COLUMBUS, Ohio –
DLA Land and Maritime’s Acquisition Acceleration Team is transforming procurement to meet the evolving demands of modern warfare. Over the last several months, the team has implemented a comprehensive suite of innovative acquisition efficiency initiatives, resulting in significant benefits to both the warfighter and taxpayer through enhanced responsiveness and operational effectiveness.
Through strategic process improvements and efficiency initiatives, the team has achieved a significant increase in manual and buyer assist awards with a reduction in purchase requests on hand, all while saving over 11,000 manhours with advanced efficiency tools.
These efforts directly align with the Secretary of Defense priorities on acquisition reform to reestablish deterrence and ensure that the military can respond effectively to emerging threats.
Michael P. Duffey, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, outlined the Defense Department’s priorities in a House Armed Services Committee hearing on acquisition reform last month, and included reforming outdated processes and empowering the acquisition workforce to operate with agility and confidence.
Donald Schulze, deputy director for DLA Land Supplier Operations, emphasized that urgency is key and is reflected in DLA's fiscal 2026 priorities – to set the agency, set the globe and set the supply chains.
“It comes down to this – we need to deliver capabilities at the speed the mission demands,” Schulze said.
The acquisition workforce was facing mounting operational pressures, workforce churn and training deficits, which caused manual purchase request productivity to stagnate while demand increased, he said.
Recognizing that incremental improvements wouldn’t suffice, the Acquisition Acceleration Team – comprised of experts from Land Supplier Operations, Maritime Supplier Operations, Specialized Management Operations, and Procurement Process Support – embarked on systemic changes to fundamentally transform acquisition operations.
These initiatives include problem-solving “Swarm Sessions,” workload refinements, interactive training and a streamlined Single-Quote, Single-Buyer process.
Heath Berkshire, Specialized Management Operations director, said the Swarm Sessions are fostering collaborative problem-solving in real-time by balancing process standardization training with practical application.
“Creating a classroom environment where buyers can perform their workloads individually and ‘swarm’ problems collectively not only allows them to overcome work obstacles quickly, but it also spurs innovation,” he said.
Shawn Cody, deputy director for DLA Maritime Supplier Operations, concurred, adding that the sessions provide an opportunity for new associates to learn from others and ask questions that expedite their learning and maturation, which he said has “really helped move the needle on productivity.”
The new Single-Quote, Single-Buyer initiative is leveraging market intelligence data to optimize efficiency. Berkshire explained that traditional workload distribution methods based on commodity often overlook the industrial base and current vendor participation, but the Single Quote, Single-Buyer approach analyzes quote data at solicitation close and assigns workload to buyers based on their established relationships with those vendors. The initiative is fostering strong vendor relationships, reducing administrative lead time, and allowing buyers to resolve multiple issues across numerous work items in a single email or phone call, he said.
In addition, Lori Archibald, DLA Land Industrial Hardware and Transparent Armor Division chief and member of the Acquisition Acceleration Team, shared how a refined workload assignment process is using the power of automation to drive significant gains in buyer efficiency. New tools developed in house are matching purchase request complexity to buyer grade, skill level and warrant authority, eliminating the need for secondary review of contracts by a separate warranted contract officer, she said.
Quarterly interactive training sessions are planned to ensure efficiency gains are maintained and continuously improved upon.
“The success of these initiatives represents more than operational improvement,” Schulze said. “It demonstrates the transformative power of collaborative innovation, strategic thinking, and relentless focus on stakeholder value.”
In recognition of their outstanding achievements, the Acquisition Acceleration Team has been nominated for DLA’s Acquisition Workforce Team Achievement Award. Winners will be announced later this year and recognized at DLA's 58th Annual Employee Recognition Awards Ceremony.