Commander’s Corner

SPE C I AL PO I N TS O F I N T E REST :

“Wh a t DCM A Doe s” v i de o a v a i l ab l e

M yDCM A se r i e s on g o i n g

INS ID E TH IS I S SUE :

Hiring Veterans 2 Tough Mudder 3

Operation Freedom 2 Getting the Call 4

Future Soccer Olympian 3 Walk for Wellness and Org Day 4

First, as I mention in the Commander’s

corner, we have welcomed LTC Allen,

USA to our Contracts XO position address-

ing the most thought provoking input

from the last inbox round so we’re well

on our way to building the model org for

the Agency.

I also received a few questions on func-

tion specific training and ideas on having

a local trainer to jump start training,

particularly amongst our newer person-

nel. Good idea but won’t happen in this

environment. We have the team struc-

ture, Team Leaders and, in some cases,

Facilitators to augment the formal train-

ing program and that is the structural

piece that I don’t see changing any time

soon. However, I do see our local train-

ing regime changing — next week I’m

attending our cross training class which

should be followed by more aggressive

functional training across all Directorates.

I’m sure each Director would appreciate

ideas on what topics to attack first so

don’t by silent.

One of your peers submitted a thought

piece on the woes of our training travel

card reimbursement process that I plan

on sharing with HQ because I whole-

heartedly agree with it. As most of you

are aware we do not control the training

dollars at the local level so those DTS

claims are routed to HQ for authorization,

and later for the claim/voucher pro-

cessing. Even though we have DTS to

automate the system this has not been

done smoothly or in a timely manner.

The first thing we should when review the

dink reports is to get the facts and deter-

mine where the issues are and if our per-

sonnel have done the right thing and are

waiting for an HQ approval, that needs to

be elevated and the HQ POC needs to be

made aware, if they are still untimely Ms.

Marshall and I want to know about it.

This can, and should, get better. We do

not feel that it is right for our people to

have to “loan” the Govt money.

We also rcvd an idea on reviewing the

SOP on QA surveillance planning with an

eye towards eliminating the need to de-

velop separate plans for LOD only facili-

ties...haven’t looked at that too closely

yet but we evaluate it since I have to

review all SOPs this year, so please read

all of our SOPs closely as they come

around for review.

We had comments on the potential Man-

chester move. I do plan on moving us to

a better, more secure space in the Nor-

ris Cotton building in Manchester but

instead of disrupting us twice with and

interim and final move, we will move

once - to our final spaces when they are

done. This is driven by external securi-

ty, internal security and savings.

The Command's recent Organization Day

was a huge success and those of us that

benefitted owe a sincere thank you to

Jennifer Correa, Kathy Wilson, Dale

Brownie, Janine Chiampa, Glen Caron,

Jennifer Correa, Nicole Deasy, Deb Pa-

kenham, Melanie Thompson, LTC Chris-

tine Allen, LT Dan Cripe, Ryan John-

stone and Jacquelyn Parent who set up

this successful event. For those that

made it that day, good choice.

Leadership has received comments from

several vectors wondering about person-

al accountability and how leadership

views our responsibility on this front.

First, our primary job is to hire each of

you the best possible peer to avoid is-

sues in the first place; we have panels

with robust reference checks to make

sure we hire the best and when followed

this has worked extremely well. Sec-

ond, when we have performance issues

based on knowledge, not based on in-

tent, leadership — including me -has

confronted the issues that we are aware

of and provided that employee with the

tools and knowledge to succeed — this

remains a work in progress in some cas-

es but it's a journey not a one time

meeting. When the failure is on the

conduct or ethics front, leadership has

the responsibility to act and we all have

a responsibility to report since this is

the area that deals with the public

trust.

Continued next page

Aug 2016

Several leadership changes have occurred

over the summer in our permanent and tem-

porary ESC ranks. Ms. Lisa Marie Clark was

relieved by Major Tyler Tafelski when she

departed for the RAY TEWKS position. Mr.

Paul Bertoncini was then selected for and

took the conn from Major Tafelski this Au-

gust. Meanwhile, Mr. Tom Hall took the BAE

QA duties.

We welcomed Mr. John Whitlock from RAY

TEWKS as our Eng and Mnfg Director. He is

ably supported by our new Manufacturing

Team Leader — Beth Gillespie - and Acting

Engineering Team Leader — Major Ben

Hauger.

