The Noblis Mission Life Cycle Support (MLCS) organization has developed a full-spectrum enterprise strategy to solving client problems and providing timely solutions to challenges both large and small. As an outcome of years of Government acquisition support, our Mission Life Cycle Support strategy takes traditional acquisition support activities to a new level, seamlessly integrating the full spectrum support fabric necessary to consistently meet the demanding needs of government program offices already stretched to their limits attempting to comply with government acquisition regulations while still meeting their own program area mission objectives. The Noblis Mission Life Cycle Support service provides the customer the support they need to get what they need, when they need it for what they budget, consistently, from capital investment planning through successful termination of contracted services.
Figure 1 - The Mission Life Cycle Support Strategy Bridges Gaps, Reduces Risks, and Enhances Performance
Gaps between Program Offices, Contracting Offices, and Industry Partners create the following deficiencies and risks:
- Poorly Crafted Requirements
- Unanticipated Policy and Contract Restrictions
- Knowledge and Intent Ineffectively Transferred and Maintained
- Decisions and Changes are Not Documented
- Personnel Turnover in Both Government and Contractor Organizations
- Clear Understanding of Commitments and Responsibilities Never Established
Noblis' Mission Life Cycle strategy bridges the gaps and reduces risks:
- Integrated Approach of Applied Domain Knowledge
- Establish and Maintain Government Position of Strength
- Minimize Contractor Dependency
Drawing upon our Noblis traditional strengths providing professional services that leverage formalize knowledge and experience in the application of cutting edge technology and methods to Government program needs, Noblis has developed our Mission Life Cycle Support service. Unlike traditional strategies to consulting and professional support services that structure the work effort around a particular methodology, functional support area, or deliverable, the Noblis Mission Life Cycle Support strategy integrates Program Office Planning and Performance Management, Acquisition Office Execution and Financial Accountability, and Industry Technology and Services into a seamless, unified package. This strategy systematically combines our broad knowledge and experience in these three domains bridging the gaps and reducing the risks to ensure program success regardless of the challenges confronted or the phase of the project.
Figure 2 - Noblis' Framework for Mission Life Cycle Support
Noblis bridges the gaps, reduces risks, and enhances performance between the three major domains
Bridging the gaps between the contracting office, program office, and industry establishes the foundation for effective acquisition planning, budgeting, contracting, and performance.
The Mission Life Cycle Support Framework
Program Office
Program Planning and Performance Management. In this domain, which is typically the domain of the Government program office or front-line project management organization, Noblis delivers program and performance management support that enables effective resource management and investment planning. Consistent with the Government client requirements and resources, we facilitate or take responsibility for business process modeling and improvement, program and project planning and scheduling, development of the acquisition strategy, and also provide traditional Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) services to monitor and report on the performance of third-party service providers. Our program's rigor and regimentation is a product of staff knowledge of industry standards, commercial certifications, government experience, national security clearances, and appropriate tools. Our staff credentials include the following capabilities:
- Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma black belts
- Defense Acquisition University (DAU) Level III Certified Acquisition Professional
- Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Curriculum Design and Development
Contracting Office
Acquisition Execution Planning and Financial Accountability. This domain is frequently staffed by the acquisition and contracting specialists responsible for transforming the program and project requirements into value-adding products and services. Noblis provides key services to ensure that clients specify and receive the services they need, according to underlying contracts and service agreements. This includes the following:
- Acquisition planning
- Solicitation planning and development
- Source Selection advisory support
- Cost estimation and budget modeling
- Contract performance analysis and financial accountability
- Earned value management
Noblis staff understand, apply, and comply with the acquisition statutes and regulations (Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)), organizational budget priorities, legacy contractual obligations, and service support agreements (especially when they are interrelated), as well as other relevant constraints.
