Soraya Correa joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss small business programs, the procurement innovation lab, workforce training programs, why contracting officers might be risk averse, industry engagement, and much more. She is the Chief Procurement Officer for the Department of Homeland Security, and one of our government’s most impactful business leaders.
During the episode, Ms. Correa describes how she has taken a different approach to acquisition reform. As we often see in the Pentagon and as it is instigated by Congress, acquisition reform usually means trying to streamline regulations while creating new parallel structures (e.g., middle-tier acquisition, urgent capabilities, software, etc.). Ms. Correa, however, recognized that many authorities already exist. Real change comes from focusing on developing and then empowering people. “I’m not trying to change the rules,” she said, “I’m trying to change how we think about the rules.”
We discuss why, on the margin, leadership should focus on the inputs and trust that the outputs will take care of themselves. To that end, Ms. Correa has nurtured several workforce training and mentoring programs. Moreover, she set up an in-house “consultancy” to help those professionals innovate from the bottom up. The Federal Acquisition Regulation isn’t overly restrictive, Ms. Correa finds, instead it is risk aversion on the part of the workforce. Using her leadership position and backed by a long tenure, Ms. Correa provides the necessary top cover to allow her workforce to execute great solutions.
Podcast Annotations
Eric: We heard from industry a couple times that when they manage their business they actually focus on the inputs — like delivery times and whether items are in stock — much more than the outputs — like sales and user satisfaction. How do you think about the government in that regard?
Ms. Correa: Believe it or not, that’s an inverse of the traditional model. They say focus and measure the output. I was really excited to hear [industry] say that because that’s what I think about.
I work for the government — 40 years in service — we got to get those output metrics measured because that’s important. But I think a lot about the inputs… If you make sure you’re putting the right resources to the job, the right elements into the production line, and you’re going to get a better output in the end. I’ve long believed the outputs take care of themselves if you get the inputs right…
I’m looking for the contracting officers and those teams to bring the ideas. Not us in leadership. Let’s go to the folks who ‘bang on the keys.’ If you’re the one working the process, you’re the one I want to hear from because you’re probably going to have the best ideas because you lived it… Sometimes we got to trust a little bit more that people will do the right thing if we teach them to do the right things.
In my own view, government’s attempt to be hyper “rational” about its resource allocation forces officials to focus all their attention and analysis on program outputs. After all, we have program-output oriented budgets. We too often have highly detailed contract requirements which spell out in detail all the deliverables and expectations of the contractors.
Many people, however, see the government’s efforts turned inwards towards the bureaucracy, mired in process. Certainly processes are part of the inputs, but they exploded over the years to handle the detailed planning of outputs. If you’re laying in a budgeted plan over 5 or more years for a particular output, you want to make sure you know exactly how to get there.
Focusing on the inputs, by contrast, would mean that the development of people takes center stage — not the program output. With high quality people and decision-making processes, the output will be worked out at the level commensurate with knowledge. It would result in organizational budgets and more relational contracts. Indeed, this is how acquisition used to be performed until the end of World War II and mostly up until the early 1960s.
Ms. Correa has done a great job at DHS developing the workforce and then empowering them to make decisions. Here are some of the programs she brought up:
- Acquisition Career Professionals Programs. Paid internship for three years which transitions into a career position. Choose one of ten functional fields, including contract specialist and logistician. There is a 75 to 80 percent retention rate for those completing the program.
- Summer Hire Internship Program. A brand new program for undergraduate seniors to come work for DHS for a semester. They will be paid, and can come back for a second semester. Upon graduation, the student can transition into the Acquisition Career Professionals program.
- Leadership Interview Day. Individuals from other federal agencies will have the opportunity to connect with, and hear directly from, the procurement leadership team across DHS headquarters and components.
- Mentoring Program. Provides reciprocal relationships and opportunities for personal and professional growth while sharing knowledge. Mentors have the opportunity to guide and share experiences, knowledge, and skills that will contribute to the mentee’s growth. I like to call this the apprenticeship model.
- Executive Development Program. Helps professionals at DHS prepare for executive positions over the course of a year. They will work on a project as part of a team as well as receive formal executive training in communication, coalition building, and so forth.
Here’s a good snippet:
I really believe you have to keep your workforce engaged, you have to give them the opportunity to grow and develop, and then you have to give them the wings to go and do the job — you have to empower them.
And here is Ms. Correa discussing risk aversion in the procurement profession:
I think protests probably scare people the most. Me? I’m not scared of protests. I believe that the protest process is there for a reason and if we do things right we can confront that challenge. If we make mistakes, then we should raise our hands and say we made a mistake. Let’s go take the corrective action. At the end of the day, the goal is to achieve the objectives of the agency.
To help address risk aversion, Ms. Correa took two major steps. First, she set up an in-house “consultancy” called the Procurement Innovation Lab. If an official wants to take risk in a procurement, then they can get advice and support from the PIL. If there was a successful outcome, the participants will host Webinars to teach others about their experience. If there is failure, then Ms. Correa herself will take responsibility. This brings us to a second part of addressing risk aversion: top cover.
Here is Ms. Correa:
I think the single biggest thing that prevents people from being innovative or taking risk is not knowing whether they’re going to be supported, especially if they make a mistake or fail. A lot of people don’t like that word ‘fail’ in the government. I use it…
If for some reason you fail, we’re going to look at why you failed — grab those lessons learned — and I’m going to take responsibility for that failure. Me. The Chief Procurement Officer of the Department of Homeland Security. If I want to be innovative — if I want them to try new things — then they have to know that I’m going to stand with them and support them. That’s really the most important tenant of the PIL, that support they will get from me as a senior leader in the organization.
We also discussed the industry engagement activities performed by DHS under the Acquisition Innovations in Motion (AIiM) framework… and it’s not just the large traditional contractors getting involved.
- Strategic Industry Conversations. DHS communicates to industry the Department’s program posture, focuses on topics that span multiple components.
- Reverse Industry Day. Industry leaders address audiences of DHS acquisition professionals.
- Acquisition Innovation Roundtable. Typically small working groups of government and industry leaders who work together in targeted business areas.
Listen to the whole podcast. I’ll end with this quote from Ms. Correa:
At the end of the day, I want people to be happy. I want them to enjoy work. As I always say, I love what I do and I love the people I do it with. That’s what I want people to have.
I’d like to thank Soraya Correa for joining me on the Acquisition Talk podcast. She is a frequent communicator, numerous videos are available on You Tube. She has been a recurring guest on Government Matters, watch them all! Another good interview is here, and you can find out her thoughts on business automation here. Listen to Ms. Correa on the “Let’s Talk about IT” podcast. You can learn more about doing business with DHS here, and career opportunities are here. And here is that OFPP myth buster memo.
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