OTTAWA, Ontario –
The Defense Contract Management Agency’s Cost and Pricing Command Earned Value Management Systems Group, or EVMSG, led a comprehensive five-day acquisition strategy and training event April 20-24.
Agency team members designed the session to strengthen the nation’s acquisition framework with Canada and support program management for the River Class Destroyer, or RCD, project – one of the largest procurement projects in Canadian defense history.
The training team – led by Patricia Gonzalez, Ishara Senarath and Lucinda Smith – hosted more than 30 representatives from various Canadian government agencies. Participating organizations included Canada’s Department of National Defence, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the National Shipbuilding Strategy, and the destroyer project’s Program Management Office. The event aimed to refine the Canadian government’s acquisition framework and program management skillsets, align international processes, strengthen defense industrial base and government partnerships, and emphasize the importance of using reliable EVMS data to drive informed program management decisions.
The curriculum ensured allied partners understood the U.S. Department of War’s acquisition strategy and Cost and Pricing EVMSG’s mission priorities. It specifically detailed how the agency assesses contractor EVMS as one of six contractor business systems. This knowledge transfer directly supports Canada’s objective of enabling the RCD project to proactively identify and assess potential performance issues using accurate cost and schedule data.
“This effort began in FY24 through an active foreign military sales case managed by U.S. Navy PMS 525,” said Senarath, who organized the event in coordination with the Canadian DND, PMS 525 and supporting contractors. “The Canadian government and RCD project office sought to leverage EVMSG’s specialized expertise for future contractor assessments. Despite the limited timeframe, we maximized the learning content to provide a robust knowledge base for our partners. I delivered training on how DCMA executes Business Practices to evaluate contractor EVMS, the execution of Initial Baseline Reviews in the U.S., material management and preliminary RCD program data analysis.”
Smith highlighted the event’s idea sharing communication and the collective goal of process improvement.
“As a DCMA representative, I recommended implementing EVMS policies and regulations like the War Department’s and DCMA’s major acquisition processes and procedures,” said Smith. “This is important to ensure contractors are accountable for providing accurate, reliable and auditable data to all stakeholders. My topics included the DOW Acquisition Framework, strategic approach, and EVMS guidelines and implementation thereof. As a Warfighter Acquisition University adjunct professor who has taught some of those topics to DCMA personnel in the past, I had to tailor the material to a new audience with new topics to transfer both theoretical and practical knowledge throughout this five-day event.”
Gonzalez, who spearheaded the team’s international engagement, emphasized the regional importance of collaboration.
“We wanted to address the critical needs of our allied partner as they undertake a major acquisition like the RCD, which ensures Canada can continue to monitor and defend its waters while contributing to international naval operations,” said Gonzalez. “The RCD program involves a broad range of missions with the (North American Aerospace Defense Command), the Five Eyes alliance, NATO and other coalition partners. This event strengthened international collaboration, allowing subject matter experts to share lessons learned and build cohesion across complex procurement environments. The DCMA EVMS mission also involves partnering with the defense industrial base to forge a strategic approach to meeting cost and schedule goals where we engage with companies in a collaborative exchange of ideas and protocols to ensure government and industry remain aligned with integrated program management and EVMS tenets. Sharing lessons learned will help our Canadian customers build relationships within the shipbuilding industry and beyond that are essential to successfully manage major defense acquisitions.”
Donna Holden, DCMA EVMS Group director, said the event provided an excellent opportunity to support a key ally and promote the advancement of EVMS in a foreign industrial base. She explained this effort directly aligns with EVMSG’s mission to provide actionable assessments of contractor effectiveness at supplier facilities, offering stakeholders reliable expectations of future performance and potential program impacts.
“Our end goal is to contribute to the Canadian acquisition process through a knowledge transfer,” she said. “We aim to help the Canadian government build an adaptable, technologically sound team of trusted program management professionals equipped to perform systems-level analytics with maximum efficiency using reliable EVMS data.”
From a customer perspective, the Canadian government and the foreign military sales case owner, PMS 525, championed the event’s success.
“Everyone was glad to attend and learn directly from the gold standard-setters,” said Hulya Agyar, a senior project control specialist for the Canadian RCD project.
Senarath attributed the complex collaboration’s success to the dedication and commitment of all involved.
“An event of this magnitude requires significant preparation,” he said. “Months of extensive coordination took place among DCMA, Canada’s Department of National Defence, U.S. Navy PMS 525 and their support contractor to make this possible. I want to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Andrew Lee, the FMS case manager for PMS 525, along with their budget managers and support contractors. Additionally, I’d like to thank the Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request coordination points of contact within DCMA Financial and Business Operations, the Cost and Pricing Mission Support Office team, and our EVMSG and Cost and Pricing leadership, whose unwavering support made this engagement a reality.”