PEO Perspective: November 2023

It’s hard to believe it’s November already, and we’re well into our new fiscal year. With it comes a lot of change, and as always, a great deal to share with you. Let’s get right to it:  

IEN/DCO FAREWELL 

On the first of the month, PEO EIS will gather to say farewell and thank you to the E-ICAM product office, and to our teammates from the Integrated Enterprise Network (IEN) and Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO) portfolios, who officially transitioned to our partner PEOs, IEW&S and C3T, in October as part of PEO Optimization. 

We will miss our teammates from these organizations – who still remain in their same physical locations – but look forward to continued collaboration across the PEOs and the acquisition community. Thank you to Mr. Kyle Tucker, product manager for E-ICAM; Col. Jay Shell, project manager for IEN; and Bob Zoppa, project manager for DCO, for their teams’ years of service and innovation.  

There’s a lot of work to do as we narrow our focus to at speed delivery of software and services essential to the Army’s success on any battlefield, in any fight.  

AUSA 

Last month, Deputy PEO Bill Hepworth, Assistant PEO Rob Schadey, Acquisition Innovation Directorate Director Aric Sherwood, Chief Information Officer Mike Chappell and Strategic Communication Director Tara Clements joined me at the Annual Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Conference in Washington, D.C., to network with Army leaders and meet industry partners.  

The headquarters team met 20 companies, and Bill conducted a Lightning Talk, sharing PEO EIS’s critical part in ASA(ALT)’s Digital Odyssey, organization and leadership changes and additions, lessons learned from our Agile journey, and our expectations of industry.  

I also sat down for a fireside chat with George Jackson from GovExec as part of a larger program about Army modernization entitled “Innovating and Sustaining Ready Combat Power.” Other participants included MG Christopher L. Eubank, Commanding General, NETCOM, and Dr. James C. Kirsch, Aviation & Missile Center Director, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command.  

Topics in the interview range from PEO Optimization, our Agile journey, recent successes within our business management programs, and the importance and future of data as an Army priority.  

IPPS-A MILITARY PAY INDUSTRY DAY 

On Nov. 2, Army leaders from Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army (IPPS-A) will host a virtual industry day, answering industry questions about an upcoming Army Military Payroll procurement.  

The Army is seeking companies with knowledge and expertise in Army Military Payroll processing, Agile software development and delivery, enterprise resource planning, human-centered design, pay systems, PeopleSoft HCM and Global Payroll, DevSecOps processes and workflow synchronization with a production baseline. 

Please visit our website for updates on the agenda, speakers, Teams link and more, and you can register here. 

AFCEA BELVOIR LUNCHEON 

On Nov. 15, I will be speaking at the AFCEA Belvoir November 2023 Luncheon at the Embassy Suites in Springfield, Virginia.  

We’re still finalizing all the details, but you can count on plenty of time for Q&A. I look forward to seeing you there. 

FORECAST TO INDUSTRY 

On Nov. 30, PEO EIS leaders will host a first of its kind, all-encompassing Forecast to Industry event at the Defense Acquisition University’s Howell Auditorium at Fort Belvoir.  

Nine leaders will brief industry on our Agile journey, share technical information about planned procurements and answer industry questions.  

Deputy PEO Bill Hepworth and I will lead off the discussion, followed by: 

Brian Raftery, PM, ARDAP 

Lt. Col. LJ Freeland, PdM, ADP 

Tim Hale, PdM, ATIS 

Michael Gormley, Deputy PM, EBS-C 

Reginald Shuford, PD, ES 

Kevin Curry, PM, DIBS 

Col. RJ Mikesh, PM, IPPS-A 

The event will be livestreamed on LinkedIn and YouTube, and procurement forecast slides from this event will be available on our website. Register here for the event.  

UPCOMING OBSERVANCES 

Veterans Day 

Every Nov. 11, we honor the brave men and women throughout history who have stepped forward to defend our nation. Many PEO EIS workforce members are veterans or have veteran family members, and we will be spotlighting them on our social platforms this month.  

Native American Heritage Month and Military Family Month 

There is no better time to pay tribute to the first Americans and to our service families who are the backbone of our Soldiers — truly at the heart of everything we do. 

Thanksgiving 

Finally, this month we come together with family, friends and community to give thanks for our blessings.  

On a very personal note, I am thankful to be a part of this talented, impassioned and dedicated team. We’ve been through a lot together – a global pandemic, the emergence of a virtual, integrated and flexible work environment, organizational and leadership changes, and a profound change in how we approach delivery of capability through our adoption of an Agile methodology. Through it all, I’ve been so impressed and moved by the level of commitment and passion this team has for their work on behalf of Soldiers. 

Thank you to all who have served, and from our family to yours, have a great month and a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Ross R. Guckert, Program Executive Officer, PEO EIS