After her time working on the Process Work-

ing Group (PWG), Ms. Denise Fuccillo has

taken the Quality reins from Mr. Joe Noonan

while Mr. Mark Keenan continues his PWG

work to improve the entire Agency. Mr.

Matt Mynczywor now has the lead on AFQP.

Contracts also welcomed LTC Christine Allen

as our Contracts Deputy/XO — a position

that many people from the Agency Director

on down recognized as crucial to a well run

organization. We also promoted Mr. John

Poff and Mr. Rod Barrales to Team Leads.

We are very pleased to welcome Mr. Jona-

than Hirsch to the Legal team that supports

us.

We have also seen several promotions across

all parts of the command, some within the

command and some where our people were

selected to serve in other facets of the or-

ganization — the only constant being

change.

This week we wish Fair Winds and Following

Seas to our Boston Insight editor, Tricia

Beaulieu, as she accepts a position at Hans-

com so we are looking for a new Editor

while also thanking Tricia for a superb job

done.

Finally, an update on the potential move to

Hanscom. I was at the bid opening for the

renovation — both contractor bids were

close but well over the Govt estimate so the

hard work of sharpening the requirement

and budgeting for it starts; so no contract

will be awarded until that work is done and

a more firm idea/ schedule can be built -

more to follow.

Page 1

Commander Inbox

B O S T O N I N S I G H T

DCMA Boston, Barnes Building, 495 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210

Page 2 DCMA Boston Insight

I started working on the Boston newsletter in the fall of 2014. It has been a

great opportunity to interact with people from various locations that I would

not normally see in my day to day responsibilities. I enjoyed writing articles,

enlisting others to write about things in their life they wanted to share,

tracking down information that CAPT Hoffman wanted to include and trying

to make it all look inviting to read. I hope you enjoyed them.

As I leave DCMA to explore a different perspective of government acquisition

in a Program Management Office at Hanscom AFB, this is the last newsletter

I will be editing. I wanted to share one last “Tips to Know” which is a quote I

heard from someone long, long ago (so long ago that I no longer remember

who it was) that I believe is a great philosophy to remember when life

throws you a curveball…

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how

you respond to it.”

Tricia Beaulieu, DCMA BAE Systems

My Last Newsletter as Editor

Ricky Hamrick, Contract Administrator,

DCMA Boston and Dale Brownie, Contract

Administrator, located in Portsmouth,

recently represented DCMA at a “Hiring

our Heroes” job fair at Fenway Park in

Boston. The mission was to attract quali-

fied applicants with engineer, quality

assurance, and contracting/acquisitions

skills to work for DCMA. They discussed

the qualifications for DCMA’s current va-

cancies and provided general information

on benefits, work environment, culture,

and Defense Acquisition Workforce guide-

lines and training. They also answered

questions asked by attendees.

The event included over 50 employers

from both the private sector and federal

agencies, including Amtrak, Boston Red

Sox, CarMax, DCMA, Ecolab, FedEx, GE,

JetBlue and U.S. Customs and Border

Protection, as well as many others.

Attendees included those with various

levels of experience and background from

the military as well as their spouses.

Many people expressed interest in DCMA

and were provided DCMA brochures,

handouts, and information sheets on how

to apply to jobs within the federal gov-

ernment. Follow-up will be provided to

ensure an application is completed.

DCMA will continue to participate in

these Soldiers for Life Career Fairs to

support our local military personnel tran-

sitioning to civilian positions.

Glen Macnie, QAR, DCMA Boston, was re-

cently deployed to Afghanistan on a Contin-

gency Contracting Administration Services

(CCAS) quality assurance mission. He re-

ceived acknowledgment of his exceptional

performance in support to the Army’s Re-

gional Contracting Center (ECC-A). Some

excepts from the Recognition Letter provid-

ed to his supervisor are shown below.

“Mr. Macnie was extremely conducive in the

transition from Defense Contract Manage-

ment Agency - Afghanistan (DCMA-A) team

to the ECC-A team. He provided continuity

and experience to enable the success of the

mission.”

“He consistently demonstrated high profi-

ciency in quality assurance, and served as

the Quality Assurance Specialist for RCC-E

during this time frame.”

