Department of the Navy Releases Business Operations Plan to Further Reforms

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Navy released its business operations plan Oct. 24, establishing the framework for the department’s continuing business reform agenda, the Office of the Navy Chief of Information said in a release.

“The Department of the Navy Business Operations Plan for Fiscal Years 2019–2021” represents a strategic shift for the department, from oversight to leadership in ensuring that the department’s business operations effectively and efficiently achieve its mission to man, train, and equip Navy and Marine Corps forces for global operations.

Through greater accountability, more agile processes and improved management of business operations, the plan will enable greater efficiencies that allow the department to reallocate resources from business operations to readiness and recapitalize our naval forces for the future.

“As we look forward to the future, we must continue this momentum by leveraging every resource, expert, leading practice, and efficiency we can find — from all sources, private and public — to think anew about our business operating model,” Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said in the plan’s opening message. “The National Defense Strategy and National Defense Business Operations Plan drive our agenda, and this Business Operations Plan will guide our department by providing a vision for the future, and charting a clear course for how to get there.”

The plan aligns to the three lines of effort expressed in the National Defense Strategy — rebuild military readiness while building a more lethal joint force,” “strengthen alliances and attract new partners, and reform the department’s business practices for greater performance and affordability” — as well as to the nine objectives defined in the National Defense Business Operations Plan:

■ Restore military readiness to build a more lethal force.
■ Lay the foundation for future readiness through recapitalization, innovation, and modernization.
■ Enhance information technology and cybersecurity capabilities.
■ Ensure the best intelligence, counterintelligence, and security support to Department of Defense (DoD) operations.
■ Implement initiatives to recruit and retain the best total force to bolster capabilities and readiness.
■ Reform the security cooperation enterprise.
■ Improve and strengthen business operations through a move to DoD-enterprise or shared services; reduce administrative and regulatory burden.
■ Optimize organizational structures.
■ Undergo an audit, and improve the quality of budgetary and financial information that is most valuable in managing the DoD.

Undersecretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly will lead the implementation of the business operations plan in his role as the chief management officer for the Department of the Navy.

“America’s security relies on the success of our U.S. Navy and Marine Corps team. Our Sailors and Marines represent the greatest expeditionary force the world has ever seen, operating forward every day to shape and defend our national interests,” Modly said in a message in the business operations plan. “Yet, as the National Defense Strategy reminds us, the U.S. military has no preordained right to success or victory. We must now move with a sense of urgency to improve how we manage the department in order to continually reinvest into the improved readiness and modernization of our force. While doing so, we will create a more agile and accountable organization that not only responds rapidly and with precision, but also anticipates future threats and opportunities.”