According to a recent update conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Defense (DOD) has identified an infrastructure manager for the chemical and biological defense program (CBDP) and is in the process of developing the position’s roles and responsibilities.
The position will be developed as a result of a three-phase process led by a working-level integrated product team and is scheduled to take place over a three-year period, which began in 2016 and will end in 2018. While incomplete at this time, the roles and responsibilities have been defined to include providing overall coordination, integration, and oversight for CBDP infrastructure.
The report detailed each phase of the position’s role implementation. Specifically, phase one, which concluded in 2016, clarified the position’s roles and responsibilities regarding the management of physical infrastructure such as laboratories, testing, and support facilities.
Phase two, which is currently being conducted, will include implementing decisions made in phase one while also clarifying the position’s roles regarding physical and intellectual infrastructure, such as knowledge and skills of its personnel, in relationship with other federal agencies.
Phase three of the role’s implementation will include clarifying the position’s roles regarding CBDP intellectual infrastructure and specifically its availability to the CBDP. GAO said that CBDP officials indicated that ensuring the availability of intellectual infrastructure was a commonly-identified issue at CBDP laboratories.
GAO offered no recommendations for the DOD at this time.