BETHPAGE, N.Y. - Summer 2011 brought some unexpected weather to Defense Contract Management Agency Northrop Grumman Bethpage, including an earthquake and Hurricane Irene. It also brought a much more welcomed temporary addition in the form of a Naval Sea Systems Command intern.
Kenneth Ford, an intern in NAVSEA’s Naval Acquisition Development Program, spent 90 days at the Long Island contract management office. The assignment allowed Ford to expand his knowledge of budgeting and pricing, and to learn more about government contracting within a diverse and geographically dispersed agency.
“Ken did all of that, and much more,” said Navy Cmdr. Matthew Mullins, DCMA NG-Bethpage commander. “He provided invaluable support to the highly visible MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Air System program, an Acquisition Category I program, at perhaps its busiest period since being signed into contract in April 2008.”
“My internship program allows for two external rotations,” said Ford. “Contract management was something I wanted to learn more about, so after some research DCMA seemed like a terrific opportunity. I’d worked with the Virginia class submarine program earlier in my internship, and was interested in working with another major program.”
After learning DCMA NG-Bethpage works with the Navy on the BAMS UAS program, Ford was convinced the contract management office was the ideal location for his time with the agency. “Having it be with an unmanned system, and on Long Island where I have family, was also important,” said Ford.
DCMA’s BAMS UAS Program Support Team was charged with drafting, revising and finalizing the program support plan, along with its supporting functional plans, to meet all customer requirements within a very tight timeframe.
“Ken’s expertise and organizational skills were crucial to the forward-progress of the program, and he performed his duties flawlessly during his assignment,” said Mullins.
Ford assisted both the team and Program Integrator Bill Lewis by collecting, fine-tuning and consolidating all the supporting functional event-based surveillance tables attached to the program.
“Ken was able to look at things and put them together in a very intuitive way,” said Lewis. “He assimilated a lot of information that was important to the program.”
After collecting initial input from numerous sources, Ford followed up with supporting CMOs to ensure the best possible end-products emerged. Complex letters of delegation were created to ensure absolute clarity and relevance of program responsibilities and requirements.
Lewis said Ford was “very good at getting a handle on multifaceted database issues and putting information into a form that is useable by the team.” Lewis noted that the size of the BAMS UAS program, with more than 12 major subcontractors, makes organizing information on orders and deliveries a complex task.
“Bill Lewis and everyone at Bethpage were wonderful to work with,” said Ford, adding that interacting directly with both vendors and the local divisional administrative contracting officer were unique learning opportunities. “This was my first time working with industry, which for an intern is something I could only get through my time with DCMA.”
According to Mullins, agency leadership has decided to evolve the BAMS UAS program into the gold standard for contract surveillance. In the final weeks of his assignment, Ford was asked to bring the Integrated Program Surveillance Database together in one easy-to-manage format, to be presented for agency approval and adoption by all CMOs.
“Working closely with Michael Smorto, DCMA Garden City engineering and manufacturing group leader, Ken studied and truly mastered the intricacies of a new surveillance database,” said Mullins. “Ken provided training to all members of the DCMA NG-Bethpage team on the inner workings of the database, along with all of its features and real-time surveillance implications.”
Mullins continued, “The training was executed professionally and gave us a head-start on the rest of the agency on the operation of this database, which is to be adapted in the near future as a DCMA E-Tool application and the principal means of consolidating program surveillance within the agency.”
Ford entered the NAVSEA internship program following his graduation from Maryland’s Loyola University. He is now well into his second external rotation, and will spend the winter at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii working with the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
“Ken’s accomplishments during his short rotation at DCMA NG-Bethpage will be felt for a long time to come, both on the BAMS program and on many other programs supported throughout this CMO and the agency,” said Mullins.
“In an era where all CMOs are being asked to do more with less, Ken supplemented DCMA NG-Bethpage’s workforce as an aggressive, forward-thinking, conscientious worker,” continued Mullins. “He is destined for even greater accomplishments back at his home command and in what is sure to be a very promising career.”
“I want to thank everyone I worked with for their experience and help. In particular I’d like to thank Cmdr. Mullin, Bill Lewis and Harold Bachman at Bethpage, and Betty Monroe and Neil Mintz at Garden City,” said Ford. “DCMA is a very unique world. It’s a great combination of learning how industry works and focusing on what the customer’s needs are.”