The Army Leads the Way on Insourcing

The Army is leading the charge toward smart insourcing.

In a bold action, Army Sec. John McHugh suspended all ongoing and future insourcing operations at the Army unless each proposal for insourcing is based on a comprehensive, analytical, approach and the sourcing decision is presented to him for approval.

In a Feb. 1 memo, McHugh wrote:

In an era of significantly constrained resources, the Army must approach the insourcing of functions currently performed by contract in a well-reasoned, analytically based and systemic manner, consistent with law and prevailing Presidential and Department of Defense guidance. Accordingly, effective the date of this directive, I reserve to myself the authority to approve any insourcing proposal, wherever generated across the Army. Any insourcing proposal presented for my consideration must be fully documented and justified. Any proposal will include, at minimum, a manpower requirements determination, an analysis of all potential alternatives to the establishment of permanent civilian authorizations to perform the contracted work, certification of fund availability and a comprehensive legal review.

PSC has called for such analytically rigorous reviews for some time and we’re pleased to see the Army drilling much needed discipline into what has been a disorderly process. The rest of the federal government should promptly follow the Army’s lead.

Simulation Training Saves Lives on the Battlefield

One of the major challenges the U.S. Army faces in Afghanistan and Iraq is reducing the number of soldiers dying on the battlefield. To reduce the mortality rate, the Army needed to obtain a standardized, state-of-the-art simulation training program not just for medics, but for any soldier who could give critical first aid to comrades wounded in the immediate aftermath of a roadside bombing, an ambush or full-scale battle.

CSC, a world leader in applying information technology to solve critical problems, was awarded a competitive three-year, GSA indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to run the Army’s Medical Simulation Training Centers (MTSC). For the Army, CSC created a comprehensive program that provides training, lesson planning, and development of course materials; cognitive and psychomotor assessment skills for professional and non-professional certifications; and simulated war scenarios as realistic as life. In May 2008, as a team member of the Raytheon-led Warfighter Training Alliance on the Warfighter FOCUS contract, CSC was awarded a 10-year fixed-price award fee and time and materials contract to continue its support to the MSTCs until April 2017.