[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 13, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8404-S8405]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN RECOGNITION OF REAR ADMIRAL LEONARD VINCENT, SUPPLY CORPS, U.S. NAVY

 Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I recognize and honor Rear Admiral 
Leonard Vincent, U.S. Navy as he retires upon completion of 32 years of 
service to the Navy, The Department of Defense and the Nation.
  Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a graduate of McAlester High School, 
Oklahoma he enlisted in the Navy Reserve in 1961. He graduated from 
Southeastern State College, Durant, Oklahoma, in 1965 and received his 
commission as a Ensign in the Navy Supply Corps that same year. In 1976 
he receive his Masters in Business Administration from George 
Washington University.
  A distinguished professional, Admiral Vincent currently commands the 
Defense Systems Management College (DSMC). As the Commandant of DSMC, 
he has been a leader of change agents for acquisition reform. And he 
has brought a wealth of acquisition, logistics, and contract management 
experience to the vital task of training our nation's Department of 
Defense Acquisition Workforce.
  Afloat he has served as the Supply Officer of an amphibious ship, the 
USS Pensacola (LSD 38) and the Supply Officer of a submarine tender, 
the USS Dixon (AS 37).
  Ashore his assignments have included duty as Supply Officer with 
Naval Special Warfare Group and with Naval Inshore Warfare Command, 
Atlantic, both in Little Creek, Virginia.
  His varied acquisition assignments include Director of Contracts, 
Naval Supply Center, Puget Sound; Contracting Officer for the 
Supervisor, Shipbuilding and Repair, Bath, Maine; Director of the 
Combat Systems department and Director of the Contracts department at 
the Navy's inventory control point, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; 
Assistant Commander for Contracts, Naval Air Systems Command; Deputy 
Director for Acquisition for the Defense Logistics Agency; and prior to 
his current assignment, RADM Vincent was the Deputy Chief of Staff for 
Logistics, Fleet Supply and Ordnance, Pacific Fleet.
  In addition to his current assignment, his command tours have 
included Commander, Defense Contract Administration Services Region, 
Los Angeles, California; Commander, Defense Contract Management Command 
International, Dayton, Ohio; and Commander, Contract Management 
Command, Washington, D.C.
  Throughout his career Admiral Vincent has displayed exemplary 
performance of duty, extraordinary initiative and leadership, keen 
judgment, and dedication to the highest principles of devotion to his 
country. He leaves the military and the acquisition community better by 
having served them. His contributions will have lasting consequence.
  Mr. President, Leonard Vincent, his wife Shirley and their three 
children, Lori, Tiffany and Stephen have made many sacrifices during 
his 32 year Navy career. A man of his leadership, enthusiasm and 
integrity is rare and while his honorable service will be genuinely 
missed, it gives me great pleasure today to recognize him before my 
colleagues and wish to him ``Fair Winds and Following Seas'' as he 
brings to a close a long and distinguished career in the United States 
Naval Service.
  I ask that an article and narrative on Rear Admiral Vincent be 
printed in the Record.
  The article and narrative follows:

 Rear Admiral Leonard Vincent--Commandant, Defense Systems Management 
                                College

