The Army Seeks a World Class Logistics Modernization Program

: Paul Capelli had been tasked by the Army Materiel Command (AMC) to lead a project team to modernize the Army's logistics management and information systems in the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP). In the beginning, Capelli was concerned mainly with assembling the right team and developing innovative alternatives for modernization. However, he soon realized his major resistance would be due to the unprecedented nature of the modernization, and the political resistance that resulted. First, the team began to conduct market research to see where the best private sector firms were regarding supply chain processes. The team decided early in the process that free and open communication with the private sector was critical to their success. As a result of their research and communication with industry, the team realized their modernization goal was essentially dual in nature: (1) to reengineer their business processes, and (2) to support those new processes with modern information technology. With this goal and the original parameters in mind, the LMP team used the following as screening criteria for potential alternatives: wholesale logistics must change to meet the needs of the modern Army; the potential performing organization must have the expertise to perform Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and the experience to implement logistics Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software; the alternatives must have an acceptable level of risk and risk mitigation strategy; alternatives must have the potential to meet the schedule for developing and fielding the Army Global Combat Support System (GCSS-Army is a strategy to modernize and implement an integrated logistics system that meets the requirements of the 21st century); and alternatives must have the potential to be executable within the existing operating budget.