Copyright Breaking Defense
WASHINGTON — The Army is launching a complete rework of its weapons portfolio organization in the biggest acquisition shakeup the service has seen in years, officials exclusively told Breaking Defense. The overhaul will see a host of consolidations, including a reduction in the number of general officers at the top rank, the contraction of the 12 Program Executive Offices (PEOs) in charge of acquisition, and an entirely new reporting structure up the chain. “We had previously created a system that was wildly risk averse and … the cost of that risk aversion was being able to get tools into the hands of our soldiers fast enough for them to actually be able to use it,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told Breaking Defense. The Army acquisition revamp has been in the works for the better part of the year, as first reported by Breaking Defense in April. But the Army is finally implementing the plan, which fits into broader reform efforts outlined last week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “This transformation is about preparing the Army for the future, whether it’s ensuring that we can quickly adopt the next generation of technologies or that we are ready to respond rapidly to a crisis,” Army Undersecretary Michael Obadal said in a Nov. 10 email to Breaking Defense. “A modernized acquisition system will position us ahead of our adversaries, strengthen our readiness, and maintain a technological edge in all domains.” One Army official who briefed Breaking Defense explained that the moves have been driven by asking how the Army can remove constraints and hone its processes to move much faster. Part of that answer, the official added, was to find a way to “reset and rebuild” the relationship between the requirements and the acquisition communities. According to Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz, who is working in Obadal’s office, the goal is to streamline the bureaucracy between different Army offices that don’t always communicate well. “Too often they are pointing at each other, ‘Like, well, we’re waiting on them.’ ‘[No,] we’re waiting on them right now,’” explained Dietz. “Hey, you guys are all together now, so you can’t blame each other. We’re going to make this quicker. We’re going to give you less paperwork. … And, this is supposed to save money.” While the Army has already rolled out changes to the requirements process with the new Transformation and Training Command, Driscoll estimated that the complete overhaul could speed up acquisition by as much as 30 percent and, in some cases, even more. “I’m optimistic that it could be even greater than 50 percent on a lot of projects because … we will have parallel execution of many of our processes,” he said. New Structure of Portfolio Acquisition Executives According to Army officials, under the reorganization the top of the structure will be the new Army Transformation and Training Command and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, or ASA(ALT) — not altogether different from the current setup. It’s a step down the chain where things begin to shift. Under those two offices will live six overarching “Portfolio Acquisition Executives,” or PAEs: Fires in Redstone Arsenal, Ala.; Command and Control (C2) and Counter C2 in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; Maneuver Ground in Fort Benning, Ga.; Maneuver Air in Fort Rucker, Ala; Agile Sustainment and Ammunition in Picatinny, N.J.; and Layered Protection Plus Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Said Driscoll, “The requirements, teams, the system centers, programming, acquisition, the contracting and testing, will all now report to each of these PAEs, and they will report directly up to our ASA(ALT) who will report directly to me and chief, and we will be able to manage innovation as they push through different projects.” Each PAE will eventually be managed by a two-star general, or the civilian equivalent, along with a deputy. One will serve in an operational role and one will serve in an acquisition role, the Army official said. Then, under those six PAEs will be “enabler organizations,” which include the artists formally known as PEOs. PAE Fires: PEO Missiles and Space, also adds Self Propelled Howitzer Systems (SPHS) from PEO Ground Combat Systems, and a majority of the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) PAE C2 and Counter C2: PEO Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors (IEWS), PEO Command, Control, Communications, and Network (C3N), and adds the majority of PEO Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (STRI) under this umbrella PAE Maneuver Ground: PEO Soldier, PEO Ground Combat Systems, and moves the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) from PEO Combat Support & Combat Service Support. PAE Maneuver Air: PEO Aviation, moves aircraft survivability from PEO IEW&S and moves autonomy under one umbrella. PAE Agile Sustainment and Ammo: Joint Program Executive Office Armaments & Ammunition, and moves majority of PEO Combat Support & Combat Service Support PAE Layered Protection Plus Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear: Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, and moves terrestrial sensors from PEO IEW&S That plan leaves PEO Enterprise out of the PAE structure; however, the “pre-decisional” plan is to align PEO Enterprise with the Chief Information Officer to centralize efforts to “rapidly deliver automated tools for business process automation and direct alignment” with the Army financial and comptroller shop, the Army official explained. The Army official stressed that these changes will alter the “reporting chain” but aren’t going to force soldiers or the civilian workforce to uproot their lives due to new bureaucracy. “There’s no geographical relocation [for any PAE] at this time, everybody is going to stay in their spaces where they’re currently geographically set,” the Army official said. “So Detroit people stay in Detroit. Whether or not a piece [of a PEO] goes to PAE Fires in Huntsville, the people stay in Detroit.” In addition to having those acquisition enablers nested inside each PAE, each portfolio will have people devoted to working requirements, contracting, testing and evaluation, sustainment and international efforts like foreign military sales. There will also be a “system centers” enabler inside each PAE, like some tied back to the Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) to better ensure that internal science and technology efforts are aligned with what soldiers need, in order to ultimately produce fieldable tech and weapons. New Pathways For Innovation Outside of the PAE structure, the Army is also creating a new office, known as the Pathway for Innovation and Technology (PIT). This will be used to look at “how can we kind of get techie stuff quicker and then, if it works, how can we scale it across organizations,” the Army official said. Falling into the PIT, which the Army official described as the “forward edge” of ASA(ALT), are parts of the service’s RCCTO office, which was established in 2018 for rapid prototyping and getting soldiers weapons at a quicker pace. The PIT will also include the Army Applications Laboratory and the Joint Innovation Outpost under its umbrella. It’s basically the Army’s “innovation line,” the official said, adding that it will house non-traditional programs like the FUZE initiative and is designed to help companies who traditionally “struggle” to get into the defense industrial base. While the Army began implementing the changes in October, the service official emphasized that it will take time, trial and error to get this right, especially for those PAEs combining multiple acquisition shops.
