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News | July 11, 2019

My DCMA: Raytheon L.A. contracts team

By DCMA Raytheon Los Angeles

My DCMA showcases the Defense Contract Management Agency’s experienced and diverse workforce and highlights what being a part of the national defense team means to them. Today, we highlight the DCMA Raytheon Los Angeles Contracts Team.

We are DCMA Raytheon Los Angeles, and this is “Our DCMA.”

Our team consists of contract professionals, cost and pricing analysts, and procurement technicians. We work with the program support teams on a multitude of programs to include Next Generation Jammer and Military Global Positioning System User Equipment. Because of our scope of work, the diversity of our specific fields of expertise and the opportunities our team is given for growth, we put strong emphasis on effective communication beyond our team to include other functional specialists in our area on a regular basis.

Our group has had a high changeover rate recently due to well-deserved promotions and hard-earned retirements. In turn, we were required to look into a rigorous, yet welcoming, training environment for new members. We also lauded those who continued to work through the higher demands that stemmed from working in a smaller team.

We put an emphasis on welcoming, training and encouraging personnel coming from outside the agency to ensure they feel invested in, their voices matter and their work makes an impact every day. We want them to feel the same connection to this organization as those of us who have been here longer and who truly feel that this is an extension of their family.

One of the most recent team-building efforts we organized involved taking a tour of an NBA basketball training facility for the South Bay Lakers, the L.A. Lakers’ G-League affiliate. We were able to invite friends and family to join us as the award-winning organization that guided the tour discussed their strategies that contributed to the professionals’ success.

There was definitely an opportunity to tie the challenges of that organization to those of our DCMA team and office, starting with communication. The team’s managers were able to share experience of how streamlined communication between various operations became co-located under the same roof, as opposed to being separate and working in their own spaces. This allowed them to build and strengthen working relationships with ease. The organization embraces a protocol to “over communicate,” and shared tips such as walking away from our desks to speak to coworkers; always having a united front; it’s easier to collaborate in one group and face challenges together; get to know all coworkers beyond the functional entity; don’t assume everyone understands a message the same way; and lastly, despite different tasks and jobs, we should always share our best practices.

Our team had a great experience and appreciated the opportunity to learn about communication from the South Bay Lakers. Our DCMA office nurtures the notion that we are in this together. We intend to “over communicate” more, and all of this will ensure we cover any potential gaps so the contracts we oversee continue to run smoothly, despite the number of people on our team.