Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
The Defense Business Board held its quarterly meeting last week, during which it discussed the status of a task group's study on "applying best practices for corporate performance management" to the Defense Department.
The impetus for the study, according to briefing slides shown during the meeting, was that "the department currently faces an extraordinary confluence of management challenges, mounting costs and budget reductions, while continuing to provide for the national defense." Consequently, the task group is to "evaluate how successful executives of large and complex corporations plan, implement and maintain strong performance, especially during periods of reduced resources and/or significant changes." The group is also tasked to "identify strategies, practices and performance metrics which could be used by DOD leadership," according to the presentation slides.
The board also discussed the findings of a study on commercial satellite communications services. Our coverage:
The Pentagon should designate a single office to procure all satellite communications assets and services, according to a Defense Business Board task force.
During its quarterly meeting today, the board approved the task force's recommendations for how to better take advantage of commercial satellite communications services. Notably, the task force's new report says the Defense Department should "facilitate future governance by designating a single DOD point for procuring all [satellite communications] assets and services."
The report also calls for the Pentagon to "address which organization(s) has operational and tactical execution authority."
"Multiple DOD officials asserted ownership for key components of SATCOM (i.e. strategy, operational, tactical and acquisition support, etc.)," the report states. "From an outside view, appears current roles and responsibilities are ambiguous."
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center procures military satellite communications assets and selected frequencies to meet end-user requirements, the report states, while the Defense Information Systems Agency procures commercial satellite communications services as needed to augment military satellites. The Defense Space Council serves as an "advisory forum," the report states.
Following the task force's recommendation for a point person on SATCOM would enable the Pentagon to get better value and prevent redundancy, the report states.
The task force believes the Pentagon is on the right track. This month, DOD Chief Information Officer Teri Takai "defined" a satellite communications governance framework, the report notes. Accordingly, the task force calls for DOD to support the CIO in establishing a governance and usage plan for military and commercial satellite "ecosystem," which includes aerial and terrestrial elements.