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News | Aug. 29, 2022

Joint Strategic Quality Council strategizes using DCMA Strategic Plan

By Tonya Johnson DCMA Public Affairs

Defense Contract Management Agency team members met with other federal employees and defense contractors during the quarterly Joint Strategic Quality Council meeting at the Aerospace Industries Association headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, June 29.

JSQC is comprised of DCMA, contractors from all major defense acquisition programs, NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Defense Industrial Association, the Aerospace Industries Association and the Americas Aerospace Quality Group. DCMA collaborates with the council to develop strategies and concepts aligned with the agency’s strategic plan.

During the meeting, the group updated the JSQC charter, goals, and objects to align with the new DCMA Strategic Plan and lines-of-effort initiatives. According to Michael Shields, the executive director of Quality Assurance and the acting director of the Technical Directorate, “the members embraced the strategic plan and quickly started strategizing to help DCMA and JSQC achieve the lines-of-effort objectives.”

Shields and his team are responsible for Line of Effort #1, which aims to improve warfighter capabilities by influencing the timely delivery of quality and affordable products. The first objective is to modernize the surveillance business practices to be agile and data driven. The second objective is to leverage the agency’s access to data to provide acquisition insight and make informed decisions. But Shields and his team want to make sure all of the lines of effort are considered, analyzed and discussed at the meetings.

JSQC’s joint effort has produced numerous milestones over the years, to include leveraging virtual capabilities during the COVID pandemic and developing innovative solutions mitigating COVID impacts on the warfighter. The council previously advanced a virtual remote pilot project and deployed it at the enterprise level. This technology has been used to enhance contractor oversight, improve supply chain management, and allow DCMA to reduce cost and travel time to suppliers’ locations to perform functional acceptance.

The agency team is working to modernize their business systems, which will capture viable data of supplier capabilities, supplier risk ratings and surveillance plans. This information will be available to buying commands and program offices providing real-time performance indicators.

Additionally, in collaboration with the JSQC members and the Society of Automotive Engineers international panels, the DCMA group issued new agency policies and new commercial aerospace standards to improve supply chain resiliency.

“The significance of the meeting was a collaborative effort that fostered collegial support,” said Shields. “JSQC is a cooperative partnership that enables DCMA and its defense partners to significantly enhance the environment for implementing rapid deployment improvement projects such as virtual remote, facility process capability profile and other continuous improvement projects.”

Later this year, JSQC, in partnership with the Aerospace Industries Association, plans to publish an updated industry virtual remote global standard manual. The council expects to work on various projects, including tailored contract oversight activities, common sub tier flow down, supplier transparency, and advancing digital capabilities to align with the agency’s lines of effort.

“We are working together for a shared solution of contractor oversight and supply chain risk mitigation,” said Shields. “We are creating models founded in predictive and prognostic solutions sets. These solutions support Line of Effort #4, maximize oversight effectiveness while reducing cost, and positions the workforce of the future.”