2022 Awards

2022 Defense Acquisition Workforce Awards Winners







The 2022 Defense Acquisition Workforce (DAW) Awards were held in a virtual ceremony February 22, 2023. The awards were hosted by USD(A&S) Dr. William A. LaPlante, accompanied by HCI Director Scott Bauer, and streamed on Defense.gov. You can now enjoy a video replay of the ceremony above.


Congratulations to all of this year's winners and the tremendous work they’ve done to deliver integrated capabilities to America’s warfighters at speed and scale! Please read more about 2022 winners in the official OUSD (A&S) memo at: 2022 Awards DoD Memo.


2022 Achievement Award Winners

Timothy Keilty

Major
Timothy J. Keilty

U.S. Special
Operations Command

Major Timothy Keilty distinguished himself by building and leading a multidiscipline expeditionary team to prepare for NATO contingencies and directly supporting the Presidential Drawdown. He led his team with professionalism and unwavering commitment, significantly contributing to the successful completion of multiple simultaneous defense missions. Major Keilty’s superior leadership directly influenced successful acquisition operations in the expeditionary environment and reflects very favorably upon the Department of Defense; the Program Executive Office, Missiles and Space; and the Search, Track, Acquire, Radiate, Eliminate Project Office.

Elaine Reilly

Ms. Elaine Reilly
Defense Contract
Audit Agency

This award is presented to Ms. Elaine Reilly in recognition of her unwavering commitment to performing with excellence and developing a workforce that supports the Warfighter and protects taxpayer dollars. Ms. Reilly leads by example and has set a high standard of excellence that elevates the performance of others. Her significant contributions to the missions of the Department of Defense and the Defense Contract Audit Agency demonstrate excellence and professionalism in the acquisition of products and services for the Warfighter while protecting the taxpayers.

Christopher Glista

Mr. Christopher Glista
Space Development Agency, Contracts Cell

As the inaugural member of the Space Development Agency Contracts Cell, Mr. Christopher Glista single-handedly built a contracting organization from scratch; an organization which contracted over $2 billion during the award period. Mr. Glista demonstrated comprehensive understanding of the process to integrate a new Defense agency across the myriad systems required to execute contract activities in DOD. As Chief of SDA’s Contracts Cell, Mr. Glista led a small team to successfully support rapid acquisition for over 109 contract actions through the award period. Mr. Glista leveraged his comprehensive understanding of federal contracting to lead the procurement of risk reduction demonstrations needed to establish the National Defense Space Architecture. His thought leadership and acquisition expertise allowed SDA to accomplish the agility, price control, and speed essential to the agency’s exceptionally aggressive delivery timeline as it awarded over $2.1 billion for future space capability.

Stephanie Quintal

Ms. Stephanie Quintal
AFMC/AFLCMC

As Deputy Cost Chief, Ms. Stephanie M. Quintal played an integral role of continued organization of requirements and subsequent resourcing for the Air Force’s first organic software acquisitions/operations unit. She is a true pathfinder for the cost community and has shared best methodologies for agile cost estimating and revamped how the cost community estimates costs in a software development environment. Ms. Quintal has displayed motivation and perseverance by leading and mentoring junior analysts on the cost team, and her efforts have brought innovation to the Department of Defense.

Brandon D. Hutchinson

Mr. Brandon D. Hutchinson
AFMC/AFLCMC

Mr. Brandon D. Hutchinson tirelessly supported the Boom Telescoping Actuator Retrofit Integrated Baseline Review. Through weeks of sustained document submittals and resubmittals from the contractor, he meticulously maintained configuration control and updated programmatic summary-level data. Mr. Hutchinson's efforts helped to ensure the contractor accurately reports costs for this program, which has high congressional visibility. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of Mr. Hutchinson bring credit to himself and the United States Air Force.

Matthew Guernsey

Mr. Matthew Guernsey
PMA-271
PEO(A) Naval Air Systems Command

Mr. Matthew Guernsey's dedication and service to the Program Office and Warfighters was critical to advancing the mission and delivering critical capability to the Fleet. Embodying the “Take Charge and Move Out” TACAMO spirit, he proactively took the lead on creating an E-XX Capabilities Development Document, working directly with the Chief of Naval Operations and the Joint Staff to gain approval for this critical element of the EXX program in record time. Mr. Guernsey's exceptional professionalism, leadership, and loyal devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Navy.

