Many suppliers conduct business with both commercial and government customers.  Since these suppliers have probably been exposed to 3D models from their commercial customers it is apparent that they are familiar with doing business in this format.  If the government used technology that is considered best practice in industry, there would be a better connection between what the government wants to buy and the pricing and delivery they receive from suppliers.  When this benefit is utilized by the government, the professionalism of the acquisition team increases because the supplier becomes part of the team and not the weak link in the supply chain.  In an effort to accomplish this outcome, U.S. Army ManTech has supported the Net Centric Manufacturing program for the last several years to develop the foundational technologies and processes needed to support the Army, DoD, and industry.

Nevertheless, once the technology is in place, there needs to be a communication plan to educate the many players on the acquisition team.  Not only engineering is involved in understanding the use of MBE, it affects the entire acquisition workforce especially program management, procurement, quality, logistics and Contracting Officer Representatives (CORs).

To this end, a repository of information is found under the knowledge base section, including access to the LinkedIn site, links to other relevant sites, presentations, videos, articles and success stories all related to MBE.  In addition, an article entitled “Model-Based Enterprise:  An Innovative Technology-Enabled Contract Management Approach “  was published in the September 2012 issue of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Journal of Contract Management, as well as an article entitled “Using MIL-STD-31000A to Support Better Buying Power 2.0” that was published in the October 2013 issue of the NCMA Contract Management magazine.

Accordingly, annual MBE Summits have been established to communicate updates and lessons learned in the area of utilization of 3D models.  The primary purpose of the events is to bring the various services together to determine a cohesive path forward and to discuss how the government will strategically utilize technology and resources.  These Summits are well attended by industry and government who share a common interest.  Videos from the Summits may be found as well on the knowledge base.