Mr. Ross Guckert’s TEM X opening remarks

Mr. Ross Guckert’s opening remarks during the “PEO optimization” panel at the Technical Exchange Meeting (TEM) X on May 24, 2023, in Philadelphia are transcribed below.

REORGANIZATION

I want to talk about what is changing at PEO EIS, what is going to move to Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T) and Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEW&S) and — most importantly— the exciting path ahead for PEO EIS.

Col. Mark Taylor’s Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO) O6 shop and three product management offices — Technology Applications Office (TAO), Cyber Analytics and Detection (CAD) and Cyber Platforms and Systems (CPS) — will transition to PEO IEW&S under Mr. Kitts. So, you will have both offensive and defensive cyber under one umbrella and one PEO.

Col. Jay Shell’s Integrated Enterprise Network (IEN) O6 shop and its four product management offices —  Base Emergency Communications System (BECS), Global Enterprise Network Modernization-Americas (GENM-A), Global Enterprise Network Modernization-OCONUS (GENM-O) and Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems (WESS) — will transition to PEO C3T under my esteemed colleague Maj. Gen. Potts. As Mr. Bang emphasized, you will have all network elements — tactical and enterprise — under one umbrella under PEO C3T.

The exceptions include Allied Information Technology (AIT). They do foreign military sales of sorts for networking capabilities for our mission partners and are better aligned under the C3T mission. A few programs in our Enterprise Services (ES) portfolio — Enterprise-Identity, Credential and Access Management (E-ICAM), a key pillar of zero trust, and the MilTech program — will also align to the C3T mission.

We have been talking about reorganizations for many years. I have served on a number of task forces that looked at how we should realign within the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology). We are finally doing it, and it's the right thing to do. The other Services had PEOs similar to ours with business systems and network elements — and they've done this transition to better align missions, and we are following suit.  

Our mission after the transition will focus on business systems and enterprise services. It will be difficult to lose some key partners that have been instrumental in modernizing Army camps, posts, and stations, and delivering defensive-cyber capabilities to stay ahead of the threat, but I know they are going to be in good hands. The plan is to complete this transition by Oct. 1 of 2023. I want to emphasize: Nobody is being asked to physically move, none of the contracts are going to change in their scope or period of performance, and nobody's going to lose their job.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

I want to talk about how we are going to transform at EIS. I talked about this at the Integrated Personnel and Pay System — Army (IPPSA) Industry Day, but I really think it's important to take every opportunity to talk to industry about our transformation because you are a critical and integral part of our journey.

To be clear: it's a wholesale transfer to Agile. It’s a journey we can't do without industry and it's absolutely necessary if we are going to adapt and stay current and ultimately deliver faster and better capability to our Soldiers and civilians.

Our journey is underway. A number of initiatives are already underway to evolve us into a fully Agile and world-class IT organization.

And I promise you — in about six months, we will look like a completely different organization.

WHOLESALE PIVOT TO AGILE

Like I said, we are pivoting wholesale to Agile. No more waterfall; take that out of your lexicon. It's across our entire organization starting with the headquarters and across the program managers (PMs). We have a number of success stories already underway with Army Training Information Systems (ATIS), Enterprise Business Systems — Convergence (EBS-C),  ArmyIgnitED and Army Contract Writing System (ACWS).

So, we have a lot of good models to follow already. But we have a high expectation that industry is following suit: that you are organized and scaled to deliver in an Agile fashion, able to (1) demonstrate the automated, continuous-improvement, continuous-delivery pipeline, (2) ensure human-centered design and (3) have a thorough understanding of the Agile process.

By default, I am going to choose the software-acquisition pathway as new programs come into the portfolio. And when I can't choose that pathway, I will tailor the 5000.75 so at the end of the day it will look a lot like the software-acquisition pathway. I think the key is to have the right pathway to enable the Agile delivery of value and functionality, and not let the pathways restrict us.

The functionals and industry are critical to our process and our success. It starts with the requirement — making sure it's not tightly coupled, that we can break it out, that we can deliver features and epics incrementally over time. And it's about informing business process re-engineering by what technology and capability is available commercially so we minimize customization and are as commercial as possible and as military as necessary.

We are organizing with Agile in mind. An Agile organization looks completely different than an organization that delivers waterfall. Multi-functional and self-forming teams will change depending on what phase of the lifecycle we are in. Pre-solicitation, prototyping, development and production —  teams look different at each phase, and that’s the expectation we have of Industry as well.

We are establishing a Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) at the headquarters that’s going to incubate new value streams, help the PMs work through Agile challenges, coach and mentor the PMs as well as the functionals, fill critical gaps and skill sets that we don't have organically, and even provide Scrum teams and jump in and be smokejumpers —  so a very powerful resource that our PMS can reach back to.

We are applying Agile to contracting. We have some good templates on what an Agile solicitation looks like, but we are continuing to work on those so we incentivize the delivery of functionality.

We are working with Army Contracting Command’s Brig. Gen. Beeler on the acquisition-lead times. How do we apply Agile so we don't have 300-to-400-day acquisition lead times?

We are working with Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Cost and Economics (DASA-CE) on the Agile cost estimating. We are trying to crack that nut developing a reliable cost model that's validated and trusted, better represents the expected cost, and better informs the budget process.

We are reinventing our tech services. It's not going to be your father’s tech services. They are going to be Agile, support the PMs and jump in as necessary. If we don't have a system integrator on board, they can jump in and start the backlog. They are going to be smokejumpers. They are going to provide training for us. They are going to establish our metrics, provide unique skill sets where we have gaps and even provide Scrum teams. They will really serve as a LACE for our PMs.

And finally, we are upscaling our workforce at every level in our organization — our PMs, functionals, cyber engineers and testers. Everyone will be trained for the position they are in.

Finally, we have a new deputy PEO, Mr. Bill Hepworth, sitting here in the second row. He brings a wealth of knowledge, including Agile expertise, to the portfolio and is instrumental to our transformation.

INDUSTRY COLLABORATION

I look forward to the collaboration and partnership with industry as we embark on this transformation journey with you.