Training Partner Nations to Strengthen Our Military Coalitions
Background
To help build partner capabilities, the United States Navy’s Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity (NETSAFA) provides partner nations with access to many of the same technologies that underpin the U.S. Navy’s own success. For over half a decade, the U.S. Navy has sponsored a foreign military sales (FMS) case to build the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) into a preeminent naval power in the Middle East. In addition to military hardware and electronic systems, the U.S. Navy invested in training to ensure Saudi sailors knew how to operate and employ this new equipment in a way that would complement U.S. tactics, techniques, and procedures.
This training was segmented into several phases: initial skills training, initial qualification training, and mission qualification training. Initial skills training covered basic skills, like English language training, which allowed sailors to successfully participate in other U.S. Navy-sponsored training. Initial qualification training provided sailors with the skills to successfully operate and employ their systems, including everything from flying the latest jets to operating the latest IT mission systems. Finally, mission qualification training provided sailors with the skills they require to complete missions as part of a U.S.-led coalition. This included everything from participating in joint exercises to high-end training on the latest tactics and techniques to succeed during combat.
Understanding the Need
While the cornerstone of successful FMS training requires a contractor with the personnel and resources to provide world-class training to students, it also necessitated:
- An understanding of import/export controls to prevent the inadvertent release of technologies and tactics that could harm U.S. interests.
- Insight into the unique cultural sensitivities of partner nation being trained.
- The diplomatic skills to balance the competing needs of the partner nation with the requirements of the U.S. Navy.
- The ability to address sweeping reforms to the U.S. Navy’s own training program.
- The resources and approach to overcome the challenges of operating large contracts in an overseas location with limited U.S. Navy presence.
Our Solution
In 2016, the Navy brought on GovCIO (formerly Salient CRGT) to run the RSNF C4I Training contract for NETSAFA. Since previous attempts to provide this training were burdened with significant course production delays and quality issues, GovCIO assigned an expert program manager, who was also a master instructor with two decades of experience delivering high-quality training to U.S. sailors, to address these issues. Without delay, he built a strong relationship with key stakeholders, quickly triaged important training events, established a regimented process for development and delivery, and implemented quality controls to deliver the highest-quality training.
General Training Services
Our team aligned with the Plan, Analyze, Design, Develop, Instruct, Evaluate, and Model (PADDIE+M) process and used the Navy’s interactive courseware plan to develop and deliver training. We delivered both classroom and over-the-shoulder shipboard training to RSNF. At RSNF’s request, we conducted training evaluations for all courses. Once evaluations ended, we used this data in future analysis, which allowed for continuous improvement and, as training requirements were met, for us to address the next most critical requirements. As a result, the C4ISR Training center’s KSA retention levels increased 31.3%.
COVID-Related Support
As the COVID pandemic swept across the world, GovCIO developed innovative solutions for continuing face-to-face training while reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19. This included providing PPE to all students and instructors and implementing a strict disinfectant regimen to reduce potential exposure and a social distancing schema to prevent transmission. As a result, every class was completed as scheduled without a single student or employee testing positive for COVID-19.
Training-Related Technology
Throughout the contract, our team designed and maintained a centralized database for the entire C4ISR training course catalogue. This database served as a centralized repository for all curriculum development, revision, updates, and tracking and reporting of all training efforts. GovCIO also guided the U.S. Navy and RSNF in the creation of a Training Center Library on the RSNF Administrative Network (A-Net). Using both innovative and traditional resources and technologies, this library served as an information gateway and sought to lay the groundwork for the implementation of a complete Learning Management System.
Results
The outstanding success of our team’s initial program improvements and quality corrections enabled us to double the size of the program in its first two years. They also ensureed GovCIO consistently met or exceeded well-defined measures of performance and scored satisfactory and very good on every Contract Performance Assessment Report. In total, our team-
- Streamlined the training planning and implementation process by 25% through our implementation and maintenance of the centralized database for the entire C4ISR training course catalogue.
- Successfully designed, developed, and completed 29 new courses and updated 25 existing courses that range in length from one day to seven months.
- Delivered 5,100 hours of instruction to 1,600 RSNF personnel.
- Converted 15 of the 25 traditional brick-and-mortar courses to blended learning solutions providing more efficient and effective training.
In addition, our program manager worked closely with NETSAFA and RSNF to build the business case that enabled the U.S. Navy to move all curriculum work back to the U.S., where developers could be hired faster and at significantly less cost. This shift reduced the cost of hiring new employees by over 60% and allowed the Saudi government to complete far more training development than previously budgeted.