JACKSONVILLE, Fla. –
The Defense Contract Management Agency held its first multi-organization performance review here last month, providing an opportunity for agency leadership to measure the success of select regional and headquarters offices.
The primary reporting organization for this event was the agency’s Eastern Regional Command based at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. While performance reviews for commands of this size are conducted annually at DCMA, this was the first time that smaller agency groups presented their performance to senior leadership. In this case, it was Corporate Operations and Aircraft Operations offices, both centered near the agency’s Fort Lee, Virginia, headquarters.
“Holding performance reviews jointly in this way has many advantages,” said Nicole Vickerie, a strategic planner with the agency’s Strategic Planning and Analysis office. “It provides for greater understanding between the agency’s operational and enabling functions, which will lead to better cooperation and support. It also helps leadership maximize the use of their travel and time.”
In another first for the agency, the Eastern Regional Command team used new information technology tools to present their performance data.
“These powerful tools help us tell our story,” said Mark L’Ecuyer, Eastern Region deputy commander. “Not only are we able to give a complete picture of regional success and challenges — everything from manpower to contract portfolios — we’re also able to drill down to reflect how these impact each contract management office.”
The performance review also focused on the DCMA Strategic Plan’s Line of Effort 1, the combat support agency’s technical support to defense contract administration, including quality assurance, engineering, on-time delivery of products, and the overall health of the defense industrial base.
During a break in the performance review, many of the participants visited the nearby Mayport Naval Station and toured the Navy’s Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Wichita (LCS 13). DCMA oversees contracts that provide much of the equipment and systems used onboard the Wichita and other Navy ships.
The Eastern Regional Command performance review was the agency’s first of the calendar year. Over the course of the year others will be held to inform senior leadership on DCMA’s other six regional-level operational commands and six other supporting directorates, as well as focus on the three other lines of effort in the agency’s Strategic Plan.