FORT LEE, Va. –
The Defense Contract Management Agency and Navy Strategic Systems Programs recently signed an updated memorandum of understanding designed to strengthen collaborative oversight and reinforce the defense industrial base, ultimately helping the Department of War achieve its priorities.
DCMA and Navy SSP leadership finalized the new MOU, formerly known as the Interface Guidelines Document, earlier this summer.
“For DCMA, the MOU is about more than process changes,” said Nicole Vickerie, DCMA Enterprise Performance Division director. “It represents a modernized relationship with one of our most critical customers.”
This relationship predates DCMA’s establishment when defense reforms consolidated contract administration functions across the DOW. Stakeholders signed the first formal agreements in 1990 to clearly define how SSP and then-Defense Contract Management Command would share responsibilities.
“This agreement served as the foundation of our partnership, identifying which agency would be responsible for each program management function,” said Srujana Samineni, a DCMA quality assurance specialist who led the rewriting efforts.
Working groups revised the guidelines roughly every three years, but the overall structure remained largely unchanged until 2021 when leadership recognized it was time to adopt a more modernized approach. DCMA’s Technical Directorate, or TD, worked with SSP leadership to authorize a working group focused on rewriting the memorandum of understanding. The group was chaired by Samineni and SSP’s Dan Wolfe, with support from teams across TD, regional commands and the DCMA’s Inspections and Evaluations Team staff.
“Updates in DCMA’s policies, tools and processes had outpaced the IGD’s framework,” said Samineni. “What was once a highly detailed, function-by-function document no longer reflected the way either agency operated.”
Sonya Ebright, DCMA’s acting director and Stephen Van Dyk, SSP’s chief engineer who recently retired, signed the agreement, which is intended to serve as a forward-looking framework. Key changes include simplified oversight, customer-specific clarity, modernized tools, and stronger communication, setting the stage for continued collaboration on critical defense programs.
“The new IGD will allow us to take a fresh look at how our agencies interact,” said Samineni. “Instead of relying on a decades-old framework, we now have a living agreement that matches today’s mission.”
The agreement also highlights DCMA’s role as a customer-focused organization. In recent years, agency leadership prioritized early acquisition engagement, customer liaison efforts and stronger ties with program offices.
“National security depends on partnerships like this,” said Juanita Christensen, TD’s executive director. “By strengthening how we work with SSP, we help guarantee that the defense industrial base delivers reliable, effective systems that the Navy can count on.”