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The Coast Guard on Tuesday named a senior executive to fill a new position to lead and strengthen acquisition efforts.

Claire Grady will assume the job of senior procurement executive and head of contracting activity in July. She is currently the director of strategic initiatives in the Homeland Security Department's central procurement office, and previously worked for the Navy. She has 16 years of government acquisition experience.

The announcement is the latest in a series of moves to reorganize the way contracts are handled at the Coast Guard. The changes were ordered by Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen, in response to criticism over the management of Deepwater, the service's massive modernization program.

Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Carter said the creation of Grady's position was a "direct response to Adm. Allen's commitment to strengthening the acquisition corps in the Coast Guard."

Carter also said the job has been in the works for a year, and is not a reaction to legislation introduced in the House last week that would require the Coast Guard to restructure the Deepwater program to reduce its reliance on contractors. The service announced in April that it plans to take control of the project, which had been managed by a team of large defense contractors.

While recently appointed Rear Adm. Ronald Rábago will be in charge of Deepwater specifically, all procurement activity will flow through Grady starting next month, Carter said.

COMMENTS

• The HCA has been a civilian for quite sometime, most recently Campbell then Horowitz, so I'm not tracking your concern. I agree the Deepwater planning team was not made up of acquisitions professional since the CG only really starting a formal program and it is still evolving. However, as far as major acquisitions goes, contracting is not the lead but advisors to the PM. Al beit the Deepwater planners most likely forced the contract venue, CG contracting had the opportunity in 2006 to not grant the award fee of a renewed contract option, but did not vote that way. Contracting needs to advise the PM and not direct the course of action. Until some changes happen in the CG contracting organization [new thinking] we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Project Manager Posted June 22, 2007 12:58 PM
• It's about time the Coast Guard got another ivillian as Head of the Contracting Activity. As a retired Coast Guard Contracting Officer I have been dismayed at the ineptitude of the engineering and program people in administering the Deepwater program as well as their total disregard for input from Contracting professionals within the organization. The acquisition planning "team" that developed the "plan" for acquiring/managing the project in 1998 contained no acquisition specialists. When those in the acquisition/contracting community advised against going forward with the "plan" they were told to "Sit down, shut up and don't bother us." With that attitude it's no wonder the program was a disaster. Hopefully Ms Grady will get the authority she needs to turn the program around. Don Robertson Posted June 21, 2007 11:23 AM