“His willingness to offer support and posi-

tive attitude are a welcome benefit to the

teams’ success.”

“Mr. Macnie's work ethic, attitude, exper-

tise, and personal commitment to excel-

lence demonstrated every day, clearly vali-

dates his importance to the team. He was

truly an asset to our team and will be great-

ly missed.”

Glen so kindly had a flag flown over Afghani-

stan while serving his CCAS mission on be-

half of the AFQS Team.

Operation Freedom

Hiring Veterans

“Hiring our Heroes” job fair.

I can assure you that we have acted on

each of the issues that we are aware of

in a prudent and firm manner but cannot

point to specifics due to privacy rights.

The Commander's Inbox has alerted us to

some areas to look at, so this is an ave-

nue to remain private while also per-

forming your duties. We have recently

concluded three external investigations

originated by me for a variety of issues -

the common thread was that we have a

culture that values your input and that

fear of retribution was not a paralyzing

factor - let's keep that up. Sometimes

the process is obscure and takes a long

time to protect a variety of rights but we

are serious about retaining the public

trust and your trust in our judgment.

Have a great fall and keep the comments

coming.

Page 3

Seven DCMA'ers from Boston, BAE Systems,

and Raytheon took the Tough Mudder

challenge on 18 June in Mt Snow, VT.

Steve Sequeira (Manchester), Steve Sar-

gent (Tewksbury), Kevin Thacker

(Nashua), Jameson Bak (Nashua), Dean

Fino (Nashua), Paul Curley (Nashua), and

Maj Joe La Monica (Nashua) convinced

three friends to accompany them for a

10.1 mile obstacle course up and down the

ski slopes of Mt Snow featuring 28 team-

work-related, and just outright crazy,

obstacles.

The group faced tormenting challenges

such as the Arctic Enema, in which they

submerged into a pool of ice water,

remerged over a wall, and then jumped

back in; the Funky Monkey, where Steve

Sequeira proved that middle age men can

swing after climbing inclined monkey bars

to shimmying a single pole over a pool of

muddy water; the Shawshanked, where

Kevin Thacker promised to low crawl un-

der barb wire in the mud, traverse a nar-

row tube, and then flop into a pool of

muddy water alongside Paul Curley but

then let Paul fall by himself; the Hero

Carry, where Maj La Monica let bad-kneed

Steve Sequeira carry him up hill; the Pyr-

amid Scheme, where Steve Sargent al-

lowed a dozen tough mudders to stand on

his shoulders to climb a wall; the King of

DCMA Boston Insight

Tough Mudder

Hero Carry.

Team at the start.

the Jungle, where Maj La Monica sup-

planted his fears and swung from a 10 m

platform to lunge at a cowbell only to

fall into a pool of muddy water patrolled

by 4 scuba divers; and the Electroshock

Therapy, where Dean Fino lost muscular

control of his body after being shocked

by 20 KV three times. Check out the

YouTube Video !!

Despite these specific challenges and

many more, the DCMA'ers used team-

work to prevail and everyone completed

the event. Maj La Monica commented,

"We all had a good time and were glad

we met the challenge but unanimously

agreed not to do it again." Electroshock Therapy.

Roger Fitzgerald, SW Specialist, DCMA

BAE Systems, is happy to announce that

his daughter, Emma Fitzgerald has made

the NH Girls’ State Team for the Olym-

pic Development Program for 2016.

The US Youth Soccer Olympic Develop-

ment Program (ODP) is a national identi-

fication and development program that

ident i f ie s youth s occer p l ay -

ers throughout the country, to represent

their state association, region and the

US National Youth Teams in internation-

al soccer competitions.

The website states “Players are select-

ed, in most states, on the basis of open

tryouts. These tryouts are conducted by

state association coaches who are recog-

nized for their ability to identify and

train players with superior skills. Some

state associations combine scouting

techniques and invitations to certain

players with the open tryouts. Selection

of these players is not an easy task. The

state association head coach or State

Coach will, in most cases, be assisted in

the selection process by several other

qualified coaches from the club or

league level. Players are evaluated on

the four components that make up a

s o c c e r p l a y e r : T e c h n i q u e

Tactics, Fitness and Athletic Ability,

and P s y cho l og i ca l Co mpo nen t

(attitude).” Emma shows excellence in

these areas and was invited to tryout.

