BLOOMINGTON, Minn. –
The Defense Contract Management Agency Contract Administration Lifecycle Management, or CALM, and the Product Acceptance and Proper Payment, known as PAPP, capability boards held a collaborative summit at DCMA Great Plains Sept. 3-4.
Approximately 50 people attended, including Army Col. Ken Darnall, former Central Region commander and PAPP capability manager, and Kelli Zagata, director of Strategic Engagement and Performance in the Contracts Directorate at DCMA headquarters on Fort Lee, Virginia. She works out of DCMA Land Systems BAE York in Pennsylvania. Zagata is also the CALM capability manager and PAPP capability deputy manager. In addition, Tim Keenan, the CALM capability deputy who is the director of the Operational Analytics Integration Center, and Amy Jenison, director of the Operational Learning Center, attended the event.
Darnall opened the summit by sharing his goal to solicit feedback to “provide the no-kidding things that the agency cannot fail on, provide what we can do less of, and the things that we can risk.” He defined and codified DCMA priorities to provide command leadership with clearly defined mission-critical priorities that shape resource decisions and policy direction and shared agency strategic approaches to the fiscal year 2026 challenges, opportunities, goals and objectives.
“This week showed just how incredible this team is,” said Zagata. “By bringing two capabilities together, we proved we are stronger together, uniting our strengths and amplifying our impact. The tough conversations pushed us beyond surface-level issues, sharpened our ideas, and reminded us that real progress comes from collaboration and trust. What emerged wasn’t just incremental improvement, but a shared vision for fundamentally rethinking how we approach contract administration in today’s complex, digital world.”
The summit allowed personnel to facilitate cross talk across capabilities and commands to enhance organizational teamwork. It is the first of future collective efforts to ensure DCMA is cutting costs — not corners — and maintaining a lean (simplify, automate, risk rate, waive, deviate, transfer), mean (ensure DCMA remains effective, defend and prioritize core procedures), and clean (ensure compliance resulting in a clean audit opinion) workforce.
The agenda included 15 briefings, with seven on the first day and eight on day two. Some of the topics discussed included the capability boards’ general governance and structure and the Business Capability Framework Summit recap along with its action items. Other topics included acceptance of product, training priorities, tools and automation, corrective actions that work, functional efficiencies, goals, measures and metrics, return on investment, Resource Workload Model updates, resource prioritization, administration, and waivers and deviations. Summit participants also discussed program strategies for future capability recruiting.
Keenan said the summit was beneficial for all participants.
“The CALM-PAPP summit was a great success,” Keenan said. “Among other things, it helped ensure that key initiatives are looked at from a cross-capability function by highlighting potential positive or negative impacts resulting from the implementation of these initiatives.”
Michael Sullivan, a senior quality assurance specialist with the Quality Division in the Technical Directorate at DCMA headquarters, said the event emphasized the value DCMA brings to the Department of War.
“The Product Acceptance and Proper Payment capability showcased one of the most important processes of DCMA during the PAPP and CALM Summit, which is the acceptance of supplies and services. Without the acceptance focus, we could not meet our agency’s vision of delivering value to our warfighter," Sullivan said.
Cross collaboration between the CALM and PAPP capability boards ignited a streamline initiative led by Lorena Malcolm, a contracts specialist in the Contracts and Pricing Policy and Processes Division in the Contracts Directorate at DCMA headquarters. The initiative supports DCMA Manual 2501-01, Contract Receipt and Review, and it is an effort to add more flexibility and provide a risk-based approach to contract receipt and review across the agency.
Summit participants also discussed the challenges to corrective actions and the most common mistakes when conducting a root cause analysis. They determined a root cause analysis is performed most effectively when accomplished through a systematic process with conclusions backed by evidence.
Marcia Carter, a contract specialist with the Contracts Directorate’s Strategic Engagement & Talent Management Division at headquarters, said that without proper analysis, organizations spend time and money implementing initiatives, which do not mitigate or eliminate future occurrences of the problem.
Dora Turgeon, a transportation performance advocate in the Technical Directorate at headquarters, was glad the team discussed logistics issues with an emphasis on transportation.
“Being able to bring the logistics and transportation resource workload model as part of this summit’s discussion demonstrates the logistics’ approach to resource prioritization and how we support, not only the PAPP capability board, but all parts of the DCMA Business Capability Framework.”
Overall, the collaborative summit provided expectations for the direction of the CALM and PAPP capability boards. It was also an opportunity for agency stakeholders to discuss and assess acquisition support based on risk, leveraging automation, pathways for functional flexibilities and mission readiness. Jennison told the group that everyone on the Operational Learning Center staff will be serving on a capability board.
The summit ended with an awards and accomplishments’ ceremony.
“In two short days, we covered a whole lot of ground,” said Army Lt. Col. Jacob Olszewski, DCMA Land Systems BAE York commander. “More importantly, we established expectations for the direction our capability boards will be working as we move into fiscal year 2026 and beyond.”