Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3001-1003240457-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Tue, 16 Oct 2001 06:55:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 31330 invoked by uid 510); 16 Oct 2001 13:53:59 -0000 Received: from n4.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.54) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 16 Oct 2001 13:53:59 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3001-1003240457-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.223] by n4.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 16 Oct 2001 13:54:18 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 16 Oct 2001 13:54:17 -0000 Received: (qmail 29321 invoked from network); 16 Oct 2001 13:53:45 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by 10.1.1.223 with QMQP; 16 Oct 2001 13:53:45 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta2 with SMTP; 16 Oct 2001 13:53:44 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id GAA19095 for iwar@onelist.com; Tue, 16 Oct 2001 06:53:44 -0700 Message-Id: <200110161353.GAA19095@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 06:53:44 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:DoD.Turns.To.Executives.For.Advice] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Defense News October 15-21, 2001 DoD Turns To Executives For Advice By Gopal Ratnam and Jason Sherman, Washington Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will establish a new high-level board of private-sector executives to advise the Pentagon on how to improve the U.S. military's business practices. The Defense Business Practice Implementation Board, also dubbed the Defense Business Board, is a key part of Rumsfeld's strategy to modernize the sprawling bureaucracy, according to government documents. "The board will examine and advise on matters relating to management, acquisition, production, logistics, personnel leadership and the defense industrial base," the draft document says. Composed of 20 members serving up to two years, the board will recommend "strategies for implementing best business practices of interest to the (U.S.) Department of Defense," according to a draft charter for the new panel. Defense News obtained a copy of the draft charter. The panel would be "much akin, I would think, to the way the Defense Science Board operates," Paul Taibl, assistant vice president for policy with Business Executives for National Security, here, said in an Oct. 10 interview. "They're given a task by the secretary of defense to go out and study an issue, for example, go out and look at financial management reform, or something like that. This business board could give their best advice and recommendations," Taibl said. Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin declined to comment on the Defense Business Board. "It is inappropriate to comment on anything that is in draft form," she said Oct. 10. Reforming the Pentagon's support structure is one of Rumsfeld's top priorities. The Pentagon's 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) spells out a three-pronged attack: reducing infrastructure; improving the Pentagon's financial system; and modernizing business processes and regulations. The Defense Business Board will deliver its findings to the Senior Executive Council, a recently established panel of senior Pentagon leaders charged with overseeing reform of the military's support structure. The council is led by the deputy secretary of defense and composed of service secretaries and the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. The concept of best business practices draws on lessons learned by other companies and adapting them to your own requirements, said William Phillips, a partner at the Arlington, Va., office of PWC Consulting, a global management consulting firm. Phillips served on a Pentagon panel created earlier this year that recommended financial management transformation options, including creating a council of outside experts to provide advice on best business practices. He predicted Pentagon officials would have some hurdles to overcome. "One of the challenges ... is the predilection to say, 'We are not like Wal-Mart or Cisco (Systems) ... we are fighting wars,'" Phillips said. Indeed, logistics and procurement practices established by major U.S. businesses may require some modifications before they can be adapted by the military, Phillips said. "In an organization like the Department of Defense, with (a budget of) more than $300 billion, there are a number of opportunities to apply best practices in the backroom operations alone," he said. The Pentagon faces a massive challenge in ensuring standardization across its different agencies dealing with procurement, said Paul Renard, vice president at American Management Systems, Fairfax, Va. The Pentagon's "financial system is not integrated with its procurement and logistics systems," Renard said. "It means you can't pay (your suppliers) properly, can't tell if the right stuff has been delivered, and can't judge the performance of your contractors." For example, when the Army spends money on a specific program, it assigns a line-of-accounting, a string of numbers that identify the Army's financial authority, Renard said. But when the information is sent to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), the line-of-accounting does not match the format maintained by DFAS. "So people are forced to make (manual) adjustments for every order" to reconcile the difference, Renard said. Best business practices would insist the Pentagon decide which agency will have the authority to define the format for the line-of-accounting, Renard said. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE VeriSign guide to security solutions for your web site: encrypting transactions, securing intranets, and more! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UnN2wB/m5_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! 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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:55 PST