F104 Question
Question: In Reading F104RA, you learned about the established processes and systems that DOD and the Army use to develop material capabilities. In Reading F104RB, you learned about some of the challenges and issues associated with the ongoing attempts to reform the Defense Acquisition System. Based on this, do you believe that further adjustments to the process or the system are required, or, as the author of F104RB presents, should the primary focus be on establishing better authorities and accountability over the existing system?
1. SCOPE
As the fourth lesson of the F100 module, the issues, agencies and processes of previous F100 CGSOC instruction (Quadrennial Defense Review [QDR], Department of Defense [DOD], joint staff, Headquarters Department of the Army [HQDA], Army Campaign Plan [ACP], TRADOC, modularity, Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution [PPBE], capability/force/materiel development, modified tables of organization and equipment [MTOE], tables of distribution and allowance [TDA], etc.) are a building-block for continued discussions in this lesson.
This lesson offers an overview of the final decision of filling capability gaps with a “M”ateriel Solution, the Defense Acquisition System(DAS), and some of the affects (positive and negative) concerning acquisition reforms put in place over the past 25-years. In many cases, the discussion of materiel acquisition remains focused around tradeoffs between “cost, schedule, and performance.” (NOTE: The Army rapid acquisition and fielding initiatives [RFI], Rapid Equipping Force [REF], Capability Development for Rapid Transition [CDRT], and developing and using an Operational Need Statement [ONS]) are included for discussion in F105.)
Note to TASS: This lesson is one of the five lessons that will be conducted in the Distributive Learning (DL) mode with a follow-on 30-minute wrap-around session (class discussion) with your instructor. You must go to Blackboard and complete the DL lesson and test. You have three attempts for the test. Your highest grade will be posted in the grade book. You MUST complete the DL lesson (which includes readings), and DL test BEFORE the 30-minute wrap-around session.
2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This lesson supports CGSOC Common Core Course TLO-CC-10, “Analyze DOD and Army change management processes,” as listed on the block advance sheet.
ELO-CC-10.4
Action: Comprehend the processes used to develop materiel capabilities.
Condition: Acting as a staff officer, individually in a classroom small staff group setting and given a homework assignment, reference material, current news articles, seminar discussion, and class notes.
Standard: Comprehension includes-
1. Understanding the linkages between JCIDS and the DAS;
2. Understanding the concepts and principles key to the acquisition program baseline (APB) model;
3. Understanding the key events within the Defense Acquisition System (DAS); and,
4. Identifying and describing some of the many issues with the DAS process, and the reform efforts that have been either proposed and/or implemented to further improve this complex process.
Learning Domain: Cognitive; Level of Learning: Comprehension
JPME I Learning Areas Supported:
1a. Comprehend the capabilities and limitations of U.S. military forces to conduct the full range of military operations in pursuit of national interests.
1b. Comprehend the framework within which joint forces are created, employed, and sustained in support of JFCs and their component commanders.
1e.Comprehend how the U.S. military is organized to plan, execute, sustain, and train for joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational operations.
1f: Comprehend strategic guidance contained in documents such as the national security strategy, the Quadrennial Defense Review, national military strategy, Guidance for Deployment of the Force, and Guidance for Employment of the Force.
2a. Comprehend current joint doctrine.
2d. Comprehend the interrelationship between Service doctrine and joint doctrine.
4a. Comprehend the relationship among national objectives and means available through the framework provided by the national level systems.
4e.Comprehend the effect of time, coordination, policy changes, and political development on the planning process.
6b. Comprehend critical thinking and decision-making skills needed to implement change and sustain innovation.
3. ISSUE MATERIAL
a. Advance Issue:F100Advance Sheets and Readings Book (located on Blackboard in the F100 folder).
Student Slides with instructor notes. These slides are a copy of the slides the instructor will use in class. Available on Blackboard under the F104 lesson materials.
b. During Class: None.
4. HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
a. Study Requirements
First Requirement
Review: F102 Blackboard lesson materials.
Second Requirement
Read: All readings are located in the F100 reading book and on Blackboard.
Reading F104RA.Materiel Development and Acquisition System. Pages F104RA-1 – F104RA-15 (15 pages). Located on Blackboard in the F104 lesson area.
