The U.S. Army Contracting Command has announced the creation of a liaison position to the Office of the Deputy for Acquisition and Systems Management, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology.
Anthony R. Incorvati II, is the principal contracting advisor and point of contact to the DASM and ASA(AL&T) for weapon systems procurement and contracting issues that involve the ACC and its subordinate contracting centers. He said the DASM LNO represents ACC at high-level/short-notice meetings and hearings regarding complex procurement and contracting matters. The LNO will also provide detailed information on current and emerging ACC initiatives, operations and plans to the customer's leadership.
"The position was created to better link the program executive offices and their spend plans with our weapon systems centers," said Michael R. Hutchison, ACC deputy to the commanding general. "We're wanting to make sure that ASA(AL&T) spend plans accurately reflect what the centers are able to accomplish with regard to award dates for certain contract actions."
Hutchison said the position was created in response to some recommendations contained in a contracting study by Heidi Shyu, Army acquisition executive and the ASA(AL&T), that resulted in the creation of a single head of contracting activity within the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
"What we really hope to gain from Tony's presence at ASA(AL&T) is greatly improved visibility into, and influence over, PEO spend plans," Hutchison said. "One of the issues we've seen is that the PEOs submit spend plans which include forecasted award dates without vetting those spend plans with the (contracting) center directors. If the spend plans and their attendant contract award forecasts are not synced, the Army can end up losing funding to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the other services due to under-execution."
Incorvati said he hopes this paradigm change will create more efficient processes and help both parties.
"Historically, the relationship between the requiring activity--the customer--and the contracting office--the supporter--has at times been difficult for a number of reasons," he said. "One of the most important reasons is either a lack of communication: either between the organizations; or the lack of the ability to effectively communicate the requirements from each particular point of view. Our customers have performance requirements that they must fulfill and the contracting team has legal requirements. In my new position, I hope to bring a larger degree of communication to the table - attempting to speak the same language or alter the requirements of each particular side so that we all can get to success. While some have had luck at accomplishing this in the past, I believe this philosophy might change the way we get to accomplish our business."
The biggest challenge, Incorvati said, will be not to fall back into the modus operandi of past behaviors.
"The biggest challenges include the history of this process - how we have always done things, the laws we have to follow and the things that are beyond our control such as the budget constraints," he said. "The history can be overcome by increasing the level of communication throughout the process and by encouraging both sides to bring contracting to the table from the very beginning and not wait until we are ready to put a request for proposals out on the street."
Prior to assuming his current position, Incorvati served as the 414th Contracting Support Brigade deputy where he advised the commander in all contracting matters executed in support of military and civil operations in the United States Army Africa area of responsibility.
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