Inaugural AICB summit highlights expertise, mission status, future goals

FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. -

The Acquisitions Insight Capability Board hosted its inaugural summit, at Defense Contract Management Agency headquarters, here, Aug. 13-15.

The virtual AICB summit hoped to advanceintegrated enterprise analytics strategies. More than 200 agency members participatedin the event, which served as a focal point for sharingexpertise, reflecting on current product offerings, and generating a strategic roadmap for the next five years.

During her opening remarks, Navy Capt. Nicola Gathright, commander of DCMA Eastern Regional Command, and AICB deputy, urged participants to share openly, challenge conventional thinking, and collaborate across boundaries to forge a path toward a more integrated and innovative future.

This began a series of sessions that included strategies for building a data and Artificial Intelligence-enabled organization, and a detailed exploration of data science fundamentals.

Throughout the event AICB subject matter experts shared essential best practices in policy, training, and tools development, which are integral to enhancing the agency's Business Capabilities Framework, or BCF.

An executive panel offered valuable insights on how to best balance policy development with innovation, emphasizing regular reflection, learning through failures, creating psychological safety, and accounting for budget constraints.

The desired outcome was to create a shared understanding of integrated enterprise analytics through a standard definition, description, and attributes, said Rhonda Daniel, a senior contract specialist for DCMA International Command.

"Our overarching objective was to collaborate, learn, and unite to elevate acquisition insight capabilities across the DCMA enterprise," Daniel said.

Attendee Elena Martinez, procurement Analyst, DCMA Southern California, shared her enthusiasm for the summit.

"The event was truly impressive, offering a wealth of valuable information," Martinez said. "The ideas presented were exciting and I'm eager to see these transformative changes come to life."

In response to overwhelmingly positive feedback, future events may expand the audience to include a larger portion of the workforce, provided there is sufficient technological support. This initiative reflects the summit's commitment to inclusivity and broad-based participation.

All presentation materials and recordings from the summit are now available on Microsoft SharePoint site, to include session recordings, ensuring that those who could not attend can still benefit from the discussions. Additionally, an interactive AICB Roadmap PowerApps is also posted online to outline key initiatives and encourage further participation from interested members across the workforce.

As part of its commitment to fostering collaboration and integration, a call for expanded AICB membership was issued during the event. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their applications through the BCF 365 SharePoint site.

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