An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : Media : News
NEWS | June 19, 2019

NSWC Panama City assists in development of Contracting Consolidation System

By Susan H. Lawson NSWC PCD

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) acquisition and contract team members recently helped develop the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Contract Management Process Guide (CMPG) to consolidate contracting processes into one system for the Enterprise.

 

As a One Team effort, Wanda Cutchin, NSWC PCD acquisition policy and oversight division director, and Tim Reed, NSWC PCD contract specialist, were recognized, along with their NAVSEA Enterprise counterparts, for their efforts developing the CMPG in an appreciation letter penned by NAVSEA Director of Contracts, Cindy Shaver (SES). Their lead, Trelli Davis, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport CMPG program manager directed efforts that contributed to the CMPG.

 

The CMPG was designed as a fully interactive user focused guidance tool. Its mission is to accommodate all user types and search functionality. The CMPG consolidates the contracting processes into one system with links to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation, Navy Marine Corps Acquisition Regulation and Navy regulations.

 

During the development of the CMPG, a working group was identified to make a better product for the NAVSEA Enterprise, and an acquisition policy community of practice was created.

 

“Our contracting team worked hard to ensure all Warfare Centers will have a solid product going forward,” said NSWC PCD Commanding Officer Capt. Aaron Peters. “The CMPG is a great initiative that creates so much more productivity and efficient processes.”

 

The NAVSEA CMPG is vital to improving acquisition efficiencies. According to Shaver, the group’s efforts directly contributed to the building of a sustainable centralized repository of acquisition processes available to the entire workforce. This capability enables every acquisition member across the NAVSEA enterprise to access templates and repeatable processes through an electronic, real-time tool.

 

The CMPG improves communications and provides more timely delivery of policy. The CMPG is a prime example of high velocity learning, incorporating training directly into topical subjects.

 

Shaver stated, “the efforts researching, drafting, and managing the commenting process were critical to the release of the NAVSEA CMPG in April 2019. Highly impactful topics like Best Practices for Protest Avoidance, Small Business, and Yellow Pages demonstrate how attuned you were to the contracting environment and the task set before you. Your dedicated efforts have helped usher in far more effective and efficient policy development, maintenance, and access procedures. In recognition of your performance on this future-enabling platform, it gives me great pleasure to extend my most sincere appreciation for a job well done.”

 

The problem statement for the CMPG team charter stated contracting policy, procedures, guidance, training, and their host platforms are currently decentralized across NAVSEA and field activities. In a decentralized state, there are multiple policy offices solving common problems independently and there is difficulty in locating particular topics that should be common to the organization and easy to find.

 

The scope of the NAVSEA CMPG project encompassed the creation and completion of a centralized NAVSEA CMPG hosted on the NAVSEA iNFUSION platform leveraging the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command CMPG and the combined experience and lessons learned from each organization across the NAVSEA enterprise.

 

The goal of the NAVSEA CMPG is to establish a centralized and current CMPG hosted on NAVSEA iNFUSION that layers policy, guidance, and operating procedures for NAVSEA and field activities which encompasses the five phases of the Contract Lifecycle – Planning, Solicitation, Evaluation, Award, and Post-Award.

 

“Having a robust and agile process guide in a centralized database form supporting decentralized field activities or divisions can help us achieve commonality in processes, policies, and acquisition initiatives,” said Dr. Luis R. Gely, NSWC PCD small purchase branch supervisor.

 

The business impact of the NAVSEA CMPG results in a user-friendly environment leading to a better-trained and knowledgeable acquisition workforce throughout the NAVSEA Enterprise. The CMPG fortifies the 1102 workforce knowledge management community through the identification of best practices across the Enterprise. Consistency in the application of policy, while respecting critical thinking, will lead to the timely delivery of high quality acquisition products and services, and increased trust and satisfaction from Navy customers.

 

The acquisition policy community of practice met weekly for a year on the CMPG and continue to do so. The CMPG is considered a living document and development of the document is a continual process.

 

Cutchin stated the review of other Warfare Center contracting changes are part of her duties as well.

 

“As policies change and dynamics at various warfare centers develop, the CMPG will change,” said Cutchin. “We are proud to be part of that process.”