[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 198 (Tuesday, December 5, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S7842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO SEAN J. STACKLEY

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I would like to make a few remarks to honor 
a great American.
  Sean J. Stackley served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for 
Research, Development and Acquisition from July 28, 2008, to August 3, 
2017. He also served as the Acting Secretary of the Navy from January 
20 to August 3, 2017. By virtue of the length of his Navy service, 
Secretary Stackley has become the longest serving Assistant Secretary 
of the Navy in history. Until Sean's service, Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
held the record for the longest serving Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy, but Sean has eclipsed that record by almost 2 years.
  I first came to know Secretary Stackley as a staff member of the 
Senate Armed Services Committee from 2005 until the time he was sworn 
in as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Before that, Sean graduated from 
the Naval Academy in 1979 and served on Active Duty in the Navy until 
2005, when he retired after having been program manager for the LPD-17 
Program.
  It would be hard to find a more dedicated public servant who brought 
so much to the table and continued to give his best even after he could 
justifiably have moved on to an easier job. There was hardly any area 
of building the Navy of the future where Secretary Stackley's good 
judgment and broad experience has not improved the outcome. During his 
tenure, he was responsible for placing 90 ships, nearly 1,700 aircraft, 
and over 20,000 weapons under contract. He was a staunch advocate for 
making every dollar count and worked to employ competitive techniques 
on every contract where possible. He championed multiyear contracts on 
mature programs, including the Arleigh Burke class destroyer, Virginia 
class attack submarine, MV-22 tiltrotor, and the F/A-18 Super Hornet 
Programs which collectively saved the taxpayer over $6 billion. He 
drove direct competition on many programs, including the Presidential 
helicopter, air and missile defense radar, ship-to-shore connector, and 
amphibious combat vehicle. He also introduced many creative forms of 
competition, including combining two different ship classes in one 
solicitation and introducing competition on the Aegis weapon system for 
the first time in 40 years.
  Secretary Stackley's creativity in acquisition contributed to 
ensuring a strong industrial base. He promoted open architecture 
standards for all Navy programs to provide competitive opportunities 
for large, medium, and small businesses. He ensured the Department 
synchronized contract awards on major weapons programs so that industry 
could be more efficient by combining commodity and subvendor buys. He 
also challenged the Department's purchases of contractor services which 
saved the Department over $2 billion. He was also an advocate for small 
business and proactively assigned every deputy program manager to be 
the small business advocate in every program office.
  Secretary Stackley did not shy away from difficult problems. He 
commissioned an end-to-end review of CVN-78 program to keep the ship 
under the congressional cost cap. He was a champion for the Navy's 
cybersafe efforts. He implemented a settlement for the A-12 litigation, 
the longest running government contract case in history, by working 
diligently with General Dynamics and Boeing to find a win-win solution 
for the government and the contractors. He was always mindful of the 
warfighter ensuring the Urgent Needs Process was agile and responsive. 
He recognized the strength of working with our international partners 
and forged strong ties on a myriad of programs, including the Joint 
Strike Fighter and Columbia class submarine.
  Secretary Stackley was a staunch advocate for the acquisition 
workforce. He successfully argued for tools and funding that would 
provide necessary training and certification for the workforce. In 
addition, he was passionate about promoting diversity. His dedication 
to the workforce was most evident during the Washington Navy Yard 
shooting and the days and weeks that followed where he was most 
concerned with the well-being of the individuals impacted.
  I am very sorry to see Secretary Stackley leave government service, 
but he has more than earned time to pursue other goals. However, I am 
confident that his legacy will continue with the strong team that he 
built and nurtured.
  With that, I want to wish Sean and his wife, Terri, ``fair winds and 
following seas.''

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