       Rear Admiral Leonard ``Lenn'' Vincent became the Commandant 
     Defense Systems Management College (DSMC), Fort Belvoir, 
     Virginia, in January 1998. The College is a graduate-level 
     institution that promotes sound systems-management principles 
     by the acquisition workforce through education, research, 
     consulting, and information dissemination.
       Admiral Vincent entered the Naval Reserve program as a sea-
     man recruit in October 1961. Upon graduation from 
     Southeastern State Teachers College in Oklahoma, he received 
     a commission in July 1965 from the Officers Candidate School, 
     Newport, Rhode Island, as an ensign in the Supply Corps, U.S. 
     Navy.
       Since returning to the Navy in 1970, RADM Vincent's wide 
     variety of afloat and shore-based assignments have provided 
     him extensive contracting, contract management, and logistics 
     experience.
       Afloat he has served as the Supply Officer of an amphibious 
     ship, the USS PENSACOLA (LSD 38) and the Supply Officer of a 
     submarine tender, the USS DIXON (AS 37).
       Ashore his assignments have included duty as Supply Officer 
     with Naval Special Warfare Group and with Naval Inshore 
     Warfare Command, Atlantic, both in Little Creek, Virginia. He 
     attended the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia; 
     and then in Washington, D.C., he earned a Masters in Business 
     Administration from George Washington University.
       His varied acquisition assignments include Director of 
     Contracts, Naval Supply Center, Puget Sound; Contracting 
     Officer for the Supervisor, Shipbuilding and Repair, Bath, 
     Maine; Director of the Combat Systems department and Director 
     of the Contracts department at the Navy's inventory control 
     point, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; Assistant Commander for 
     Contracts, Naval Air Systems Command; Deputy Director for 
     Acquisition for the Defense Logistics Agency; and prior to 
     his current assignment, RADM Vincent was the Deputy Chief of 
     Staff for Logistics, Fleet Supply and Ordnance, Pacific 
     Fleet.
       In addition to his current assignment as Commandant, DSMC, 
     his command tours have included Commander, Defense Contract 
     Administration Services Region, Los Angeles, Contract 
     Administration Services Region, Los Angeles, California; 
     Commander, Defense Contract Management Command International, 
     Dayton, Ohio; and Commander, Contract Management Command, 
     Washington, D.C.
       His military decorations include the Defense Superior 
     Service Medal with gold star, Legion of Merit with gold star, 
     Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal 
     with three gold stars, Navy Commendation Medal, and Navy 
     Achievement Medal.
                                  ____


                               Narrative

       Rear Admiral Vincent distinguished himself by exceptionally 
     outstanding achievement throughout thirty two years of 
     service culminating in his distinguished performance as 
     Commandant of the Defense Systems Management College (DSMC) 
     from 30 December 1997 to 31 July 1999.
       Admiral Vincent exhibited extensive knowledge, technical 
     competence, tireless energy, imagination, and superb 
     leadership.

[[Page S8405]]