Jeffery Alford

Mr. Jeffery Alford
Missile Defense Agency

Mr. Jeffrey Alford served as the Military Construction Facilities Project Manager for the Long-Range Discrimination Radar and the United Kingdom Radar. His specific accomplishments include fast-tracking facilities designs and delivering facilities ahead of schedule despite significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The value of these accomplishments equates to $7.07 million in savings to the U.S. Government. His expert management of designs helped lay the foundation for keeping vital missile defense projects on time and on target.

Kathleen Single

Ms. Kathleen Single
U.S. Army Joint Executive Program Office

Ms. Single, as Finance Manager for the Joint Assisted Acquisition Team, is commended for her distinguished and exceptional service that contributed to the betterment of the United States Army, Department of Defense and the Nation. She coordinated with Army Contracting Command and Department of Health and Human Services financial teams to ensure funding was transferred and efficiently and appropriately allocated in support of dynamic requirements and short timelines. She managed over $65 billion in funding for contracts in support of the President's COVID-19 response effort. Ensuring that the Department could develop and produce more than 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, 19 million therapeutics doses, and over 2 billion needles and syringes. In addition, she aided in securing over 890 million over the counter COVID-19 rapid tests in support of the President's test effort and help further develop domestic diagnostic and testing production facilities through 20 contracts.

Ryan Silvonic

Mr. Ryan Silvonic
AFMC/AFLCMC

Mr. Ryan Silvonic drove the first-ever Air Force Portfolio Software Acquisition Pathway Strategy and first Air Force-validated Capability Need Statement for the Air and Space Operations Center under the software pathways authority, which encompassed five pathways in support of $1.2 billion in capabilities. Additionally, he oversaw the Kessel Run All Domain Operation Suite support to the 609th Air and Space Operations Center’s successful airlift of 123,000 Afghan evacuees in support of Operation ALLIES REFUGE. The distinctive accomplishments of Mr. Silvonic reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

Joshua B. Grubb

Joshua B. Grubb
374th Contracting Squadron

Mr. Joshua Grubb is responsible for a 14-member team that manages a Joint, $7 billion international contract portfolio that includes several high-visibility requirements. He has provided critical COVID-19 response actions and runs a highly regarded Contracting Officer Warrant preparation class. He has forged numerous mission-partner engagements and recently created a relationship with the U.S. Space Force. Mr. Grubb is a respected advisor to U.S. Forces Japan leadership on a variety of acquisition topics.

Jason Tiek

Mr. Jason Tiek
U.S. Special Operations Command

Mr. Jason Tiek has demonstrated professional competence and exemplary leadership, and continuously challenges the status quo, solves problems unconventionally, cuts through red tape to help expedite processes and takes an independent stand to constructively point out impediments to progress and offers viable solutions. His leadership has been essential to deliver combat capabilities for major Acquisition Category II programs, including the MC-130J, AC-130W, and AC-130J, aircraft, valued at more than $8 billion. Mr. Tiek stands out in the Acquisition Logistics community, keeping the U.S. Special Operations Command at the forefront and ready to accomplish any mission.

Ronald Buonanducci

Mr. Ronald Buonanducci
Defense Contract Management Agency

Mr. Ronald Buonanducci is a proven leader and vital asset at the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), Aircraft Propulsion Operations, Pratt and Whitney. As a Team Lead, Quality Assurance Specialist, he implemented numerous innovative techniques that were instrumental in creating an efficient method to deliver quality products without compromising component integrity while continuing to generate cost savings. One of those efforts saved the government more than $35 million in assets that once were destined to be considered scrap components. Mr. Buonanducci's hard work and dedication have established him to be of high value to DCMA, the Warfighter, and the United States Government.

Jaclyn Blevins

Ms. Jaclyn Blevins
AFMC/AFLCMC

Ms. Jaclyn P. Blevins, EC-37B Program Manager, 645th Aeronautical Systems Group, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Special Operations Forces Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, oversaw a $2.6 billion acquisition program to deliver the Air Force’s premier electromagnetic attack aircraft, the EC-37B Compass Call. She guided a 400-member government and industry team in the completion of several achievements, including the first flight of an aircraft configured for mission system installation. She expedited the start of work on two contracts worth over $368 million to begin the development, production, and modification of the upgraded Baseline-Four EC-37B aircraft that provides three times more target coverage.

