My advice is to commit to. lifelong learning. Degrees. and certifications are just the beginning. Contract Management May 2016

Transcription

1 My advice is to commit to lifelong learning. Degrees and certifications are just the beginning. 56 Contract Management May 2016

2 Soraya OUR CHAT WITH Correa, CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY EDITED BY RYAN BURKE We recently had a chat with Soraya Correa, chief procurement officer (CPO), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to discuss procurement within DHS, as well as her initiatives and goals for the future of DHS. Contract Management: Thank you very much for participating in this interview. Please tell us about yourself. Soraya Correa: I was appointed as the Department of Homeland Security s (DHS) chief procurement officer (CPO) in January I provide leadership, policy, oversight, support, and professional workforce development for the DHS contracting workforce of approximately 1,500 individuals, including nine operational contracting activities each of which is led by a head of contracting activity (HCA) supporting the DHS components. As the senior procurement executive, I also oversee a centralized certification and training program for the DHS acquisition workforce and assist the chief acquisition officer in managing major acquisition programs, ensuring each has a sound acquisition strategy, conforms to Secretary Jeh Johnson s Unity of Effort initiative, 1 and fully supports DHS mission needs. Contract Management May

3 What is the mission of DHS procurement? Like most procurement organizations, our mission is to ensure we obtain the best business solutions to meet mission needs. My organizational vision is that our acquisition professionals will act as innovative and flexible business advisors delivering mission-driven solutions for our customers. In support of that vision, I ve established four overarching strategic priorities as part of my fiscal years Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) strategic plan: Another initiative is strategic sourcing. I am committed to the principles of strategic sourcing in my role as DHS CPO and more important, in my role as a taxpayer. A significant benefit of strategic sourcing is the reduction in overall spending across the department on common goods and services. These savings, or cost avoidances, enable DHS components to optimize limited budgetary resources and reallocate funds toward enhancing DHS capability to fulfill its mission. As a former program executive with U.S. Customs and Immigration Services, I know firsthand that every dollar counts. Inspire and Motivate People, Deliver Exceptional Results, Enhance Mission Capabilities, and Promote Meaningful Communications. Each of these priorities serve as the foundation for major initiatives that I am driving across our acquisition community to support the DHS mission in a more efficient and effective manner. Given the current budget scenario and economic austerity, what are your key initiatives to support efficiencies, mission changes, and policy? There are several key initiatives that I m currently engaged in. These initiatives focus on our acquisition workforce, strategic sourcing, category management, and industry engagement. For the acquisition workforce, my highest priority and key initiative is ensuring we have a well-trained, skilled, and motivated workforce in sufficient numbers to address the needs of DHS. Continuing our Acquisition Professionals Career Program 2 is a key tenet of this initiative. Through our Homeland Security Acquisition Institute, our team has implemented additional, more focused training on topics of interest to the DHS community. Our Learning Cafés provide the opportunity for our acquisition professionals to learn about FITARA, 3 category management, and other topics from the comfort of their offices (since most of these sessions are offered via webinar and other distance learning tools). I am also focused on ensuring that our employee engagement efforts address the needs of the entire DHS procurement community by implementing a community-wide mentoring program, providing opportunities for sharing resources on projects, and conducting regular CPO Town Halls to talk to and hear directly from our workforce. In terms of leveraging solutions that are available governmentwide, I believe DHS has demonstrated its commitment by partnering with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy on the Category Management Leadership Council and in adopting seven governmentwide vehicles into its strategic sourcing portfolio. Most recently, DHS made the business decision to adopt the General Services Administration s One Acquisition Solutions for Integrated Services 4 program instead of re-competing the DHS-wide vehicle, Technical, Acquisition, and Business Support Services. 5 Although I believe there is value in governmentwide efforts, I firmly feel that the one-size-fits-all approach cannot and should not be applied to the DHS mission. As the DHS CPO, I am entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the department obtains the goods and services it needs to achieve its mission goals. To me, mission comes first; therefore, our decision to participate or not in a governmentwide initiative will almost always come down to the impact on the DHS mission. My organizational vision is that our acquisition professionals will act as innovative and flexible business advisors delivering mission-driven solutions for our customers. Another initiative is category management. Several years ago at DHS, our strategic sourcing program office realigned to support a category management approach to the way business is conducted. I am frequently asked about the difference between category management and strategic sourcing at DHS. I see category management as an overall approach to understanding and managing categories of spend and requirements. This practice encompasses a deep understanding of trends in the marketplace, including best practices, pricing structures, terms and conditions, and other supply chain considerations. Additionally, category management requires an internal awareness of an organization s requirements, future needs, and spend. However, category management does not always result in a strategic sourcing vehicle. Here at DHS, we consider strategic sourcing (as a process) to be a byproduct of overall category management; therefore, strategic sourcing is the process that can be applied to sourcing a specific requirement within a category of spend. Category management has enabled us to become more efficient in our approach to implement strategic sourcing contract vehicles at 58 Contract Management May 2016