Industry
Technology and Services. This domain is where service delivery happens. Critical to successful operations are clear expectations between the Government and Contractor about the quality of products and services to be provided, as well as a quality assurance program that is mutually beneficial to both parties. A core strength is Noblis' capability for researching, integration planning, implementation, training, and validating the performance of technology- existing and developmental-across the systems spectrum. These core strengths include the following expertise necessary to fulfill the needs of Government clients:
- Systems and quality requirements
- Training for acquisition and program execution
- Data and knowledge management
- Diverse technology expertise: environmental, energy, telecommunications, and networking
Our qualified staff also includes Certified Information Systems Security Professionals (CISSPs), who are experts on Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Department of Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. They have been involved in many government programs ensuring deployed systems are ready to meet their business objectives while simultaneously addressing today's information security threats regardless of the functional mission or deployed environment.
Collaboration is a Critical Success Factor
Noblis understands that establishing a collaborative planning environment is difficult for participants firmly engaged in meeting the obligations of their primary mission. We also know maintaining this collaboration is virtually impossible throughout the acquisition life cycle, so Noblis provides the right mix of experts to accomplish the cross-domain activities needed to establish and maintain a collaborative environment.
The Noblis collaborative integrated environment is not a stove-piped solution, but instead is an integrated mix of services, tools and infrastructure support elements that, with the expertise of our knowledge, can successfully support the activities of virtually any program or mission need.
Noblis is a Trusted Agent: The Advantages of Independence
Noblis leverages our not-for-profit status to establish an environment where we can meaningfully engage and contribute to broad spectrum program needs while proactively managing potential conflicting interests throughout our advisory engagement with our Government clients. Noblis maintains a rigorous compliance program designed to avoid conflicts of interest. In particular, we do not represent or resell commercial hardware or software, nor do we represent any other commercial interests as a third-party reseller or the equivalent thereof. We strive to avoid business relationships with commercial firms that might introduce conflicts with existing or anticipated support roles. All potential business relationships are evaluated for conflicts of interest through a variety of screening processes at all levels of the Company. Noblis has established an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) vetting and assessment process intended to identify and evaluate potential OCIs in order to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate any perceived or potential conflicts. Noblis' program is robust because we believe it is essential to maintain our position of trust, confidence and integrity with the federal government.
Equally important, we anticipate that implementation of many solutions will be the responsibility of follow-on Government and Commercial teams. Transition is inevitable for Noblis, so transition planning is a constant requirement. Our experience has taught us that transition occurs much more smoothly and effectively for our customers if we engage all parties openly and proactively as we create and facilitate solutions that are practical, cost-effective, and ensure that our deliverables are complete, easy to comprehend, well organized, and intuitively referenced.
Strength from Knowledge
The Noblis Mission Life Cycle Support establishes and maintains a knowledge based position of strength for our government clients when managing contractor performance and negotiating changes. This position of strength enables informed and timely decisions, effective government management; executable transitions and continuous measurable program performance.
Our Noblis knowledge based approach bridges temporal and organizational gaps. Doing so minimizes government dependencies on ephemeral pockets of knowledge, contractor unique capabilities, and project performance based upon anecdotal or staff-specific understanding.
By bridging gaps in understanding, anticipating potential challenges, and eliminating surprises, the government program management is empowered to properly guide the contractor’s development and execution; not only strengthening the government’s control, but also increasing contractor efficiency and productivity.
Although earlier program involvement is always better than later, our Noblis professional services can be applied to any program regardless of the stage of development or completeness. In fact, the need to address daunting or unforeseen challenges is often the trigger for government organizations to seek our Noblis assistance. Also, a properly structured, documented and executed program can be appropriately and effectively managed and operated by government personnel applying and leveraging the methods and procedures established by Noblis, without continuous Noblis support. Many of the complex requirements we have supported resulted in simplified programs that operate to closure without further Noblis assistance.
Figure 3 - Noblis Services
For additional information regarding Noblis' Mission Life Cycle Support services, please e-mail us at MissionLifeCycleSupport@noblis.org