Logistics of Defense Projects

Logistics of Defense Projects

Name:

Institution:

Logistics of Defense Projects

Ideal Project Team

            Creating or finding the ideal team is challenging mainly because each project has unique demands and conditions. The ideal tea size is approximately five to seven members since a relatively small size is easier to manage. Additionally, such a team ensures a high level of efficiency. Smaller teams have the advantage of forming close relationships that contribute significantly towards adding a unique aspect valuable to the project. I would also prefer that my ideal team comprise of highly skilled and experienced members. Apparently, proficient members bring more to the table than the knowledge they acquired from college. I would want their years of experience to inform the different aspects of the project.

            Various types of stakeholders exist within the basic project including project managers, team members, and management. Other stakeholders include investors and lastly, the client. All the stakeholders play a unique role. Project managers are responsible for overseeing the progress of the rest of the members and tasks. They must ask the difficult questions concerning the hierarchy and client expectations Project managers ensure that customer expectations are achieved. As stakeholders, project team members give their time, expertise, and contributions to the project (Sager et al., 2015). Additionally, other employees assigned to the project from the company such as contractors can be categorized as stakeholders. The last major stakeholder is the core or line management. In the perfect organization, these would include department managers and supervisors. Line managers have the function over supervising a complete department. However, these specific units have been allocated unique functions.

Defense Acquisition Board

The Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) is responsible for administering and overseeing defense acquisitions on behalf of the United States. Members of this board are mandated to grant the different MDAPs and act as the most significant executive appraisers of costly acquisitions that have a possibly large influence on the outcomes of wars – items such as tanks, jet aircraft, and missile systems (Sager et al., 2015). The function of acquiring high-level weaponry and other forms of equipment that are necessary for safeguarding the nation is a critical one. While several autonomous institutions have this mandate, the Defense Acquisition Board is the main one that has overall jurisdiction. The issue of transparency in dealing with national defense acquisitions has emerged on numerous occasions. The majority of the public, as well as bureaucrats, are not fully informed of the process through which Pentagon acquires weapons. The military workforce needs to improve their recruitment and training procedures. Most of the program managers at DAB that have been awarded major defense programs have no tenure in their positions (Sager et al., 2015). Therefore, they cannot occupy their seats long enough to roll out the program successfully or achieve a significant milestone. Consequently, the Department of Defense lacks a record of accomplishment and cannot hold the departmental heads accountable for failing to reach the targets or running the offices in an unethical manner.

Question 6

            I strongly agree with the statement that it is necessary to develop a system that can support the different administrative tasks. The aforementioned duties covered in the paragraph need an organized and highly effective system that can process and supervise all these activities. The current amount of responsibility allocated to the Defense Acquisition Board can be considered as excessive. Honestly, I think that assigning that much responsibility and power to one government agency is setting the stage for bureaucratic issues. Supervising the acquisition of military equipment is one thing, but designing, engineering, testing, evaluating and producing of all defense systems is misguided (Sager et al., 2015). The Defense Acquisition Board is a public department governed by the traditional principles of transparency, cost effectiveness, and fast delivery. I also agree with the statement because of the experiences concerning the acquisition procedures in the Department of Defense. Reports from different sources reveal that the board has been unable to maintain their workforce resulting in high employee turnover rates.

Question 4

            I totally agree with the above statement. Involving the right stakeholders is one of the key strategies that can be used to ensure the success of a project. One of the ways of categorizing a project is through the core field in which it is being implemented. The significance of stakeholders cannot be undermined. Of all the people involved in the project, stakeholders have the best understanding of what is required in the project. They may probably be investors having a massive financial stake in the project and therefore, are interested in ensuring its success. For instance, in an information technology project, the stakeholders know what the hardware and software needs are. Within the project, the involvement of the stakeholder is normally defined in detail. The set of stakeholder functions and their relative significancenormally changes with time. Specific stakeholderresponsibilities may be more central during the initial stages while later on the project, they eventually change. Stressing on choosing the right type of stakeholders is important as it determines the direction and ultimate success of the project.

References

Sager, M., Bober, T., Kordahl, J., Levine, A., Miller, D., Norris, P., & Woods, W. (2015). Department of Defense: Acquisition Rulemaking Practices (No. GAO-15-423R). Government Accountability Office Washington DC.