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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Within the course of a lifetime, two weeks can be insignificant. It is 336 hours. It is 13 days and a wake up. It is approximately 0.05 percent of the new U.S. life expectancy. For better or worse, two weeks is often a blip on the screen of the human experience.
On the rare occasion however, two weeks is something more. It can alter two organizations understanding of each other and build a foundation for future success — sometimes two weeks can last forever.
As a third-year Keystone, Joseph Roth, a general engineer at Defense Contract Management Agency Huntsville, had a rotational requirement to satisfy. His supervisor, Duane Jardine, Huntsville’s systems engineering team chief, was conducting a physical configuration audit, known as a PCA, with two representatives of Naval Air Systems Command when an idea for the perfect rotational assignment developed at Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Newport News.
Robert Puakea, NAVAIR 4.8.7.3 Carrier and Field Service Unit, known as CAFSU, on-site lead; and Byron Collins, NAVAIR 4.8.2.2 Advanced Arresting Gear-Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System on-site ships integration engineer, are both seasoned professionals with intimate knowledge of naval acquisition programs.
Throughout the PCA, Jardine, Puakea and Collins maintained an underlying conversation regarding acquisition insight, end-user challenges and rotational opportunities for young professionals such as Roth.
“Mr. Collins and I have participated in many cradle–to–grave design projects and repair projects for the Department of the Navy,” said Puakea. “One of our biggest problems as primary end users was the condition of material and/or equipment we were receiving (at the shipyard) — i.e. on-fit, form or function, material selection, undocumented deviations, etc. This sparked an interest in Mr. Jardine.”
The three decided that both Roth and the agency as a whole could benefit from a firsthand understanding of existing challenges and end–user obstacles facing the shipyard, which is commonly referred to as Newport News Shipbuilding or Newport News shipyard.
After the leadership of both organizations worked out the details, Roth began an unusual two-week rotational assignment to the government oversight offices at Newport News Shipbuilding.
“Since I have been a member of the NAVAIR 4.8.7.3 and 4.8.2.2 team — seven years — there has never been a DCMA Keystone rotation,” said Puakea. “Normally all of our rotations are NAVAIR interns within the 4.8.X.X competencies.”
The NAVAIR CAFSU rotation was a particularly interesting assignment, since CAFSU works hand–in–hand with the Naval Sea Systems Command Supervisor of Shipbuilding command at Newport News. DCMA Keystones don’t typically serve rotational assignments within the Navy’s Supervisor of Shipbuilding commands, because SUPSHIP administers its own contracts and maintains a quality assurance department.
“DCMA has historically only had involvement to the extent of acceptance of government furnished equipment that gets installed shipboard, which typically occurs at the point of manufacture or receipt by the government,” said Collins.
Once Roth arrived at the shipyard, he wasted little time and quickly became a contributing member of Puakea’s team.
“He was integrated into my shipboard 4.8.7.3 and 4.8.2.2 teams,” said Puakea. “Mr. Roth sat in system design reviews, problem solving sessions and project reviews. He was also required to perform on–site inspections, and even had the opportunity to engage in installation processes. His performance was outstanding. He engaged well with my personnel, and always asked questions to improve on his knowledge base of our requirements and tasks.”
Hoping to learn and experience as much as possible during his brief naval campaign, Roth also partook in material review boards.
“Mr. Roth participated in NAVAIR–General Atomics MRBs where discrepancies and issues with the production of various equipment are boarded and discussed among a joint team of NAVAIR and General Atomics engineers, quality assurance personnel, logisticians, and other technical experts.”
Roth said the knowledge he gained during his rotation will help him provide predictive analysis and recommendations when he observes similar risk or issues during DCMA engineering surveillance activities.
“My rotation at Newport News provided firsthand experience of the many diverse technical problems that can arise during integration of a large–scale government acquisition,” said Roth. “I learned about the risks present in shipping and the corresponding costs of packaging and shipping fixtures designed to mitigate those risks.”
He also gained a better understanding of the need for serialization and proper marking of parts, and for how much time, effort and money are required to manage large supply chains.
“Perhaps most interesting, I learned the complications and contractual processes involved in addressing the possibility that even conforming material may be found to be unsuitable at the point of use due to insufficient specifications or improper design,” said Roth. “All of this new experience and insight can be used to inform my engineering surveillance efforts for programs to which I am assigned throughout my career.”
While the original goal of both Roth and the agency receiving invaluable insight into end–user challenges, obstacles and protocol was accomplished, an ancillary benefit to shipyard personnel quickly became apparent.
“NAVAIR personnel at the shipyard were impressed by Mr. Roth’s contributions and the quality of DCMA support, and as a side benefit, the NAVAIR personnel working in Mr. Collins’ and Mr. Puakea’s office now understand and have a better insight as to who we are here at DCMA, what we do and how we do it,” said India Wade, Huntsville’s engineering and analysis director.
Puakea echoed Wade’s sentiment, and further highlighted the symbiotic benefit to such rotations.
“(These rotational assignments) are beneficial because witnessing the fruits of your labor does make a difference,” said Puakea. “It also gives DCMA folks an appreciation for what we are trying to accomplish as end users. At the same time, it is an opportunity for us as end users to learn about DCMA’s capabilities and limitations as well. This helps us to communicate better with our program office and design teams, and the requirements they are providing in their procurement documents.”
Collins said that inter–organizational rotations can also help personnel understand and call upon the specific roles of peers from different agencies.
“Learning the functional expertise of those we encounter professionally can have a lasting impact on our performance and can help broaden the experience of those who have the opportunity to rotate through,” he said. “We welcome future Keystone rotations from DCMA and look forward to learning from them as well.”
Roth has long since returned from his two–week excursion to the coast, but the lessons he learned will benefit his professional career for years to come and the agency knowledge he bestowed to shipyard personnel will undoubtedly benefit future inter–agency communication. Additionally, because of the positive experience each organization enjoyed, future assignments are a real possibility.
“These rotational assignments would be very beneficial to any DCMA Keystone that will eventually be assigned to a program support team and be responsible for conducting surveillance of contractors’ design or production efforts,” said Roth. “The firsthand experience with the diverse types of problems that can arise in large–scale integration efforts, and the government’s options for addressing them, is very beneficial when applied within the context of surveillance and predictive analysis of other government acquisitions.”
| Date Taken: | 04.07.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.07.2015 09:13 |
| Story ID: | 159283 |
| Location: | HUNTSVILLE, AL, US |
| Web Views: | 242 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Shipyard rotation launches understanding, appreciation, by Thomas Perry, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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