VIENNA, Va. –
The Defense Contract Management Agency’s Technical Directorate based at Fort Lee, Virginia, held a technical functional training seminar here in late August.
More than 350 employees from across the agency, representing all regions, attended.
“The emphasis of this conference was to allow DCMA employees out in the field to be heard,” said Richard Fanney, the executive director of the Technical Directorate. “We wanted to engage and listen to their ideas and questions.”
Attendees included senior leadership, supervisors, journeymen and subject matter experts. On the first day of the conference, Navy Vice Adm. David Lewis, DCMA director, gave opening remarks on the importance of the directorate’s mission and how it impacts warfighters around the world.
During the three-day seminar, attendees were given the opportunity to network and participate in breakout sessions on a variety of topics and participate in question and answer sessions. Participants engaged in discussions on the Online Aerospace Supplier Information System, also known as OASIS, emerging technologies, cybersecurity and other topics of interest.
The training seminar also included a business communication brief and the opportunity for groups to breakout and have discussions on their local and regional issues.
“The seminar provided a larger and broader communication opportunity for the Technical Directorate and field operations’ personnel to network and form strong alliances for future projects and mission,” said Michael Shields, executive director of Quality Assurance.
The end of the conference included a discussion by Fanney and Shields regarding the future goals of the directorate. Their message reminded employees to focus on warfighter requirements and for the team to improve on how they can leverage existing government and contractor data while capitalizing on emerging technologies.
“This will be accomplished by developing clear and concise manuals, training, and implementing technologies to influence contractor performance outcomes,” said Shields.
“Additionally, via the multi-functional emphasis afforded by the agency’s Business Capability Framework — providing insights on the cost, schedule and performance of contractual outcomes — will be key to communicating with the buying commands, program managers and the program executive offices. We must remain smart regarding sharing information, providing guidance and executing processes,” added Shields.
Fanney said that the directorate leadership looked forward to receiving feedback from the attendees for planning future training events.
“We want to optimize the delivery of key and meaningful content to our global workforce,” said Fanney. “The success of the conference was identified via the genuine desire of all those who attended to focus on building and maintaining clear and transparent lines of communication.”