Life cycle management initiative will integrate AMC MSCs and ALT PEOs

Army Logistician, Nov-Dec, 2004

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ALT) and the Commanding General, Army Materiel Command (AMC), seeks to improve future soldier sustainment and readiness by establishing a closer relationship between AMC's major subordinate commands (MSCs) and the program executive officers (PEOs) in the Army ALT community.

The 2 August MOA formalizes an initiative that will establish Life Cycle Management Commands (LCMCs) by aligning AMC's Aviation and Missile Command, Communications-Electronics Command, Joint Munitions Command, and Tank-automotive and Armaments Command with the PEOs with whom they now work. The initiative will result in better products being delivered to the soldier more quickly and at less cost and optimize the interaction and effectiveness among the ALT communities.

The new alignments will be the Aviation/Missile LCMC, the Soldier/Ground Systems LCMC, the Communications/Electronics LCMC, and the Joint Ammunition LCMC. The PEOs will align closely with the MSCs but will continue to report to the Army Acquisition Executive, who is the Assistant Secretary of the Army for ALT. AMC logisticians in the LCMCs will be able to provide more input into the acquisition processes that affect sustainment and readiness. They will continue to report to the AMC Commander.

The PEOs will retain responsibility for establishing program objectives and will be the single points of accountability within their respective LCMCs for accomplishing program objectives. They will work closely with LCMC elements to design and execute effective sustainment strategies. The LCMC commanders will be the focal points and primary responsible agents for actions across the entire life cycles of the systems assigned to their LCMCs. Both the PEOs and the LCMC commanders will maintain operational relationships with the AMC Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) concerning the technology and engineering aspects of their respective systems.

An integrated process team made up of representatives of the MSCs, the PEOs, and RDECOM is charged with developing implementation plans for each LCMC. The plans, which are to be completed by 2 February 2005, will outline relationships, processes, and reporting chains for the new organizations.