Software Engineering Center Director, Ms. Jennifer Swanson, poses with the 2021 Defense Acquisition Workforce Award for Workforce Development Innovation at the SEC headquarters on APG North, Dec. 14. The award recognizes excellence by acquisition organizations in developing unique and innovative solutions to ensure their workforce is well-equipped to deliver world-class warfighting capabilities. The award also highlights exceptional, outside-the-box thinking and progress in tackling workforce development challenges.


ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – APG and U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command’s (CECOM) own Software Engineering Center (SEC) was recognized for their recent achievements during a virtual awards ceremony, Dec. 15. During the ceremony, which was broadcast live on Defense.gov, Vice Adm. Ronald Boxall, Joint Staff Director of Force Structure, Resources and Assessment and Gregory Kausner, performing the duties of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, presented the SEC the 2021 Defense Acquisition Workforce Award for Workforce Development Innovation: Large Organization.

The award recognizes excellence by acquisition organizations in developing unique and innovative solutions to ensure their workforce is well-equipped to deliver world-class warfighting capabilities. The award also highlights exceptional, outside-the-box thinking and progress in tackling workforce development challenges.

Specifically, the SEC partnered with local educational institutions to create tailored curriculums designed to improve the knowledge base of the workforce. The SEC also ensured employees were informed of the most up-to-date information being shared throughout industry.

“Our most critical assets as a department are our people,” said Kausner. “And efforts to grow and develop are workforce are vital to our success. Leveraging partners in industry to innovate and modernize, especially in the software space, is one of our top priorities.”

The Army Acquisition Executive’s Excellence in Leadership Awards applauds individuals and teams whose outstanding contributions and achievements merit special recognition. It also provides an opportunity to showcase the professionalism of the Army Acquisition Workforce. The goal is to highlight not only the best people and their individual accomplishments but also to highlight how they help their organization and the acquisition community at large.

SEC Director, Ms. Jennifer Swanson, spoke to her team about what the award means to the organization and its employees.

“This is a highly prestigious and very impressive award that you all won,” she exclaimed. “For us, it’s programs like reskilling and upskilling, the recent grad program, the Innovation Council, and more that has allowed us to continue developing all of you into the world class workforce that you are.”

As the Army moves toward the future, it is important that we continue to recognize the outstanding contributions of our Defense acquisition professionals who are critical in supporting our military and defending the nation.

The Software Engineering Center (SEC) ensures the operational readiness of fielded software by developing, providing, integrating, and maintaining Army Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) logistics and business software.