Vic Steinman

Mr. Vic Steinman
OPNAV N98

Mr. Vic Steinman exponentially improved requirements processes, training for more than 80 requirements personnel in supporting an Air Warfare $40 billion portfolio. Mr. Steinman's contributions and vision directly supported warfighting needs by obtaining the right capabilities for Naval Aviation in reduced time and the most cost-wise solutions. By his dynamic direction, keen judgment, and loyal devotion to duty, Mr. Steinman reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Navy.

Brian Sisco

Mr. Brian Sisco, U.S
Special Operations Command

Mr. Brian Sisco has created an exciting, vibrant, and productive culture of collaboration and innovation in his leadership of the Futures team. He conducted Innovation Foundry events and took the program to new boundaries by conceptualizing and conducting follow-on events such as a Prize Challenge, Technology Sprints, and Rapid Capability Assessments, leading to a capstone technology demonstration using outputs from the Foundry events. The Futures Methodology has increased the level of effort and sophistication of transition data and prototypes by adding Rapid Capability Assessments and Tech Sprints to the Foundry cycle. The distinctive accomplishments of Mr. Sisco reflect great credit upon himself, the U.S. Special Operations Command, and the Department of Defense.

Robert E. McClintock

Mr. Robert E. McClintock
U.S. Special Operations Command

Mr. Robert McClintock expertly led the $150 million source selection from acquisition strategy through to successful post-award task order management, while simultaneously developing a classified contract strategy, solicitation, and chairing the source selection team’s evaluation for the $485 million classified effort in support of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) J3 mission support area. Mr. McClintock incorporated the USSOCOM Service imperatives of mission stability, management agility, and global reach into all the Service acquisition efforts assigned. His exceptional performance while managing four simultaneous Service source selections epitomizes the ethos “Trusted Expert” and reflects the adaptive, mission-first aptitude of the Special Operations Forces Acquirer.

Christopher L. Genelin

Lt Col Christopher L. Genelin
DAF Rapid Capabilities Office

Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Genelin led a Small Business Innovation Research-based ($95 million Acquisition Category III equivalent) development program to fast-track the development of a next generation, air-launched, autonomous, swarming, small Unmanned Aerial System). To execute the development, he teamed with multiple offices within the Air Force Research Laboratory to leverage existing SBIR II and III contracts, and advocate for the letting of a third. By advocating for small businesses and the SBIR process, Lieutenant Colonel Genelin ultimately connected a variety of government agencies, academia, Federally Funded Research Centers, and four small businesses into a team of more than 150 members across the United States to advance the state-of-the-art in small unmanned aircraft systems.

Robert Sonnenfeld

Major Robert Sonnenfeld
U.S. Space Force, DAF Rapid Capabilities Office

Major Robert E. Sonnenfeld expertly managed a $280 million, highly classified command and control program and led a team of 155 members responsible for developing first-of-a-kind space capabilities to close top gaps in the national security space architecture. He led an Agile development overhaul and instituted best practices that improved software development by 60 percent and put a $700 million mission back on track after significant technical challenges. Major Sonnenfeld’s efforts prepared a new squadron for mission operations one year early, positioned the United States Space Force to completely transform military space operations, laid the groundwork for a $25 billion space enterprise, and shaped policy discussions with the National Security Council and President of the United States.

Brian Smaszcz

Mr. Brian Smaszcz
PMS500, PEO Ships, NAVSEA

Mr. Brian Smaszcz demonstrated exceptional professionalism as the DDG 1000 (Zumwalt Class Destroyer) Chief Developmental Tester, leading the program's nationwide government and industry laboratory and waterfront teams through a rigorous, complex, comprehensive, and successful Test and Evaluation Master Plan testing program with a $50 million budget, bringing to the Fleet a technologically advanced and game-changing platform with capability that has raised the bar in both power and deterrence projection for the nation's defense. He is a decisive and empowering Chief Developmental Tester, Integrated Test Team Leader, and coach and mentor to young testers and engineers involved in the effort. Mr. Smaszcz's exemplary performance and unwavering dedication to duty bring great credit upon himself, the Department of Defense, and the United States Navy.