4 DHS. We are also active participants in the federal arena DHS is the governmentwide category manager for security and protection commodities and services. Concerning industry engagement, last year we launched Acquisitions Innovations in Motion (AIiM) 6 to enhance DHS outreach to industry. AIiM is an outgrowth of Secretary Johnson s Unity of Effort initiative 7 to make DHS greater than the sum of its parts. It is a series of initiatives and events focused on increasing engagement and communication with our industry partners, and improving the manner in which we do business. We include representatives from across DHS and the federal government. Through AIiM, we are constantly working with industry to create opportunities for substantive conversations, identify opportunities for improvements and increased transparency, and to strengthen and expand the relationships that we have. AIiM is also congruent with the Office of Management and Budget s Myth-Busting campaign, 8 which addresses misconceptions in the federal procurement workforce and in industry in order to improve communication during the acquisition process. Under AIiM, we held the first-ever DHS Reverse Industry Day in November The DHS acquisitions workforce heard from panels of our industry partners on what issues are most important to companies when they do business with DHS. Presenters taught us a great deal about what drives industry business decisions and behaviors, and how DHS can potentially impact that process in a positive way. We will hold a second Reverse Industry Day later this year. Part of the education process I am engaged in both with industry and within DHS is to ensure all stakeholders understand that industry engagement is not just a buzzword, but rather an ongoing process that is vital to DHS mission success. The more we are able to provide the right information at the right time to industry, the more risk and uncertainty we remove from the process. You may ask what this does for DHS. It creates a more efficient marketplace that allows industry to make informed decisions about where to allocate their resources, and ultimately to spend more resources investing in the solutions they offer to DHS. What aspects of your background and experience have you been able to bring forward into your current position? How did those roles prepare you for your current leadership position? I recently celebrated 35 years of federal service and have been with DHS since its inception. 9 I began my career in a program office, which is where my focus on supporting and enabling the mission comes from. I have held key positions in contracting and program management throughout my career and have transitioned back and forth between customer and procurement organizations. Contract Management May

5 At DHS, I served as the head of contracting activity at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Office of Procurement Operations, and served as an associate director at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services managing several major programs. I have also held key leadership positions with the Naval Sea Systems Command, General Services Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service. My approach to my work is and always has been, How can I get this done? We have such an important mission to support that we cannot allow ourselves to list all the ways that something can t be done we must focus our efforts on identifying the ways that we can get something accomplished. As a leader, I want the organizations I lead to provide the best possible service and support to our customers! What are some cultural, policy, and/or workforce examples within DHS that assist in improving organizational performance? During a recent webinar, we asked the DHS acquisition community the following question: The Federal Acquisition Regulation encourages the acquisition team to innovate, so what is stopping you from innovating both the techniques and business processes? Over 70 percent of the respondents indicated fear and cultural resistance as the primary reason for lack of innovation. This fear, this risk aversion, is something we have to address across the entire acquisition community, including fiscal, legal, program, and procurement offices. In order to encourage people to come forward with ideas on how to improve the procurement process, I created a component of AIiM called the Procurement Innovation Lab (PIL). 10 The PIL is a virtual lab that empowers all those involved in the procurement process not just procurement officers to take managed, informed risks. It creates a test environment to explore and refine innovations in acquisition. Its goal is to increase efficiencies in procurement and institutionalize best practices. Webinars and an internal website are used to spread lessons learned and showcase success stories. The PIL has been very successful. In fact, the White House recently cited the PIL s innovative work when it announced a new initiative to accelerate the establishment of acquisition innovation labs in all federal agencies. 11 Training and experience are most effective when they reinforce one another. A very important aspect of the PIL is that when projects succeed, I make sure that the people responsible for that success actually lead the webinars, allowing them to share that success with the rest of DHS. If a project fails, it s mine I take the blame, so that they can continue to feel empowered to do everything they can to support their customers and ultimately the DHS mission. My goal is to create a learning culture to enhance our ability to support the DHS mission. As a leader, I want to inspire and motivate people to continuously improve and find every way to support their customer. Real, enduring change must come from grassroots procurement activities throughout DHS, with strong and persistent support from me and senior DHS management. How do you measure the effectiveness and efficiency of DHS procurement? Are there metrics or tools you use to assess and measure these factors? How do you know if the acquisition team is performing well? One method we use to measure effectiveness is the customer feedback loop in PIL. After an award of a contract, the PIL project team reaches out to successful and disappointed offerors and the program office, and conducts interviews to assess effectiveness of the procurement process and the innovative techniques applied. The anonymous feedback is then shared with the procurement team to inform them and promote lessons learned, which are then disseminated to our workforce via webinars. We have also participated in the Office of Federal Procurement and Policy s Acquisition 360 surveys, 12 which include input from the federal and private entities involved in a procurement. Analysis of the results helps identify and implement internal improvements on the planning and award of contracts. DHS leadership receives anonymous survey results within 30 days after a procurement is awarded. In your view, how important is relevant experience, when balanced against formal training, in determining the effectiveness of today s workforce? Generally, I think that we spend too much time talking about what s more important, training or experience. The issue is transforming training into learning, which is done through experience. Training and experience are most effective when they reinforce one another. That is why we are experimenting with more flexible training delivery at DHS. Learning Cafes present targeted topics of interest in short, interactive webinars that don t require a week-long, inclassroom commitment and can be accessed as needed. The PIL is another learning opportunity that allows our workforce to experiment in the field if you will, with top cover and risk management assistance from leadership. These are on-the-job learning opportunities to test new ideas in procurement. 60 Contract Management May 2016

