The Defense Information Systems Agency last week held its first combined Customer and Industry Forum at National Defense University on Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C., bringing together the previously separate Forecast to Industry day with key elements of the Customer Partnership Conference, which was canceled in May due to flooding in Nashville.One of DISA’s priorities is continuous communication with its partners, and DISA’s senior leadership welcomed more than 1,300 mission and industry representatives to the forum. The industry partners represented roughly 400 companies, and mission partners included attendees from the Combatant Commands, Department of Defense agencies and the services.
The major theme of the forum was “The Next Engagement,†which reflects the importance of partnerships to provide the necessary capabilities and services needed to be successful. DISA’s commitment to its mission partners is to provide a net-centric enterprise infrastructure that enables command and control and information sharing globally at any time to support the demands of the next engagement.
The forum featured a presentation by DISA Director Lt. Gen. Carroll F. Pollett, an overview of future contract and support opportunities, a panel discussion by DISA senior leaders, and a networking reception. The breakout sessions focused mostly on DISA’s three lines of operation: enterprise infrastructure, command and control and information sharing, and operate and assure – and offered detailed information on specific initiatives and programs.