Software Innovation Team Award Winner

christopher hocking, luke sobota, michael tanner, verle johnson

RCO B-21 Software Factory

The DAF RCO B-21 Software Factory distinguished by managing and delivering a $1.4B classified software and digital infrastructure portfolio. This portfolio includes manpower; hardware/software system integration laboratories; and, software development, integration, and test activities for the $80B B-21 Raider program and the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). The team leads 721 government, civilian, and contractor members to synchronize all software activities across five branches and 12 integrated product teams at five operating locations. Six years into execution, the B-21 continues to deliver its software on-cost and on-schedule while driving modern software paradigms. The team innovated by partnering with two Fortune 100 companies and a 43 key technical team contributors to deliver the first-ever Special Access Program cloud mission planning environment. They delivered a minimum viable product in just 6 months that provides an estimated weapon system lifecycle costs saving of $1.5 Billion.

Flexibility in Contracting Award Winner

Veronica L. Reynosa

Ms. Veronica L. Reynosa
Space Systems Command/BMC3

Ms. Veronica Reynosa is the first winner of this inaugural award, which recognizes outstanding professionals for their innovative and adaptive use of the flexibilities and authorities granted by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 5000.02 to increase the efficiency of programs. She manages a contract portfolio valued at $1.4 billion for the SSC/BMC3 Program Executive Office portfolio. She developed, coordinated, and implemented myriad innovative, fast, and flexible contracting strategies and tactics and effectively led her team to remarkable accomplishments. Ms. Reynosa epitomizes the definitions of innovation, initiative, and leadership, and demonstrated exceptional innovation and use of flexibilities and authorities provided by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and Department of Defense Instruction 5000.02.

PMA-226 (Specialized and Proven Aircraft) F-5 Adversary IPT

PMA-226 (Specialized and Proven Aircraft) F-5 Adversary IPT

The PMA-226’s mission is to acquire and provide full lifecycle readiness for their 18 different type/model/series specialized and Proven Aircraft and provide Contracted Air Services in support of the Naval Aviation Enterprise and their International Customers. Culminating in 2021, the PMA-226 Adversary Aircraft team executed an innovative project, which not only revolutionized the F-5 Adversary aircraft's capability to serve as aggressor aircraft to train operators in air-to-air combat, but also dramatically improved the safety and reliability of the F-5 aircraft, which was originally designed in the 1970s. As the Navy accelerates their strategy of preparing for the high-end fight against peer adversaries, the PMA-226 team's approach has resulted in unprecedented speed and affordability of a modernized aircraft.

DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS

Effie Fragogiannis, Diane Sidebottom, Scott Ulrey

Contracts Management Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Contracts Management Office’s (CMO) Other Transactions training and mentorship innovation addressed a critical skill gap within the Agency and the DoD acquisition community. CMO trained DoD organizations and the private sector to leverage a combination of innovative acquisition instruments to attract traditional and non-traditional contractors. During the pandemic, CMO started to teach the course virtually, enabling more participants to attend within the Agency, industry, academia, and other DoD organizations. This innovation led to CMO training more than 860 personnel for 2021. Learning this skill set and how to apply it improves the DoD’s approach to acquisition in the future, regardless of the acquisition tool. The training program provided a vital workforce development initiative and enhanced the success of DARPA, DoD agencies, the private sector, and the greater acquisition community for years to come.

Procurement Group Entry Level Cohort Group, Naval Air System Command

Procurement Group Entry Level Cohort Group, Naval Air System Command

The Naval Air Systems Command Procurement Group Total Force Readiness team is comprised of four senior contracting experts with significant experience executing complex major weapons systems contracts while supervising a diverse acquisition workforce. This team developed, refined, and deployed a training program for newly hired contract specialists, called the Entry Level Employee (ELE) Cohort. The Cohort concept revolutionized onboarding, training, and development and was instrumental in NAVAIR achieving its mission to deliver integrated warfighting capability through increases in affordability, availability, and capability. This comprehensive training program starts before an employee is onboarded, carries through a 30-month development period, and provides a hands-on, dedicated focus to produce a contract specialist fully capable of executing the most complex major weapons systems contracts.

DAVID PACKARD EXCELLENCE IN ACQUISITION AWARD WINNERS

Fiorino, graves, ahumada, kopp, pearl

BLU-111 ECP (BLU-140) Program Office, Air Force Materiel Command

The Armament Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Eglin Air Force Base, FL, distinguished itself by the Air Force Requirements Oversight Council. This council approved a Pacific Command Urgent Operational Need for 2,500 500-lb penetrator bombs to prosecute targets weaponeered with 2,000-lbs bombs, maximizing sortie effectiveness through increased load-out and reduced pilot exposure to the enemy. Using an Other Transaction Agreement for design and independent manufacturing contracts, the team maintained Government control of the technical baseline while separately competing production to consistently lower price. The weapon’s success quadrupled the Inventory Objective and became the first weapon procurement using the novel Eglin-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract, through which the team can regularly compete while iteratively modifying the weapon in response to operational changes. The team’s acquisition foresight led them to slash one year off the schedule as they closed the Urgent Operational Need and transitioned to a Program of Record via Milestone C in one acquisition action.

