Setting the Tempo via Town Hall

On Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, Ms. Jennifer Desautel, DCAA Director, hosted a town hall for approximately 250 DCAA attendees from 13 field audit offices within the Eastern Region, Field Detachment and Headquarters. The event opened with a celebration of dedication and service as Ms. Desautel presented length of service awards to Freda Jimmerson, Signe Maseda, and Clarencia McCutchen. She commended their commitment to federal service and their contributions to DCAA's mission and reminded everyone how crucial their work is, "Our audits are important because every dollar counts towards ensuring DoD has capable systems to defend the nation."

Reflecting on DCAA's fiscal year 2024 achievements, Ms. Desautel highlighted the significant increase in dollars examined and questioned costs. Throughout the town hall, she focused on what made DCAA successful, the people. With unwavering dedication and teamwork, Ms. Desautel highlighted, "This is an amazing team, and I am so proud to be part of this organization."

Beyond the numbers, Ms. Desautel shared updates on key initiatives and strides towards the Agency's four main strategic goals: optimize value and customer service, cultivate a premier and diverse workforce, capitalize on technological innovation, and influence the business environment. She shared her pride and excitement at the successful launch of a new system that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide more timely and accurate data while also reducing the administrative workload. She also spotlighted the role each person in the agency has to help move the Agency towards these goals.

As the event concluded and moved to questions, Ms. Desautel expressed her gratitude to the workforce, encouraging them to embrace innovation and challenge the status quo to improve workload efficiency. She ended the townhall with an important reminder, "Take care of each other and always remember, teamwork."