2014 Program Excellence Award

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2014 Program Excellence Award

The Aviation Week Program Excellence Award initiative was developed in 2004 in recognition of the need to develop future program leaders who in addition to facing challenges similar to those of the past, will also have to deal with increasing technical, organizational and business complexities. This effort has resulted in improvements in several key areas, but execution challenges remain. Concurrently, the Department of Defense and NASA have expanded focus on professional development for strategic program leaders. This award process is designed to identify best practices in areas of needed improvement and to celebrate performance accomplishments.

The goal of this initiative is to recognize and promote program excellence in terms of performance, leadership capability, and outstanding lessons that can and will be shared broadly within the aerospace and defense community. By taking part in the submission process, nominees agree to be part of this program to share information.

Framework

The criteria for this award are based on the best elements of program/project leadership excellence programs developed by the Strategic Project Leadership Program of the Technological Leadership Institute, the NIST Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, and the NASA/USRA Center for Program/Project Management Research.

The award will examine four critical areas according to the following framework:

For 2014, the evaluation will also include focus within these four categories on utilization of earned value as a more agile/responsive tool; further risk/issue/opportunity management processes to assure teams address risk and capitalize upon opportunity; understanding of integrating export opportunity into program operation; and innovation in business models, processes, teaming approaches and overall execution. The Evaluation Team will determine finalists and winners on the basis of scores in these four categories. The winner(s) will be featured in Aviation Week & Space Technology and at www.AviationWeek.com, as well

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2014 AVIATION WEEK PROGRAM EXCELLENCE INITIATIVE 2

as honored at the annual Aviation Week Aerospace & Defense Programs Conference to be held November 19-20 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Entries will be evaluated on the basis of performance for the previous 36 months.

Nominations are encouraged from commercial aerospace, space (commercial and defense), defense and security sectors and should be made in one category only:

 Sub-System R&D/SDD  Sub-System Production  Sub-System Sustainment  System R&D/SDD  System Production  System Sustainment  Special Projects

In each category and based on meeting a threshold score to be determined by the Evaluation Team, finalists will be chosen on the basis of scoring on Phase 1 and Phase 2 entries and analysis by the Evaluation Team. Aviation Week retains the final responsibility for selection.

The Evaluation Team reserves the right to choose no winners and to name an Overall Winner, if the nominations so warrant, based on the combination of scoring against the criteria, best practices, and game-changing leadership.

2014 Evaluation Team

The Evaluation Team for the 2014 Aviation Week Program Excellence Awards includes: Michael Bruno, Deputy Managing Editor-Military, Aviation Week

Jean Chamberlin, VP Program Management, Boeing Defense, Space & Security Ed Hoffman, Chief Knowledge Officer, NASA

Ron Morey, Sr. Director Fixed Wing Solutions, Rockwell Collins

Warren Nechtman, VP Program Management & Business Operations, Honeywell Aerospace Detra Sarris, Corporate Director of Programs, Northrop Grumman Corp.

Aaron Shenhar, Founder, Strategic Project Leadership

Jesse Stewart, Professor of Program Management, Defense Acquisition University Jeffrey J. Wilcox, VP Engineering, Lockheed Martin Corp.

Intellectual Property

Note: Individuals outside your company review award submissions. All information submitted should address the program’s management, leadership, and processes, and not any otherwise classified or proprietary topic. Do not

include any materials marked Proprietary. All documents will be copied and distributed via the Internet to the

aforementioned Evaluation Team and will be considered as public knowledge.

By submitting an entry to the Aviation Week Program Excellence Awards program, you are indicating agreement to participate in outreach efforts to share Lessons Learned/Best Practices in an effort to raise the bar on program leadership across the industry. Entries may be also used for comparative research among programs to draw conclusions and lessons learned across the industry.

Format of Submission

The Program Excellence Awards process involves two phases of evaluation.

Phase 1 – Nominees submit, in narrative format, their perspective on why the program excels and identify the teachable lessons in program execution within the past 36 months (beginning January 2011). The focus in this narrative should be how the program has successfully addressed challenging issues or met seemingly difficult requirements. Note that while the technology involved is an aspect of complexity, the technology itself is not being evaluated – the leadership and execution of the program are being evaluated.

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 Include with the narrative a one-page biography of the program leader, including what sets this individual apart as a leader.