Reading F104RB.Congressional Research Service.CRS Report #7-5700, Twenty-Five Years of Acquisition Reform: Where Do We Go From Here?Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 29 October 2013. “The Quest for Acquisition Reform,” pages 3-15
(13 pages) and “A Framework for Improving Acquisitions,” pages 16-22 (7 pages). This document can be located at the following link:
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS00/20131029/101414/HHRG-113-AS00-Wstate-SchwartzM-20131029.pdf
It is important to understand how the military identifies and provides materiel capability to combatant commanders. Army Acquisition Corps materiel developers interact with the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) to make this happen.
Be prepared to discuss the following:
• How the DOD acquisition framework “fits in and supports” the JCIDS process, the Army Force Management Model, and the DOTMLPF construct;
• The balancing or trade-off between “cost, performance, and schedule”;
• The responsibilities of the AROC and its role in the JCIDS process;
• The materiel developers hierarchy/role and interaction with other agencies;
• The differences between non-materiel and materiel solutions;
• The purpose and key activities/events within each of the five phases of the DAS;
• The primary purposeof the Acquisition Categories (ACATS), the types of programs, and managers associated with each;
• Identify and describe some of the long-term issues with DOD’sacquisition system that have driven the need for reform efforts; and
• Frameworks proposed to improve future acquisitions.
Third Requirement
As you read, keep the following question in mind; be prepared to answer and discuss it in class. Additionally, you are required to turn in a typed (not to exceed one double-spaced page of text) answer to the question below at the beginning of class. (See the F100 block advance sheet and Appendix D to the F100 block advance sheet or specific guidance on this requirement.):
Question: In Reading F104RA, you learned about the established processes and systems that DOD and the Army use to develop material capabilities. In Reading F104RB, you learned about some of the challenges and issues associated with the ongoing attempts to reform the Defense Acquisition System. Based on this, do you believe that further adjustments to the process or the system are required, or, as the author of F104RB presents, should the primary focus be on establishing better authorities and accountability over the existing system?
c. Bring to Class: Your typed response to the discussion question above and the assigned readings for F104.
5. ASSESSMENT PLAN
This lesson is assessed as part of the F100 block contribution to learning grade for F101-F106, which accounts for 15 percent of your final F100 grade. Because this is a DL lesson, your contribution to learning is based on completing the DL lesson and demonstrating lesson knowledge in the 30-minute wrap-around session.Use F100 Appendix C as the rubric for assessing contribution to learning for the entire F100 block.
After completing the DL lesson, you must complete the blackboard test associated with this lesson. This blackboard test accounts for 3% of your F100 grade. You have three attempts for the DL test. Your highest score will be posted in the gradebook. The test is available on Blackboard under the left side link labeled Tests/Quizzes. Click on the Tests/Quizzes link and then click on the F100 Test/Quizzes folder link for the F104B Blackboard test.
In addition, you will be assessed on your written response to the reading discussion question, which, combined with the same requirement for all of the block lessons (F101 – F106), will account for 48 percent of your grade. Use F100 Appendix D, a modified CGS Form 1009w, assess your discussion question response.
Additionally, concepts and processes that you learn here will represent a portion of the material covered in the F108 final exam, which accounts for 15 percent of your final F100 grade.
Standards: General grading standards will be in accordance with the standards defined in CGSC Bulletin #903, dated 10 December 2013. Please see the block advance sheet for the grading scale and for additional detailed information.
• Late Assignments. Instructors are not authorized to allow students to turn in assignments, with forgiveness, past the due date. CGSC Bulletin 903 specifies procedures for extreme considerations that a student, instructor, team leader, and responsible department director will be required to do to allow late work excusals. In general, late assignments will be decremented 10 percent of the grade (one letter grade) for each scheduled duty day late (TASS RC Environment)until the assignment reaches zero points. Example: The assignment is worth 100 points, and then each duty day late the student will lose 10 points per day until the grade is zero if it is not turned in. Once the paper is turned in, it is graded and then the grade is recorded first (without deducting points), then the ‘late points’ are deducted for a final grade. Remediation is not required for late papers if the grade earned before points deduction meets the CGSC Bulletin 903 guidelines.
• Grading and Feedback.Instructors will return graded assignments to students with feedback within a timely period during Phase II.