Somebody please tell me where 2011 went. We hardly knew
ye! At any rate, here we are in January 2012 busily
preparing for the upcoming (10 April 2012) DAU Acquisition
Community Symposium. The theme selected is particularly
timely as DoD faces reduced budgets in the coming years:
Understanding the Nuts and Bolts of Acquiring Services.
This theme was selected because of the large outlays made by
DoD for services - 55% of DoD contractual expenditures –
and the relatively negative reviews of how well DoD is
executing these acquisitions.
The intent of the symposium is towards training of
attendees, whereas in the past the intent was more one of
education and awareness. Some of the types of sessions
envisioned involve training on the following: Commercial
Best Practices; Seven Step Process for Acquisition of
Services; Market Research; Helpful tools such as the
Automated Requirements Road Map (AART), Services Acquisition
Mall (SAM) and Services Acquisition Workplace (SAW);
Performance Management of Acquisition of Services; and
Source Selection of Services. The objective is to have
attendees better able to write, negotiate and implement
services acquisition vehicles.
In a time of austerity it is important that every defense
taxpayer dollar draws maximum benefit. With the symposium
concentrated on services acquisition training, I think we
are meeting that mandate. Please reserve Tuesday, 10 April
for this special learning event; registration is available
on this website.
I would also like to briefly commend both Dan Somerset (DAUAA
VP for Communications), and Scott Greene (Army Service Rep on DAUAA Board) for their outstanding work examining ways in
which the Alumni Association can restructure and regroup
to provide more effective industry sponsor and member
benefits. They reported out at the last board meeting on 18
January with very positive board feedback.
Those are the key items for now, see you on 10 April.
Regards, Bill Bahnmaier, President
About Bill Bahnmaier, DAUAA President:
Bill Bahnmaier is a retired Marine and a former (retired)
instructor at the Defense Acquisition University (DAU). In
his last tour of duty as a Marine he was a major system PM the Marine Corps Assault Amphibian. Since retirement, Bahnmaier works as an official volunteer at DAU and also is
a part time consultant and instructor on defense acquisition
matters. He and his wife Peggy reside in Alexandria, VA.
They have 9 nephews and nieces and 15 great nephews and
nieces.
.bmp)