 Identify by name a representative of the program customer, and include phone and email information. Customers will be asked for go/no go decision regarding consideration of this program for the Aviation Week Program Excellence Award.

 Phase 1 is due April 1, 2014 to chedden1@cox.net / carole.hedden@aviationweek.com

You must use the tabular format provided to submit your nomination form. You should use 12 pt. Times Roman

font to fill in the tables. Submit your document as a PDF file.

Upon completion of Phase 1, narratives will be reviewed for “fit for excellence” and qualified nominees will then be provided with the Phase 2 submission form by no later than April 21. The Phase 2 forms will be due June 30, 2014. Finalists and best practices will be identified by no later than September 7.

Submission and Questions

Questions and submissions should be directed to Carole Rickard Hedden

Project Leader, Aviation Week Program Excellence Initiative

chedden1@cox.net / carole.hedden@aviationweek.com

505.239.9520

Phase I Submission

Name of Program: Federal Aviation Administration Automated Flight Service Stations (AFSS)

Name of Program Leader: James (Jim) Derr, Director, Aviation Services Phone Number: (240) 888-4457

Email: James.Derr@lmco.com

Postage Address: 9231 Corporate Blvd Rockville, MD 20850

Name of Customer Representative: Mark Carver, Program Manager/COR FS21 Phone Number: (202) 385-7775

Email: Mark.Carver@faa.gov

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Jim Derr is a Program Director in Transportation Solutions for Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Services – Civil line of business in Rockville, Maryland. In this position, he is responsible for Aviation Services and the FAA’s Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) program is part of his portfolio. Additional responsibilities in his area include; UAV/UAS domain, Training Services and international and domestic Flight Services.

He was named to his current position in October 2009.

Jim has 33 years of experience in program management, operations, systems integration, systems engineering, software development, test and integration, capture management, and proposal management. His experience includes management of small teams, as well as organizations of over 1,000 employees, and management of international systems integration projects involving teams located in several countries. Jim is a certified Lockheed Martin Program Management Professional (Level 4 Master).

Jim previously was the Program Director for the FAA’s EnRoute Automation and Modernization (ERAM) program. The ERAM program replaces the Host Computer System (HCS) prior to the end of maintenance support in 2010.

Before his role on ERAM, Jim was the Director of Operations and Hardware Design for the

Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions business area, responsible for all aspects of supply chain management, from hardware design through acquisition and procurement activities.

Additionally Jim was the Program Manager for the FAA’s En Route Communications Gateway (ECG) program. The ECG program, which replaced the en route communications gateway infrastructure in the United States, was a precursor to the ERAM program.

Prior to that, Jim completed a three-year international assignment in southern England as both a software development manager and the test manager for the New En Route Centre (NERC). Upon returning to the United States, he was assigned as the deputy program manager for the New Scottish Centre (NSC) program and later became the program manager.

Jim started his career in 1981 as a programmer with Electronic Data Systems (EDS), moving to a legacy Lockheed Martin business in 1983. He has held various positions in the United States and internationally, including systems engineer, software developer, test engineer, and middle manager roles in both software development and test in DOD and the international and domestic sectors for programs such as the Royal Thai Army C3I system, the MX Missile Program, and the Enhance Airspace Security prototype.

A 1981 graduate of James Madison University, Jim has a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems.

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Phase I Program Narrative - 1

The Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) program provides the general aviation pilot community with safety-critical flight plan filing and weather briefing services within the continental United States on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The team of 800 handles more than 200,000 flight calls from pilots each month, providing important pre-flight, in-flight and search and rescue services 24/7/365. The program plays a key role in

ensuring the safety of the nation’s airspace for all aviation stakeholders.

The FAA awarded Lockheed Martin the AFSS contract in 2005 with a challenge to enhance general aviation safety and realize cost savings. The program has worked to meet these goals through exceptional performance and intelligent deployment of technology. Following a facilities consolidation and technology automation initiative, the $2 billion program has consistently met and/or exceeded all performance objectives set by the FAA customer, while generating significant cost savings and improving customer service for pilots.

In 2013 alone, the program realized $8 million in additional savings, enabling the FAA to fund additional initiatives in a financially constrained environment. Other recent program

achievements include 100 percent achievement of customer-defined acceptable performance levels for the past 2.5 years and the execution of a two year option period by the customer in 2013.

