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News | March 19, 2019

DCMA updates Strategic Plan

By Tonya Johnson DCMA Public Affairs

The Defense Contract Management Agency recently updated its Strategic Plan. 

“This Strategic Plan will keep us on track and accountable, and allow for necessary change to happen in a thoughtful, organized way,” said Navy Vice Adm. David Lewis, DCMA director. “It’ll make sure we’re doing the right work, in the right way, using the right tools. We already have the right people, 12,000 subject matter experts who every day provide a measurable return on the taxpayer dollars invested in them. This plan recognizes their critical importance to our mission, with special focus on hiring, training and retaining the best people.”

DCMA’s plan is in alignment with the Department of Defense’s 2018 National Defense Strategy. The department’s goals include building a more lethal force, strengthening alliances and attracting new partners, and reforming the department for greater performance and affordability. 

“The following five goals and corresponding objectives represent DCMA's priority focus areas, and are designed to be measurable, attainable and with a single purpose — to ensure mission success,” said Lewis. 

DCMA’s goals are:

Strategic Goal 1: Enhance lethality through on-time delivery of quality products. 

Strategic Goal 2: Enhance lethality through affordability.

Strategic Goal 3: Ensure agency funds are used in alignment with department guidance and executed in a transparent, accountable manner.

Strategic Goal 4: Reform the agency business practices by working smarter not harder.

Strategic Goal 5: Enhance and strengthen the skills, readiness, and effectiveness of the Total Workforce.

Nicole Vickerie, a program analyst in the Strategic Planning and Analysis Division, said that DCMA’s Senior Leadership Team met last summer and developed the framework for the plan, which included proposals that were sent out to the workforce via a tasking memorandum for comment. The admiral wanted participation from all levels in developing the plan. 

“DCMA’s Strategic Plan will carry us through fiscal year 2022 as an overarching document, but there will also be an Annual Performance Plan that will outline the work we will do to accomplish the five goals from the Strategic Plan,” said Vickerie. 

Lewis said the new plan reflects the updated agency’s mission statement and is an evolution of previous strategic plans. 

“For decades, DCMA and our predecessors have safeguarded the defense acquisition process, making sure our service members get the equipment they need, that our customers’ interests are protected, that taxpayer dollars are used wisely, and that our defense industrial base remains healthy,” he said. “Those responsibilities will never change, but how we tackle them needs to evolve to match exponential progression in technology, from emerging cyber threats to the newest manufacturing processes.”

Within each goal are objectives, and the Strategic Planning and Analysis Division is also compiling initiatives to accomplish those objectives, thereby, successfully executing each strategic goal. For example, an objective under Goal 1 is to ensure government contractors implement appropriate cybersecurity requirements. The initiatives will be reviewed and potentially adjusted each year during the Annual Performance Plan. 

“The initiatives will be published in an Annual Performance Plan and we are hoping to have the FY19 Annual Performance Plan completed in April to get us through the remaining fiscal year,” said Vickerie. “Immediately following, we will begin working FY20 initiatives and have that plan published in August.”

Vickerie said the Strategic Plan will not change and is a multi-year guide on how to conduct agency business, but the Annual Performance Plan lets senior leaders adjust the execution of the Strategic Plan. The Annual Performance Plan allows leaders a chance to evaluate goals, objectives, initiatives, and performance. 

“Employees should think of the Annual Performance Plan as a document that contains short-term goals on how to execute the long-term goals,” said Vickerie. “The Annual Performance Plan will allow us to remain flexible and agile when executing the DCMA mission. It’s the first time we have implemented this, and I believe it will help us to successfully execute the DCMA Strategic Plan.”

Employees can review the DCMA Strategic Plan at https://www.dcma.mil/Portals/31/Documents/DCMA_Strategic_Plan-FY19-22.pdf

Click here to review the National Defense Strategy, https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.pdf.