The Air Force is in the process of bringing in information technology (IT) expertise to help provide expert advice for the service’s IT programs, service Secretary Michael Donley told Defense Daily yesterday.
“(IT programs) are complex,” Donley said following a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington. “They are just as complicated as any weapons system, sometimes more so.”
Donley didn’t elaborate further, but his remarks came after a question regarding the April 18 confirmation of Eric Fanning as the next Air Force undersecretary, replacing Erin Conaton. Fanning testified during his February confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee that while he was the Navy’s deputy under secretary and deputy chief management officer, the sea service stopped the development of a major personnel and pay system because it was on track to not deliver what was promised and waste taxpayer resources. Fanning also said he approaches “all business IT systems with a great deal of skepticism in the DoD.”
The Air Force has struggled with various IT programs over the years, specifically those known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, which helps more efficiently manage logistics like end items, materiel and people. The Air Force recently canceled its Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS), an IT effort to globally view, standardize and manage logistics resources to help close process gaps, after it spent $1 billion on it without apparently producing any significant military capability (Defense Daily, March 1).
“We’re always able to benefit from when people go from one service to the next: management ideas (and) experience with contractors in various circumstances that either worked very well or didn’t work,” Donley said when asked about Fanning’s expertise. “As with any profession, we try to apply those lessons to our own programs so we don’t make mistakes in the future (and) repeat ones we’ve made in the past.”
Another troubled Air Force IT program is the Defense Enterprise Accounting Management System (DEAMS), which is an ERP software endeavor, but for accounting and management services. DEAMS is 7.5 years behind schedule and its original lifecycle cost estimate has more than quintupled to over $2 billion, according to the Defense Department’s director, operational test & evaluation (DOT&E) office (Defense Daily, Jan. 23).
Donley also said during the breakfast the Air Force is working on how to deal with a potential $700 million hit from a possible fuel price spike. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mark Ferguson testified to the Senate Armed Services readiness and management support subcommittee last week that the Navy is facing a bill of $450 million because of a recent fuel price jump. Ferguson said for every dollar change in the price of oil, the Navy sees an increase of roughly $30 million in its readiness accounts (Defense Daily, April 19).
“How to pay for that, or adjust to mitigate that, is under discussion with the Defense Department’s comptroller’s office, so that work is still ongoing in terms of how to accommodate a fuel price adjustment,” Donley said.
Donley remained tight-lipped about plans for the future Long Range Bomber, refusing to discuss when contracts could be awarded for design but saying the Air Force is still “a year or two away” from a downselect decision.
“Our goals are still to have a first article in the mid-2020s and build to an inventory of 80 to 100 aircraft,” Donley said.