     As Commandant, he focused the College on improvements 
     essential for the entire Department of Defense Acquisition 
     Workforce (AWF), and dramatically improved the quality and 
     greatly expanded the scope of their education and training. 
     During his tenure, student throughput increased by nearly 
     five percent, greatly helping the military departments to 
     meet the formal acquisition education requirements that 
     public law imposed on all major system program managers. 
     These achievements are all the more remarkable because they 
     were accomplished during a period when DSMC funding decreased 
     by over seven percent, and personnel by over 11 percent.
       Admiral Vincent also successfully focused the exceptional 
     capabilities of the College's staff and faculty on meeting 
     the rapidly changing needs of the acquisition workforce. Upon 
     assuming command of DSMC, he led the College's senior 
     leadership through the development of a corporate plan that 
     set the course into the new millennium for the education and 
     training of acquisition professionals. This dynamic plan 
     provided the foundation for DSMC operations and outlined a 
     series of strategic goals, objectives, and metrics that 
     guided the College through the efficient accomplishment of 
     its four-pronged mission of providing education and training, 
     research, consulting, and information dissemination. He 
     successfully challenged the College to achieve these 
     improvements, while maintaining the highest quality of 
     support available to the acquisition workforce.
       Anticipating the need to achieve a cultural transformation 
     within the acquisition community, Admiral Vincent encouraged 
     the students, staff, and faculty at DSMC to become change 
     agents and instilled in them a sense of urgency to keep up 
     the momentum of Acquisition Reform. He directed the 
     assessment and revision of over thirty DSMC-sponsored courses 
     to reflect the latest changes, ensuring that Acquisition 
     Reform initiatives are seamlessly threaded throughout the 12 
     functional areas. To further enrich the learning environment, 
     he spearheaded the effort to recruit students from industry, 
     bringing a commercial business perspective into every 
     classroom--he served as the catalyst to stimulate partnering 
     with industry and effective teaming within program offices. 
     Beginning with the students, staff, and faculty at DSMC, he 
     successfully developed a cultural mindset that would 
     revolutionize the way DoD approaches its business affairs--
     embracing best practices, empowering the workforce, and 
     achieving optimal solutions at the lowest costs.
       In a push to constantly improve the quality of integrated 
     courses, Admiral Vincent created the Acquisition Management 
     Curriculum Enhancement Program (AMCEP) to 
     seamlessly integrate the Acquisition Management Functional 
     Board requirements with the Defense Acquisition University 
     (DAU) course development and delivery processes. The 
     result was a continuous evolutionary process that 
     facilitated and improved the current integrated 
     acquisition management curriculum. The enhancement effort 
     created a learning environment characterized by a problem-
     based learning curriculum which replicated to the highest 
     possible fidelity actual problems the graduates would 
     likely encounter in their subsequent assignments.
       Additionally, to further improve the efficiency at DSMC, 
     Admiral Vincent consolidated all information/automation 
     systems enhancement efforts at the College under the Chief 
     Information/Knowledge Officer. By concentrating the 
     information technology activities under one person, Admiral 
     Vincent effectively orchestrated the consolidation of 
     automated systems requirements, significantly reducing costs 
     and making educational information widely available to 
     internal and external customers. Under Admiral Vincent's 
     guidance, the College underwent the process of standardizing 
     the automation equipment in each classroom and upgrading the 
     server infrastructure, along with video tele-conference 
     capability, to better support distance learning conversion 
     efforts of DSMC courses. This initiative, while minimizing 
     costs to infuse information technology capability, not only 
     improved the students' learning environment, but also made 
     acquisition education and training more accessible to the 
     workforce.
       Admiral Vincent also provided the thrust behind the 
     development of the Integrated Curriculum Environment (ICE) 
     database, an automated, centralized management system for 
     DSMC courseware and supporting documentation. This 
     standardized curriculum management tool will significantly 
     simplify the course revision process, and eventually, will 
     make course materials available electronically to all 
     students and accessible by all graduates. Through his active 
     leadership and visionary foresight of the information 
     revolution, Admiral Vincent launched DSMC--and acquisition 
     education and training--into the 21st Century, guiding the 
     College through the transformation process of becoming the 
     acquisition workforce's Center for Continuous Learning.
       Admiral Vincent further improved the stature of DSMC as the 
     Department of Defense world-class center for international 
     acquisition education excellence. Under his leadership, DSMC 
     co-sponsored the 10th Annual International Defense 
     Educational Arrangement (IDEA) seminar with France and hosted 
     the 11th IDEA seminar in the United States--a fifteen-nation 
     symposium on Intra-European and Transatlantic armaments 
     cooperation. Additionally, Admiral Vincent initiated the 
     first IDEA Pacific seminar with the Australian Defense Force 
     Academy, providing eight nations of the Pacific Rim with a 
     forum for exchange of acquisition best practices. With the 
     growing emphasis on international cooperation, the College 
     also hosted biannual international acquisition forums for 
     DUSD (International Programs) and the Services international 
     program offices. As the principal U.S. representative to 
     IDEA, Admiral Vincent provided the leadership and facilitated 
     international cooperation, significantly advancing the 
     understanding and effectiveness of international cooperative 
     acquisition issues among participating nations.
       His distinguished career included additional command tours 
     as Commander, Defense Contract Administration Services 
     Region, Los Angeles; Commander, Defense Contract Management 
     Command International; Deputy Director for Acquisition 
     Management and Commander, Defense Contract Management 
     Command, Defense Logistics Agency.
       Throughout the period of his assignment as Commandant, 
     DSMC, and his thirty-two-year career, Admiral Vincent 
     displayed exemplary performance of duty, extraordinary 
     initiative and leadership, keen judgment, and dedication to 
     the highest principles of devotion to his country. He leaves 
     the Defense Systems Management College and the acquisition 
     community better by having served them. His personal 
     dedication has been solely responsible for numerous 
     contributions of lasting consequence, which will enhance the 
     ability of each Service to accomplish its mission better, now 
     and in the future. His exceptional performance in extremely 
     important and challenging positions has been in keeping with 
     the highest traditions of the Service and reflects great 
     credit upon himself, the United States Navy, and the 
     Department of Defense.

                          ____________________