FALL 2013
IT665
Managing IT Programs in the Federal Sector
Instructor: Dr Robert H. Latiff, Maj Gen (Ret), USAF
Meeting Day/Time: Fridays, 4:30 PM - 7:10PM
Location: Robinson B218
Phone: 703-993-3565
Email: rlatiff@gmu.edu
Overview: This course is intended to introduce students to the fundamentals and the complexity of acquisition and program management in the Federal Sector, to include the influence of Congress, the elements of the Executive Branch, the impact of lobbyists, the media, and others. Students will learn or be reintroduced to the basic concepts of program management, systems engineering, budgeting, enterprise governance, modeling and simulation and other essential elements of system acquisition as they apply to the Federal Sector.
Students will become familiar with past failures and successes through case studies.
Course Goals: Students will understand the form and practice, and limitations, of the legal and managerial tools at the government’s disposal. Students will understand the process of initiating a program and how to prudently navigate the Federal Sector oversight and public scrutiny from program vision through implementation and sustainment.
Requirements: The course will employ lectures, guest speakers, class discussion, homework, case analyses, and quizzes. There will be two quizzes (non-cumulative).
Required Text: Management of Defense Acquisition Projects, Rene G. Rendon and Keith F.
Snider, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, 2008, ISBN 978-1-
56347-950-2.

Required Supplemental Readings:
Introduction to Defense Acquisition Management (DAU), Defense Acquisition University Press
(available on-line for free download)
CASES: (must be ordered by the student on-line from Harvard Kennedy School)
Certifying AMRAAM, Harvard JFK School of Government Case# C16-88-845.0. Mary Schumaker,
1990.
JFK School Case, The Press and the Neutron Bomb
JFK School Case, John Lehman and the Press
JFK School Case, The Boeing Tanker Deal (A) and (B)
CLASS SCHEDULE
1.
Introduction; The Acquisition Environment (8/30/13) a.
DAU Chapters 1,2, 4 b.
Text Chapters 1,2
2.
Program Management and Acquisition Life Cycle (9/6/13) a.
Text, Chapters 3, 14 b.
DAU Ch 3, 4, 7 c.
Certifying AMRAAM
3.
Research and Development, System Engineering (9/13/13) a.
NRC Report, Pre MS-A and Early Phase Systems Engineering, Ch 1 and Ch 4
(pp75-86) b.
Text, Ch 4
4.
Systems Engineering – Systems Analysis (9/20/13) a.
TBD
5. Software/IT System Engineering (9/27/13) a.
AFIT Case – Theater Battle Management Core Systems

6. Logistics, Test (10/4/13) a.
Text, Ch 5,6,7
7.
Risk Management (10/11/13) a.
Text, Chapter 8
8. QUIZ 1, (10/18/13)
9. The Federal Budget Review and Process (10/25/13) a.
CRS Report, Intro to the Federal Budget Process - to be posted b. Text, Chapter 11 c CRS Report, A Defense Budget Primer - to be posted
10. Media and other players (11/1/13) a. JFK School Case, The Press and the Neutron Bomb b. JFK School Case, John Lehman and the Press
11. Contracting and Federal Acquisition Regulations, Earned Value (11/8/13) a. “ The Pharaoh and the Earned Value Management System” – to be posted b. Text, Chapter 10
10. Modeling and Analytics (11/15/13) b.
SIGMA, Mitretek Publication, “Decision Analysis” – to be posted c.
Petroski, “Slide Rule”, in To Engineer is Human d.
TBD
11.
The USAF Tanker Acquisition (11/22/13) a.
JFK School Case, Tanker Deal (A) and (B)
14.
QUIZ 2 (12/6/13)

GRADING:
Class participation
Homework Questions
Quizzes (2)
10%
20%
70%
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