AFSS achieved these goals by tightly controlling costs through close relationships with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Union, demand-based staffing and scheduling, focusing on weather briefer training and embedding automation into workflows wherever possible. As a result, pilots generally wait seconds before receiving an answer from an FAA-certified weather briefer, who has immediate access to information necessary to brief the pilot properly on conditions along their route of flight.

AFSS’ success in achieving substantial cost savings for the FAA has been accomplished in tandem with its primary duty and core mission to the general aviation community, including innovating pilot-facing technology. The program sustains substantial general aviation community outreach. AFSS software engineers and weather briefer supervisors regularly conduct training and listening sessions, visiting general aviation flying clubs, gatherings and conventions throughout the United States. These sessions are invaluable for maintaining an understanding of the general aviation community’s needs and ensuring that pilots are able to use AFSS’ services to the fullest extent possible. In addition to direct community outreach, AFSS maintains a full time customer service and quality assurance team to maintain briefing quality.

The AFSS program has engaged in a substantial software development initiative to provide a suite of web-based services to pilots. This initiative, delivered at no additional cost the FAA, and free to pilots, ensures that the general aviation community has access to an array of powerful web and satellite-based flight planning and safety tools.

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The AFSS team implemented an easy-to-use web portal for flight plan filing and simplified pilot briefings so they are easier to use. Traditional written flight briefings are primarily text-based and do not prioritize information, increasing the possibility of a pilot missing a dangerous or obscure condition. AFSS’s programs automatically summarize briefings into graphic-rich, tightly written documents that provide pilots with an optimized opportunity for full safety situational awareness prior to their flights.

AFSS also introduced a surveillance-enhanced search and rescue capability improving safety for general aviation pilots. Prior to this capability, search and rescue efforts began 30 minutes after the pilot should have closed out the flight plan and without an aircraft’s fixed location. With this new capability, pilots install simple and extremely affordable equipment that tracks their flight route and alerts monitoring specialists if the flight stops moving or stops transmitting. If it is determined that something has gone wrong, search and rescue activities begin earlier and better information exists to determine the location where the plane may have gone down. This solution rectifies a long standing safety issue in the general aviation community and provides a

potentially life-saving service to pilots in a highly cost effective manner.

The team is also implementing easy web-based activation and closure of flight plans, which reduces call volume, enabling specialists to focus on safety briefings, while preventing

unnecessary initiation of search and rescue activities, conserving costly state and federal national security resources.

These innovations are developed in-house at AFSS but, in keeping with its mission of aviation safety, shared broadly. AFSS provides access and engineering support to commercial aviation application developers so that pilots using other flight planning tools may make use of AFSS’s new safety features. The program continues to meet with popular community vendors to encourage integration of their safety technology and plans to roll out new features every six months for the next several years.

The AFSS program has succeeded and excelled because of its longstanding capacity to execute a critical safety mission while realizing dramatic gains in efficiency. Over the program’s lifespan the team has consolidated 58 facilities to five and reduced their weather briefer workforce from 2,000 to 600 and realized more than $1.5 billion in savings and is on track to realize $2B of savings over the life of the program. Key lessons from the AFSS program include:

 Close collaboration with a highly motivated workforce: An open and honest management style with the AFSS program’s air traffic specialist IAM workforce has greatly improved the collaboration between all employees working on the program and enhanced program success.

 Continuous process improvement: Rigorous assessment of costs, benefits and risks has enabled AFSS to focus carefully on service to pilots and the FAA customer, meeting stringent customer service goals while containing costs.

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 Mission focus: Pilots’ lives depend on AFSS disseminating weather and flight briefing information accurately and in timely manner. By maintaining a mission focused

operational and management culture AFSS has developed process and technology innovations that enhance their ability to keep pilots safe.

 Innovation investment: In keeping with their mission, AFSS has invested substantial R&D funds into new ways to disseminate important safety information to pilots. Carefully chosen and strategic R&D investment has yielded efficiency and safety gains for AFSS and improved relations with the general aviation community.

The AFSS program remains dedicated to providing the general aviation community with outstanding safety and customer service. Through innovative management and mission

dedication the program has realized exceptional technical and financial results, helping to deliver a safe and efficient airspace for the nation and the general aviation community.

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