The Department of the Defense announced the winners of the David Packard Awards which honor organizations with superior management and accomplishment in executing of one or more of the Better Buying Power acquisition efficiency initiatives.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta also awarded the first ever Better Buying Power Efficiency Award, which recognizes innovation in better buying power efforts.
The two Packard winners are Army Project Manager Combat Ammunitions Systems and the Navy DDG 51 Shipbuilding Program Office. The Acquisition Rapid Response Medical Team for Tactical Combat Casualty Care and Casualty Evacuation received the first Better Buying Power Efficiency Award.
The David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award was first awarded in 1997 in honor of the late David Packard, a former deputy secretary of defense and highly-respected advocate of excellence in defense acquisition practices.
About the winners, courtesy of DOD:
The Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems team was recognized for its innovative ability to establish and implement a highly efficient buying approach for the acquisition of critical ammunition. In response to an increased need for artillery and mortar items, the team developed a simplified strategy for the recurring production of ammunition totaling $2.7 billion shortening the average time from receipt of a requirement to award of a delivery to 45 to 60 days, compared to the previous 18-24 months. The outcome of the team’s innovative acquisition strategy is the establishment of a highly competitive and flexible buying approach within the small business community rapidly delivering affordable ammunition to the warfighter.
The DDG 51 Shipbuilding Program Office was presented their award for their success in conducting an innovative competition to procure three DDG 51 class guided missile destroyers by developing a unique acquisition strategy resulted in competitive in less than six months that resulted in savings of $298 million to the Navy across these three ships and set the standard for the follow-on multi-year procurement for future DDG 51 class ships.
The first ever Better Buying Power Efficiency Award was awarded to the Acquisition Rapid Response Medical Team for the innovative development of a new casualty evacuation system, which developed pioneering capabilities to attend to casualties on the battlefield. The team led the way in a comprehensive system enabling ground units to gain access to and recover casualties from a variety of locations, provide life-saving medical treatments at the point of injury to treatment, delivering a casualty from a remote, inaccessible area to an air or ground extraction platform. The efforts resulted in greatly improved life-saving medical treatment capabilities for the special operations forces.
