A ‘SAFE’ alternative to working within fiscal constraints
2016-05-18
Big missions, high hopes and dwindling budgets may be the story of this constrained fiscal climate, but with smart strategies and innovative thinking, it doesn’t have to be Johnson Space Center’s final chapter.
There is a better alternative—a “SAFE” (otherwise known as the Strategic Acquisition Forecast Evaluation) alternative—to finding efficiencies and cost savings through Procurement and contract operations.
“The budget reality at JSC is we’ve got a huge mission to go accomplish, and the budgets are not dramatically getting bigger, so how can we squeeze the margins?” said Brad Niese, acting manager of the Source Selection and Analysis Office.
JSC loves its science, technology, engineering and math—and the math leads to a solution through mission-support roles like Procurement.
“So many dollars go through Procurement doors,” Niese said. “Eighty cents on the dollar goes through contracts at the center. It doesn’t take a dramatic change to see a decent return on your investment.”
The brainchild of former JSC Deputy Director Steve Altemus, SAFE was brought to fruition with a dedicated team under former JSC Deputy Director Kirk Shireman, who succeeded Altemus before taking on his current role of International Space Station Program manager. After analyzing JSC’s complete contract portfolio, the team made recommendations to senior staff and worked on implementing some of SAFE’s procurement best practices.
Less is more
As a result of SAFE, the center has already improved efficiency to the overall contract portfolio. One byproduct has been the reduction in the sheer number of unique contracts at JSC.
“We buy a lot of services for a lot of different customers here at the center, and we do many interesting projects, but some of the skills are common across directorates,” Niese said. “We find ourselves potentially buying those skills under different contracts just based on the org code we’re supporting. What SAFE is trying to do is look at our portfolio in a more strategic manner and, if we can, aggregate requirements and get more bang for the buck out of our procurements.”
There are many not-so-secret costs associated with putting procurements in place and completing source-selection activities. As Niese noted, there is a better way than tying up technical, resource and procurement personnel—as well as corresponding contractor overhead via business and program management.
“It cost a lot to bid on proposals,” Niese said. “So what we’re trying to do is trim the margins of the cost of doing procurement down by doing less of them if we can satisfy multiple customers with a single solution.”
Efficiency through core competency
Working across departmental lines and collaboration is also a key element of SAFE’s strategy.
“The other thing it can do from an innovation perspective is you’re getting other directorates, or divisions or branches, to share resources,” Niese said. “So you’re getting ideas crossing branch lines that otherwise might not have happened if they each had their own contract.”
With SAFE, if there’s a common contractor supporting both, it is much easier to take that infusion of ideas across directorate lines.
Procurement’s response to JSC 2.0, SAFE is showing that the center’s business model, too, can be lean, agile and adaptive to better fit the future—just as many programs and projects have already done. In streamlining acquisition processes and leveraging existing contractor relationships, JSC is advancing methods of operation in a SAFE, smart way. What worked then was fine for then, but not necessarily what we need right now.
“At the end of the day, this is advancing us one step closer to getting a manned first flight in Orion, advancing science on the International Space Station and getting the next step to Mars,” Niese said. “This is what [SAFE is] all about.”
By JSC getting its contract support a little bit differently—and definitely more efficiently, “the end state result is we’re saving precious dollars that can be applied right back to the mission,” Niese said.
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center
There is a better alternative—a “SAFE” (otherwise known as the Strategic Acquisition Forecast Evaluation) alternative—to finding efficiencies and cost savings through Procurement and contract operations.
“The budget reality at JSC is we’ve got a huge mission to go accomplish, and the budgets are not dramatically getting bigger, so how can we squeeze the margins?” said Brad Niese, acting manager of the Source Selection and Analysis Office.
JSC loves its science, technology, engineering and math—and the math leads to a solution through mission-support roles like Procurement.
“So many dollars go through Procurement doors,” Niese said. “Eighty cents on the dollar goes through contracts at the center. It doesn’t take a dramatic change to see a decent return on your investment.”
The brainchild of former JSC Deputy Director Steve Altemus, SAFE was brought to fruition with a dedicated team under former JSC Deputy Director Kirk Shireman, who succeeded Altemus before taking on his current role of International Space Station Program manager. After analyzing JSC’s complete contract portfolio, the team made recommendations to senior staff and worked on implementing some of SAFE’s procurement best practices.
Less is more
As a result of SAFE, the center has already improved efficiency to the overall contract portfolio. One byproduct has been the reduction in the sheer number of unique contracts at JSC.
“We buy a lot of services for a lot of different customers here at the center, and we do many interesting projects, but some of the skills are common across directorates,” Niese said. “We find ourselves potentially buying those skills under different contracts just based on the org code we’re supporting. What SAFE is trying to do is look at our portfolio in a more strategic manner and, if we can, aggregate requirements and get more bang for the buck out of our procurements.”
There are many not-so-secret costs associated with putting procurements in place and completing source-selection activities. As Niese noted, there is a better way than tying up technical, resource and procurement personnel—as well as corresponding contractor overhead via business and program management.
“It cost a lot to bid on proposals,” Niese said. “So what we’re trying to do is trim the margins of the cost of doing procurement down by doing less of them if we can satisfy multiple customers with a single solution.”
Efficiency through core competency
Working across departmental lines and collaboration is also a key element of SAFE’s strategy.
“The other thing it can do from an innovation perspective is you’re getting other directorates, or divisions or branches, to share resources,” Niese said. “So you’re getting ideas crossing branch lines that otherwise might not have happened if they each had their own contract.”
With SAFE, if there’s a common contractor supporting both, it is much easier to take that infusion of ideas across directorate lines.
Procurement’s response to JSC 2.0, SAFE is showing that the center’s business model, too, can be lean, agile and adaptive to better fit the future—just as many programs and projects have already done. In streamlining acquisition processes and leveraging existing contractor relationships, JSC is advancing methods of operation in a SAFE, smart way. What worked then was fine for then, but not necessarily what we need right now.
“At the end of the day, this is advancing us one step closer to getting a manned first flight in Orion, advancing science on the International Space Station and getting the next step to Mars,” Niese said. “This is what [SAFE is] all about.”
By JSC getting its contract support a little bit differently—and definitely more efficiently, “the end state result is we’re saving precious dollars that can be applied right back to the mission,” Niese said.
Who helped make JSC SAFE? They were:
Brad Niese/BD
Jeff Dutton/EA
Joreen Lee/LB
Larry Shaw/XB
Richard Slater/IA
Kate Suratt/EA
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center