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MIAMI - “It is incumbent upon the [Defense Logistics Agency] to understand the effects the services are looking for and to deliver them at the least possible cost,” DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek said March 27 at the National Defense Industrial Association’s 28th Annual National Logistics Conference and Exhibition in Miami.
Harnitchek and six senior other military logistics leaders from the services, U.S. Transportation Command and the Joint Staff participated in the Joint Fireside Chat, a panel discussion about the importance of balancing resources and readiness in an era of increasing budgetary constraints.
Discussions focused on the need for the better defined requirements and the use of performance-based logistics agreements to capitalize on relationships with industry partners.
“Readiness means different things to different people, but it’s really the unit’s capability to respond to whatever the combatant commanders’ needs are,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Judith Fedder, that service’s deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support. “As we measure readiness, we really need to understand what the requirements are and how we can better articulate them to both internal and external audiences.”
Balancing acceptable risks and tradeoffs to meet affordability requirements is increasingly important in today’s budgetary environment, said Army Lt. Gen. Kathy Gainey, deputy commander of USTRANSCOM.
“This gets back to really defining the requirements and having the customer—whether it’s the services or the combatant commanders—rank order those requirements,” she said. “If the warfighter needs a specific capability with every bell and whistle, we have to work with the services to make sure they can pay for it.”
Acceptable tradeoffs could mean taking funds from other programs, buying less or decreasing the scope of a product or service in some cases, Gainey explained.
“As [Defense] Working Capital Fund activities, DLA and TRANSCOM write the checks, but the services have to cash them, so we have to be very mindful of how much things cost,” Harnitchek said. “We’re not going to be cheap, but we’re going to deliver the desired effects for not a dollar more than they cost.”
DLA is currently working on a plan to decrease the cost of operations and material by 10 percent over the next five years, which will result in about $10 billion in savings that will be passed on the services, Harnitchek said.
The panel also discussed the role performance-based logistics plays in leveraging partnerships with industry.
“If you choose the right system, the right commodity, and structure and execute the contract correctly, there is nothing like a PBL. At DLA, our industrial prime vendor agreements are the equivalent of PBLs, and private industry now handles—from source to consumption—big commodities like fuel. From my perspective, that’s the wave of the future,” Harnitchek said.
Communication between the agency and industry partners at every level, beginning with the most senior levels, about expectations and outcomes is imperative in order for a PBL to be successful, he said.
“We have contractors delivering fuel in Afghanistan, not because we have to, but because it makes sense to do it that way,” said Army Lt. Gen. Raymond Mason, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for logistics, and a former DLA Troop Support commander. “If we didn’t do it that way, we’d have to bring in more force structure. That’s the trade-off.”
The incredible capability private industry brings is the ability to scale operations up and down more rapidly than the military, Mason said.
“We’ve learned a lot from private industry over time, and [in areas] where private industry performs a responsibility more efficiently and effectively than the government, we should tap into [their capabilities],” said Navy Rear Adm. Kathleen Dussault, director of the Logistics Programs and Corporate Operations Division within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
When establishing performance-based agreements with industry partners, it is also important to understand exactly what the costs are and include imperatives to continually bring them down over time, the Air Force’s Fedder said.
As the chief of Naval Operations recently said, ‘We need to have a culture of judiciousness’ [in the Department of Defense],” Harnitchek said. “I’m looking forward to working with all the captains of industry—big and small; we’ll get through this together and ensure we have a force that’s just as ready five or 10 years from now as they are today.”
Other panelists included Air Force Lt. Gen. Brooks Bash, The Joint Staff’s director for logistics, and Marine Maj. Gen. Charles Hudson, commander of Marine Corps Logistics Command. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Chris Christianson, director of the Center for Joint and Strategic Logistics at National Defense University, was the panel moderator.
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2012 11:05 |
| Story ID: | 86111 |
| Location: | MIAMI, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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