The Army Research Laboratory Alternative Organizational and Management Options (1994) / Chapter Skim
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Pages 1-19
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are contracted out to several centers of excellence, overseen and guided by a strong permanent staff of government technical and management experts; and 4. The Govemment-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCOJ ARL option, in which the entire program, including management, is contracted out to a single contractor.
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From page 3... ...
ARL's mission is to: Provide America's soldiers the technology edge by conducting a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and advanced technology directed toward new and improved materials, components, subsystems, techniques and processes, and by performing objective analyses of combat system performance. It carries out this mission in 10 broad areas which ARL calls "business areas," each in a separate ARL directorate: Advanced Computational and Information Sciences; Battlefield Environment; Electronics and Power Sources; Human Research and Engineering; Materials; Sensors, Signatures, Signal and Information Processing; Survivability/Lethality Analysis; Vehicle Propulsion; Vehicle Structures; and Weapons Technology.
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From page 4... ...
. It is not receiving sufficient support at higher levels in funding and personnel decisions, particularly in recent hiring freezes and personnel cuts.
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These handicaps prevail despite clear directives in 1989 from DOD acquisition officials to implement the Defense Laboratory Demonstration (Lab Demo) program of reforms, which would go far toward relieving these obstacles.
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Funding As in the case of their current personnel and procurement practices decisions, the Army, in funcling AR L, has not adhered to Army policies calling for stable funding and focusing technology base resources to support upgrades of systems. Although the combination of 6.T and 6.2 funds will remain relatively stable from fiscal year 1994 to fiscal year 1997, ARI will receive only 22 percent of the Army's total 6.]
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In exploratory development, ARL's sources are somewhat less limited, but it cannot contract out more than 30 percent of its work. Such restrictions were established to protect and maintain an internal capability to conduct basic research and exploratory development, a commendable objective.
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Technology Transfer to the Army ARL transfers technology to operational users indirectly, by way of the RDECs. The central transfer mechanisms are Technology Program Annexes, formal agreements defining specific joint ARL-RDEC research projects, with specified transition points from ARL to the RDEC.
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From page 10... ...
generally, all procurement constraints imposed by the Army should be selectively eli~x~natecI, to free laboratories to the limits of federal law and Defense Acquisition Regulations. (This recom~nendation does not apply to the GOCO ARL option, which~epending on the contract- may not be subject to federal procurement practices in the same way.)
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From page 11... ...
Approval by Congress, the Office of Personnel Management, DOD, and the Army may be needed. (These reforms, like the Lab Demo procurement measures, would not apply to the GOCO ARL option, which has no government employees.)
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involves frequently recommended changes in personnel, purchasing, and contracting arrangements, while keeping ARE a government organization. The option is based on the Lab Demo program of purchasing and personnel reforms, already mentioned, and DOD's proposed Laboratory Quality Initiatives, which build on the Lab Demo initiatives, including aciclitional contracting reforms.
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From page 17... ...
The GOCO ARL option because it is outside the government, might also be less able than the ARL Enhanced baseline (or other internal options) to transfer technology to the Army, provide technical support to operating forces, or carry out system assessments for the Army.
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From page 18... ...
The NIST, ARL Multicenter, and GOCO ARL options would all be major improvements over the current situation, and all three have the potential to produce a worId-ciass laboratory. The NIST option in particular is an excellent internal option.
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