“Contracting: Surfing the Waves of Change”

1. “Contracting: Surfing the Waves of Change” NCMA World Congress 50th Anniversary Celebration April 5-8, 2009

2. Summary of NCMA Sessions attended by Pamela Hill NCMA Great Lakes Program Chair News from NCMA 2009 is 50th Anniversary Celebration Launched new Logo Added Business Development as new Track

3. Carly Fiorina-Keynote Speaker-April 5, 2009 • President of CarlyFiorina Enterprises and former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company • Technology-Global in the last 20 years: any info/any time/any device • www.wikileaks.org: Think “wikipedia,” except this leaks confidential information • Most important person managing a relationship over time is the Contract Manager • Should always remember it is the ‘spirit of the contract, not just the letter of the contract’ • It is a personal decision to use common sense, good judgement, good ethics and maintain perspective • Always remember what matters-Carly announced she was just diagnosed with breast cancer and would begin treatment upon leaving the conference

4. General Lester L. Lyles, USAF (Ret.) Board Director, General Dynamics Corporation • To all Contract Administrators: • There is a lack of proponency for contracting profession • Be professional, get certifications and training • Know your job, know the job of those around you • Consider expanding to role of Program Manager • Reach out and educate the “uninformed” about importance of contract management • Industry should reach out for “gems”, wherever they may be • Estimates indicate that NCMA membership is <20% of contracting/acquisition communities • Remember these 3 words - communicate, communicate, communicate • “We’re out of money, now we must think”..WWII anon quote

5. Charlie E. Williams Director, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) • DCMA oversees $ 2.2 trillion face value • 18,000 contracts in 900 locations • Current staffing level of 9,500 • 1990 staffing level was 25,000 • Currently have 250 staff in IRAQ, plan for 150 more by end of 2009 • Acquisition needs have been recognized by Secretary of Defense • EVM critical for DOD, not doing “well enough” with it now

6. Jan Frye Deputy Asst. Secretary for Acquisition and Logistics, Veteran’s Admin. • VA provides services to 24 million veterans • Has faced marginalization of procurement workforce • Inspector General stays busy due to poor quality of work • Let’s do our jobs right and give necessary resources to our contracting officers • Need 4000 contracting professionals to fill government positions • Believes that Obama Administration “gets it” with procurement Estimate is U.S. can save approximately $40 Billion with better contracting/acquisition services • VA has 3-step intern program: • Acquisition Intern School • Professional Contracting School-over 200 taking courses now • Program Management School

7. Frank Anderson President, Defense Acquisition University (DAU) • Shay Assad regrets missing the conference - he is playing a big role in shaping the workforce initiatives • Hiring, Training, Retention and Incentives for procurement workforce are key DAU initiatives • Estimated that 73% of the procurement workforce is Baby Boomers • Has a 15% growth strategy between 2010-2015 • “Once conventional wisdom prevails, fact and data cease to matter.”

8. Business Development Sessions • Using the BD- CMM - a Framework for Business Development Excellence • Contracts has a critical role in BD, in past was just negotiations • Immature organizations have higher win rate than capture ratio • BD - CMMI levels: • Level 1 - Initial: less disciplined approach to pursuits • Level 2 - Repeatable: process discipline in place to repeat earlier successes • Level 3 - Defined: process documented, standardized, and integrated into organization • Level 4 - Managed: end-to-end management of pursuit and focus on relationship management • Level 5 - Optimizing: culture of continuous improvement and business transformation • Where does OCI fit in BD? OCI should be early milestone in pursuit checklist

9. BD Sessions Cont’d • Understanding Your Organization’s Strategic Planning Process and Tools • What is Strategic Planning?* • Continuous process of making risk-taking decisions systematically • Organizing systematically the effort needed to carry out these decisions, and • Measuring the results of these decisions against the expectations through organized, systematic feedback • What Strategic Planning is NOT:* • Techniques and Quantification • Forecasting - masterminding the future • Dealing with future decisions • An attempt to eliminate risk • Questions to ask our organizations: • Is our Strategic Planning Process effective? • Does Management actually commit resources to activities which will bring results in the future? * Adapted from Peter F. DruckerManagement Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, 1985

10. BD Sessions Cont’d • Applying Competitive Intelligence (CI) to Understand Customers and Competitors • SCIP-Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals: www.scip.org 3000 members • 70% Industry, 20% Consulting, 5% Vendor, 5% Academic • Organizations that systematically collect, analyze, process and disseminate intelligence can tailor product and services to customer needs, and improve chances of winning • Can shape customer and contract requirements • Consider the “what ifs” • Noise, Data, Information, Intelligence - Know the difference! • Actionable Intelligence is end result of successful CI collection

11. BD Sessions Cont’d • Understanding Proposal Development and the Contract Manager’s Role (presented by Shipley Associates) • Market Segmentation – identify new markets, core competencies - MarketingDecision • Long-Term Positioning - prioritize business opportunities, develop marketing campaign - Interest Decision • Opportunity Assessment - gather prelim customer intelligence, prepare pursuit recommendations - Pursuit Decision • Capture Planning - establish capture team, develop capture strategy, collaborate with customer on needs analysis, draft SOO,SOW, TAAs, NDAs, preliminary bid/no bid decisions - Blue Team 1 Review, Black Hat Review • Proposal Planning - receive customer RFQ/RFP, Technical/cost approaches determined, In house SOWs, investigate need for subs, final bid/no bid recommendation - Blue Team 2 Review, Proposal Kick-Off, Pink Team 1 Review • Proposal Development - finalize teams, subs, develop compliance checklists, finalize technical, price volumes, legal, submit proposal, update Kick Off meeting - Pink Team 2 Review, Red Team Review • Post-Submittal Activities - organize, maintain proposal documentation, respond to customer questions, negotiate contract, customer debriefing - celebrate!

12. THANK YOU NCMA Great Lakes I appreciate your support of my attendance at the 2009 World Congress. This was my first NCMA World Congress… not to be the last I hope! Let’s have a great 2009/2010 for our Chapter! Pam