Brackish Water
There’s lots of hot air blowing about on the subject of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) inside the Beltway. I thought I put a few points out there as food for thought. First of all, a quick explanation of the BRAC process is in order (Here’s a link to the 2005 BRAC web page). BRAC is the process by which the Defense Department determines what US bases and facilities are no longer needed or facilities which should be repurposed, obtains Congressional approval to close those bases and goes about closing the bases The determination process is done secretly within each Service...
Read MoreRisky Business
After getting wrapped around the axle yesterday on the tried and true budget method of “Salami Slicing” I never got around to opining on risk, so here goes! During much of my early career, risk didn’t enter into my decision making process, at least not consciously. Of course, flying from aircraft carriers is all about risk and how to manage it, but risk management is already baked in. The “powers that be” know that if you have a certain number of practice landings, maintain technical currency in your aircraft and fly regularly, the risk of an accident is...
Read MoreWas the QDR Written by a Presbyterian?
I commented last week on my expectations concerning the QDR and I wasn’t disappointed when I got around to reading it yesterday. After reading it through a couple of times (available here), I was still pretty much confused about what it was trying to say. And it didn’t look much like a strategy document to me…mostly filled with budget numbers and reasons why we couldn’t do this or that because of it. In the end, it’s definitely a document very much “informed” by the realities of the budget. I came away with the impression that it was less about...
Read MoreSECNAV and Mowing the Grass
As I was reading the morning news, I saw a piece in The Hill about SECNAV Mabus’ comments regarding the savings associated with “scrubbing” the $ 40 Billion or so the Navy spends on service contracts. Service contracts can be just about anything from feeding Sailors in the chow hall to fixing the leaky toilets at the 4 Star’s headquarters building. SECNAV says “We know we can save significant amounts of money just by setting up things like contract courts, which require … contracting officers to come in every year and justify the contracts.” I don’t...
Read MoreSharing
Ever watch toddlers playing together? It doesn’t take long for one of them to decide that something belongs to them and they jealously guard it. Sometimes even hitting other children trying to take the toy. That’s a lot like what sometimes happens in the world of Shared Services. Agencies are sometimes not all that anxious to share their IT systems. On the flip side, other agencies are not usually begging to migrate their systems to someone else’s system. There are bright spots in the Federal Government…just check out our website to see some great examples of Shared...
Read MoreRewarding the Guilty and Blaming the Innocent
When I was a young, steely-eyed Naval Flight Officer attending the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School with no apparent fear of death, one of the classes I took was in project management. I have always remembered the day we talked about the phases of any project: Elation—“This is gonna be fun!” Concern—“This is turning out to be harder than I thought” Confusion–“I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing” Terror–” If I don’t get this done, my career is over!” Laying Low –“Someone is gonna be blamed...
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