On June 28, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) successfully hosted our fourth Reverse Industry Day, which convened nearly 450 DHS acquisition professionals and industry representatives alike.
Reverse Industry Days provide a unique opportunity for industry representatives to share their perspectives on the federal acquisition environment with DHS acquisition professionals. At the most recent event, participants discussed teaming, debriefings, acquisition planning, performance incentives, and the difference between industry and government perspectives in these areas. Through this interactive discussion, industry and government professionals gained a better understanding of their respective business processes and the impact they have on each other. This dialogue leads to improvements in our acquisition environment.
We were honored to have Acting Under Secretary for Management Chip Fulghum provide keynote remarks at the event. He explained that the “we” in the Department’s mission statement includes our industry partners who work alongside of us every day to protect the homeland. I was pleased to join him in recognizing our acquisition workforce’s achievements and discussing with the attendees the value that we in the Department place on promoting meaningful communication with our industry community.
Planning for the Department’s fifth Reverse Industry Day is already underway. We promote these events, and others like it, under the Department’s Acquisition Innovations in Motions (AIiM) framework. We launched AliM in 2015 to support Unity of Effort at DHS by creating recurring, meaningful engagements with industry designed to improve the manner in which DHS does business.
As the Department’s Chief Procurement Officer, I am committed to working with our industry partners to further improve industry-government collaboration. Our Reverse Industry Day events are just one example of our approach to industry engagement. Please join us as we continue to make DHS the best business partner in government.
For more information about acquisition focused activity at the Department please visit: www.dhs.gov/do-business-dhs.