Congratulations Emma !!

Soccer

Future Olympian. Everest.

DCMA Boston, Barnes Building, 495 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210

DCMA Boston, Barnes Building, 495 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210

Page 4

Major Ben Hauger just completed a tempo-

rary assignment as the Engineering and

Manufacturing Group Director in Boston.

He shares his thoughts about the assign-

ment below.

“When I was a young boy growing up in a

small rural town in southern Minnesota,

there were two things that I was very pas-

sionate about. The first, like many kids

growing up in America, was baseball. I

used to dream of playing in the Minor

Leagues and getting called up to play Ma-

jor League Baseball for the Minnesota

Twins and playing along-side many of my

favorite players, such as Kirby Puckett,

Kent Hrbek, and Chili Davis. (The second

thing I was passionate about was rooting

against the Green Bay Packers. After all, I

was from Minnesota and that’s just what

you did on Sundays from September to

January but I’ll save those stories for a

different time).

I would dream of what it felt like to have

your minor league manager call you into

his office after the game and tell you to

pack your bags because you were going to

the big leagues. I would try to image what

it felt like to have something that you ded-

icated many years of your life to achieve

and finally have that hard work pay off in

the most amazing way. As I got older I

realized that my dream of getting “called

up” to the big leagues was never going

happen and I had to let my dream remain

just that – a dream. However, little did I

know that a couple of decades later I

would get to experience, at least a little

bit, what it’s like to be “called up” to the

big leagues.

In late 2015 the Engineering and Manufac-

turing Group Director in Boston had ac-

cepted a promotion with another DoD

agency and would be leaving DCMA Boston

in early 2016. CAPT Hoffman and Lisa Ma-

rie Clark sat me down in Lisa’s office and

told me that they had picked me to fill in

for the next several months as the acting

Group Director until the position could be

permanently filled. I thought, “This is

what it feels like to get “called up”, this is

what it feels like when someone has a tre-

mendous amount of confidence in you to

bring you up to the next level” (in my case

two levels above my pay grade). I enthusi-

astically accepted, as an opportunity like

this only comes along once or twice in a

career and when it does you don’t let it

pass on by. After a few weeks of turnover

with the outgoing group director, it was

time for me to take the reins myself. I

was excited and nervous as this was a big

opportunity to exercise my leadership

skills and wanted badly to do everything

right and not make any mistakes. I under-

stood that there were other very good

candidates that CAPT Hoffman and Lisa

had to pick from but they chose me be-

cause they knew I could succeed in the

job. I wasn’t about to let them down.

I wanted to make the transition into my

new position as seamless as possible both

DCMA Boston Insight

Getting the Call for the Command and for all the employ-

ees that worked in the Engineering and

Manufacturing Group. Needless to say,

there were several challenges I faced

immediately. The biggest challenge was

that I didn’t have the extensive back-

ground in Engineering or Manufacturing

like my predecessor. In the beginning this

challenge seemed insurmountable, but it

quickly became one of the reasons why I

looked forward to coming to work in Bos-

ton every day, thanks in part to the highly

skilled, dedicated professionals that make

DCMA Boston a first class organization;

exactly the same type of place I left at

DCMA BAE Systems. It was the fantastic

DCMA people who made it a joy to come

to work every day and continued their

mission without missing a beat.

My time as the Engineering and Manufac-

turing Group Director was filled with chal-

lenges, new experiences and many les-

sons learned, all of which I will carry with

me for the rest of my career. I can look

back on my experience in this capacity

and say that I have grown as an officer

and leader in the United States Air Force.

I am very fortunate to have served under

two elite commanders in DCMA, Lisa Ma-

rie Clark and CAPT Hoffman and thankful

they saw enough potential in me to give

me a “call up”. Even if one of them is a

Green Bay Packers fan.”

Participants in the DCMA Walk for Well-

ness event included teams from Boston,

Manchester and Nashua. Boston walkers

enjoyed historic Castle Island in South

Boston. Nashua walkers enjoyed nature

at Mine Fall Park in Nashua, NH. Man-

chester walkers enjoyed views of Ports-

mouth Harbor while completing the 5K in

Portsmouth, NH.

Walk for Wellness

Boston walkers at Castle Island.

Manchester walkers in Portsmouth.

Org Day