LHA 7 Post Delivery Team, PEO Ships/Amphibious Warfare Program Office (PMS377)

LHA 7 Post Delivery Team, PEO Ships/Amphibious Warfare Program Office (PMS377)

Due to the USS Bonhomme Richard fire, LHA 7 (USS TRIPOLI) planned deployment was accelerated over a year to meet operational commitments. To meet this accelerated timeline, the team forged new, innovative methods and approaches, all while operating and excelling in the most challenging pandemic environment imaginable. The LHA 7 Post Delivery Team successfully executed a complex 24-month, $123M post delivery effort displaying exemplary innovation in their management of pandemic safety protocols and leveraging available resources. The team was proactive and collaborative in developing a multi-tiered overlapping work, training, testing and certification schedule. The team used a 'get real', 'get better' approach, continually planning, monitoring and adjusting execution to meet the accelerated deployment schedule for LHA 7. The Post Delivery Team successfully navigated all challenges, maintained schedule and completed all required work, allowing LHA 7 to be transferred to the Fleet as the most capable large deck amphibious ship ever put to sea.

Low Earth Orbit Systems Program Office, National Reconnaissance Office

Low Earth Orbit Systems Program Office, National Reconnaissance Office

The National Reconnaissance Office, Signals Intelligence Systems Acquisition Directorate, Low Earth Orbit Systems Program Office Team executed a successful integration and test campaign, culminating in the launch of the first next-generation spacecraft while overcoming significant obstacles. This new spacecraft was the largest design change since the program’s initiation, taking advantage of innovative technology to meet evolving threats while focusing on affordability, and yielding a more than $1B reduction in recurring cost. Throughout the acquisition, the team aggressively managed cost and schedule risk by employing multiple mitigation techniques including early environmental testing and comprehensive testing of high-speed data interfaces. These efforts included over 1,900 verification events, ensuring the system met performance specifications, while yielding the lowest number of non-conformances in the program's history. The team's efforts culminated in a 10-day spacecraft activation, 23 days faster than the baseline schedule. The team's actions ensure this new addition to the Low Earth Orbit Signals Intelligence architecture will provide unmatched intelligence to the Intelligence Community and the warfighter while meeting affordability challenges of the future.

Next Generation Squad Weapons Team, Program Executive Office Soldier

Next Generation Squad Weapons Team, Program Executive Office Soldier

The Next Generation Squad Weapons Team, structured an innovative selection and contracting approach, to identify and deliver the Next Generation Squad Weapon Rifle, Automatic Rifle, and 6.8mm family of ammunition along with the Next Generation Fire Control. Subject matter expertise from Product Manager Next Generation Weapons, Product Manager Small Caliber Ammunition, DEVCOM-Armaments Center, the Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team, and Army Contracting Command-New Jersey was instrumental in developing a streamlined prototyping and down select approach, while setting the conditions to quickly produce and field the newest small arms weapons and concurrently establishing the required stock of the new 6.8mm ammunition. Working together, the team achieved major programmatic decisions and exercised appropriate authorities necessary to execute the aggressive acquisition strategy.

Special Operations Forces Combat Diving Program, U.S. Special Operation Forces, Technology and Logistics

Special Operations Forces Combat Diving Program, U.S. Special Operation Forces, Technology and Logistics

This team of two military and eight civilian personnel creatively led cutting-edge prototyping across five distinct diver technology areas of environmental protection, navigation, propulsion, communications, and life support. Their mission-focus and disciplined approach fostered remarkable agility that resulted in new operational concepts and the creation of new tactics enabled by state-of-the-art equipment; complementing the rapid prototyping efforts, this program also delivered equipment to achieve initial operational capability for diver navigation and propulsion systems two years ahead of schedule and on budget. Their passion and exceptional professional drive created an astounding level of productivity to build an exemplary program of record compliant with acquisition policy and aligned to national defense imperatives to prepare for war with advanced adversaries.