6 What are your goals in the near future for DHS procurement, and what would you like for your legacy to be after you re gone? My vision statement for the OCPO is innovative and flexible business advisers delivering mission-driven solutions for customers. This statement highlights the importance of supporting the DHS mission through flexibilities that the procurement and acquisition systems offer us, as well as the fact that procurement professionals do not simply move paper and sign contracts. They are business advisors who are with the customer every step of the way. As I mentioned before, my four strategic priorities for fiscal years are to inspire and motivate people, deliver exceptional results, enhance mission capabilities, and promote meaningful communications. To achieve these goals, I have a strategic planning manager in my office who is dedicated to planning, implementing, and evaluating every element of my strategic plan. Each of my four strategic priorities has objectives, initiatives, and metrics tied to it to focus the efforts of the entire organization. I regularly communicate with my OCPO and HCA leadership across DHS, and continually revisit the strategic plan to monitor progress and make course corrections when necessary. I also have an advisory seat on the DHS Joint Requirements Council to ensure that acquisition is an early part of the requirements discussion and is included in the integrated process teams focusing on the myriad challenges DHS must address. The Council was created by Secretary Johnson as part of the Unity of Effort Initiative to enhance DHS operational effectiveness. You have had a successful career in acquisition. What guidance would you like to share with those just entering this field? My advice is to commit to lifelong learning. Degrees and certifications are just the beginning. Lifelong learning through self-assessment, training, experience, and professional development is the endgame. Sources of learning are truly unlimited, and include informal training, detail assignments to other organizations, participation in professional organizations, mentoring, and building and maintaining your professional relationships over the course of your career. All of these offer insight and lifelong learning opportunities. CM Aeronautics and Space Administration. Her accomplishments as a leader and acquisitions professional are well recognized by the federal government and industry, where she has received several awards, including the Chief Acquisitions Officers Council s Individual Award for Excellence, Federal 100, and Public Sector Partner of the Year. Send comments about this interview to cm@ncmahq.org. ENDNOTES 1. Editor s Note: For more information on Secretary Jeh Johnson s Unity of Effort initiative, see DHSUnityOfEffort.pdf. 2. Editor s Note: A three-year intern program to develop the DHS procurement workforce of the future. 3. Editor s Note: I.e., the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (H.R. 1232). 4. Editor s Note: Also known as OASIS. See category/ for more information. 5. Editor s Note: Also known as TABSS. See for more information. 6. Editor s Note: AIiM is a series of initiatives, industry engagement events, and conversations focused on reciprocal learning between DHS and private industry. For more information on AIiM and these events, see gov/publication/acquisition-innovations-motion and 7. Editor s Note: See note Editor s Note: See, generally, omb/procurement/memo/myth-busting.pdf and sites/default/files/omb/procurement/memo/myth-busting-2-addressingmisconceptions-and-further-improving-communication-during-theacquisition-process.pdf. 9. Editor s Note: DHS was formed on November 25, Editor s Note: For more information on the PIL, see /06/04/dhs-makes-significant-strides-management-initiatives. Soraya Correa was also interviewed by Federal News Radio about the PIL (available at Editor s Note: See Anne E. Rung, administrator for federal procurement policy, Office of Management and Budget; Acquisition Innovation Labs & Pilot for Digital Acquisition Innovation Lab (March 9, 2016); available at acquisition-innovation-labs-and-pilot-for-digital-acquisition-innovationlab-memorandum.pdf. 12. Editor s Note: For more information on the Office of Federal Procurement Policy s Acquisition 360 tool, see omb/procurement/memo/acquisition-360-improving-acquisition-processtimely-feedback-external-internal-stakeholders.pdf. ABOUT SORAYA CORREA SORAYA CORREA is the chief procurement officer for DHS. Prior to this appointment, she served as the associate director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Enterprise Services Directorate, as the executive director of the DHS Office of Procurement Operations, and as the director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Procurement. She has also held several key leadership positions at several federal agencies in the past, including the Naval Sea Systems Command, General Services Administration, and the National Contract Management May