Central Region hosts performance review

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -

Army Col. Kenneth Darnall, Defense Contract Management Agency Central Region commander, and Cal Bailey, his deputy director, hosted the region's performance review at the DoubleTree by Hilton Chicago-Arlington Heights hotel Aug. 20-22. More than 150 participated in the hybrid event, including approximately 100 people in person.

The theme of this year's event was "Getting Comfortable with being Uncomfortable - Mission Execution in 2025." The region's mission execution will be impacted by the fiscal year 2025 soft controls related to budget reduction and evaluating risk management. As a result, some of the proposed initiatives include a reduction in the amount of Keystone employees brought on, as well as stricter controls on external hires starting now. In addition, there may be limited resources to backfill region headquarter staff, but the staff and region will still operate in an effective, yet efficient manner.

According to Darnall, it is no longer a matter of doing more with less, but rather doing less because of fewer resources and ensuring the region is resourcing the highest risk workload across the organization.

Darnall said there were other changes, both within the agency and the region, that the group needed to be prepared for. Some of those changes include new contract management offices such as DCMA Vertical Life and DCMA Fixed Wing, which will both stand up in fiscal year 2025, and DCMA Great Plains, which personnel will brief courses of action to the director for stand up options this fall. Employees should also prepare for additional budget restrictions related to agency travel.

"Even during all of these changes as we look at mission execution, we must continue to take care of our people," said Darnall.

Senior leaders from DCMA headquarters attended the event, including Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Masiello, director, Sonya Ebright, deputy director, and Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Babatunji Akande, senior enlisted advisor to the director. Other senior leaders attended from a variety of headquarters' directorates.

The three-day event allowed senior leaders from headquarters, region leaders and staff, and CMO directors and their deputies to discuss a variety of topics that will help agency employees to work smarter to enhance the acquisition oversight and technical expertise they provide to customers.

"We'll do our best at headquarters to help you," said Masiello. "You have access to us at headquarters. We need to hear what is going on, work together to figure out how to get it done, and make it happen. DCMA has a network of humans and data that should be optimized. I thank you for your perseverance. I learn from each of you every day."

Masiello praised the Central Region team for their "can-do attitude" and encouraged them to maintain a positive attitude as they remember the warfighters that they support.

"We have 10,000 humans across the agency doing their jobs as best as possible," he said. "I have a personal philosophy, which is to choose joy. We're privileged to live in this country and do the jobs that we do. Everything that we do at this agency matters. We can continue to improve. The ideas won't just come from the front office, but from all of you. We can deliver a better product when everyone is involved in the process."

While each CMO and region are different, Masiello led a discussion on how leaders must continue to find ways to adequately train the workforce by encouraging employees to apply for courses at various universities or apply for training with industry opportunities. Supervisors should explore career plans with their employees, including the Mission Support Operations staff. Leaders should consider rotational assignments for their employees within the agency and even with other Department of Defense organizations such as the Defense Contract Audit Agency. He noted that training and collaboration with others within the agency and externally were critical for mission success.

During the first day of the summit, CMO commanders or their deputies briefed the group. Army Col. Ryan Ocampo, DCMA South commander, gave an overview of the new CMO, which includes the former DCMA Huntsville and DCMA Dallas, Aug. 20, and how the reorganization is going. There are two streamlined commands under DCMA South - DCMA Red River and DCMA Tennessee River Valley.

Navy Capt. Daniel Martin, the new commander at DCMA Boeing St. Louis, told the group that he was focused on product delivery for the warfighter.

"We're here to support the warfighter," Martin said. "To be as successful as possible, we need to work as partners with our program office customers as well as our contractors. To enable that, I believe that we must focus on two things with the contractor, which is maintaining trust and transparency so that both parties can work together in support of our common mission. I also want us at the CMO to recognize program progress and achievements as well as the areas that need improvement."

On day two, headquarters personnel briefed the group and discussed pertinent information related to the Contracts Directorate, Technical Directorate, and the Resource Workload Model. There was a supply chain oversight panel discussion and a briefing on the Foreign Military Sales and Reimbursable Update.

Ebright reminded the group to make sure their employees documented the correct hours of work they performed related to FMS as that determined how much the agency would be reimbursed for manpower. She also encouraged the group to understand and review the RWM, which helps with workload distribution across the agency.

The third day of the summit provided an opportunity for region staff to brief the group. Employees briefed the group on numerous topics, including Acq Demo, public affairs, and the Reserve program. Melissa Pappamichiel, a member of DCMA General Counsel, gave a presentation on the Hatch Act, which regulates what military and civilian personnel can and cannot do during the presidential election cycle.

Army Maj. Jared Ryan, who is the deputy of the Engineering, Manufacturing and Software Group at DCMA Land Systems, spoke about digital engineering and how it can impact the way the agency does business.

"Digital Engineering is a topic that the Department of Defense has been discussing for almost a decade," said Ryan. "It's exciting to now be at the point where DCMA is managing contracts that are implementing these ideas that have the potential to get the warfighter equipment at a faster pace and reduced cost to the taxpayer."

Ryan emphasized how CMO personnel plan to integrate digital engineering, including using adaptive software surveillance plans, encouraging Defense Acquisition University training, maintaining a Digital Manufacturing Integrated Product Team, and working with headquarters regarding metrics and other types of training.

"This was a productive and successful performance review," said Darnall. "I am glad we had a robust participation of discussion with lots of best practices and ideas shared. Our region is focused on doing what is necessary to support our warfighters. I am proud of the DCMA Central Region team."

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.