organization: U.S. Army CCDC GVSC, PEO CS&CSS, and PEO GCS Warren, Michigan Team members: Mr. Keith Schweizer, Mr. John Stepowski II, Ms. Michelle Minto, Ms. Terry Gonda, and Ms. Erin Tromley These organizations initiated innovative approaches to workforce management, developing capability groups with competency councils to collaboratively manage specifc workforce competencies, integrating hiring practices, and “daring to dream” during collaboration workshops that utilized phases of appreciative inquiry and the strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results (SOAR) strategic framework. Through their eforts to collaborate on strategic workforce management, these organizations enabled a workforce ready to tackle the Army’s complex acquisition priorities as an enterprise team.

Small Organization: Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO)—Scott Field Ofce Scott Air Force Base, Illinois Left to right: Mr. Brent Baxter, Ms. Tricia Singler, Ms. Brenda Leonard, Mr. Kenneth Billings, and Ms. Melyssa Lafontaine This organization executes nearly 50,000 contract actions and obligates more than $5 billion annually procuring information technology, telecommunications, and cyber requirements. The team reengineered its recruiting and candidate assessment processes, reducing vacancies from 30 percent to 8 percent in 12 months. The team assigned a Training Manager to lead on-boarding and initial training using its in-house developed “Contracting Foundations” course. The team transitioned to 98 percent telework and executed multiple contracts and agreements, enabling 4 million DoD employees to continue their mission remotely during COVID-19.


DAVID PACKARD EXCELLENCE IN ACQUISITION AWARD WINNERS

U.S. Air Force Cloud One (HNII) and Platform One (HNCP) Team Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts Left to right: Maj. Paul Norris, Ms. Darenda Missildine, Mr. Javier Armenta, 2nd Lt. Tyler Bransfeld, and Mr. Lee Hayes This team, in support of the Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, and Networks Directorate of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, built a cloud infrastructure platform, called Cloud One, and software development tools, called Platform One. The team helped multiple mission-critical programs adopt these tools and deliver new operational capability within weeks. The team migrated 56 systems to this cloud environment, protecting them against 200,000 cyber threats quarterly. Additionally, “Mattermost,” a new collaboration tool used across the DoD, was stood up in 28 hours, just as COVID-19 hit.

U.S. Air Force Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III Executive Agent Program Ofce Team Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio Left to right: Ms. Diana Carlin, Ms. Kerry Bennington, Ms. Melanie Craig, Ms. Amanda Smith, and Mr. George Sarmiento, Jr. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this team employed acquisition approaches to award 22 contracts worth $580 million in 10 weeks, tripling the nation’s N95 mask production, doubling its nasal pharyngeal swab production, and increasing melt-blown fltration media production by 10 percent. While managing their existing portfolio of 67 projects worth $1.4 billion and issuing more than 25 contract modifcations to ensure long-term competition requirements, the team additionally awarded 16 contracts worth $371 million to address defense sectors fnancially crippled by COVID-19 impacts.


U.S. Air Force Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Program Ofce Hill Air Force Base, Utah Left to right: Mr. Lynn Betts, Ms. Angela Micheal, Col. Jason Bartolomei, USAF, Ms. Jarie Muir, and Ms. Jacqueline Wyrwitzke This team built the Department’s most comprehensive digital engineering environment. Their “Sandbox” allowed paperless design reviews, requiring 105 fewer days, with an estimated $2.4 billion cost reductions in sustainability. The team utilized digital capabilities to render an 86,000-page proposal, producing more than $200 million in savings and completing business clearance in 20 weeks. The team spearheaded the DoD Information Technology DevSecOps efort fully implementing Kubernetes secure cloud operating system. The team worked with the B-21 stealth bomber, leveraging the ISTIO secure data-sharing tool, creating a zero-trust environment for nuclear surety.

U.S. Navy FFG(X) Program Team Washington, D.C. Left to right: Mr. James Day, Mr. Shawn Fu, Mr. Matthew Daugherty, Mr. Joon Lee, and Mr. Justin Beachy This team accelerated an acquisition schedule of the Navy’s next generation Small Surface Combatant, the Frigate, advancing ship design and procurement by four to six years, equating to more than $500 million in cost avoidance. These eforts resulted in the early award of a multibillion-dollar, open competition, Detail Design and Construction contract. This new contract was awarded more than four months ahead of schedule despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Navy leadership cited this team as a positive example of accelerated acquisition that is changing how the Navy designs and procures ships.


U.S. Special Operations Command (ISSCOM) Special Operations Forces (SOF) C-130 Modernization Team MacDill Air Force Base, Florida Lt. Col. Kevin McClure, Lt. Col. Christopher Michele, Lt. Col. Ephane Dubose, Mr. Todd Hadley, and Mr. Samuel “RJ” Johnson This team felded game-changing Special Operations Forces mobility and strike capabilities with signifcant cost savings, innovative acquisition techniques, and best value solutions. The team increased lethality of Special Operations Forces C-130s with the introduction of weapon technology, increasing support to 30 percent more missions. The team achieved multiple defensive systems upgrades, increasing survivability by more than 33 percent, and new targeting systems, cutting engagement times by 400 percent. The SOF C-130s have supported more than 6,100 combat hours, 124 named operations, 254 high-value target engagements, and close air support to countless Warfghters.

Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), Commercial Item Group (CIG) Lakewood, Colorado Left to Right: Mr. Daniel Hawley, Mr. Mike Whelan, Ms. Kori Marietta, Mr. Ryan Connell, and Mr. Patrick Crisler This team employs commercial acquisition advisory services to support team members within buying Commands. They directly infuenced 38, multimillion-dollar acquisition strategies, using creative alternative approaches to achieve fair prices with limited cost data. Within the submission period, they saved the DoD almost $1.1 billion in commercial acquisition practices. The team created a DoD-wide Commercial Item Determinations database, provided expert support on regulation changes, and several rapid COVID-19 procurements.


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