The Department of Defense announced yesterday the recipients of the DOD Value Engineering Achievement Awards.  Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering Kristen Baldwin, on behalf of Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall, led the ceremony in the Pentagon auditorium to recognize exemplary value engineering accomplishments.  Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Baldwin presented awards to several military services and defense agencies: four to the Army, three to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, four to the Navy, one each to the U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force, five to the Defense Logistics Agency, one to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and three to the Missile Defense Agency. The DOD honored five individuals, eight teams, four projects/programs, and five organizations for their significant fiscal year 2015 value engineering-related efforts that resulted in cost savings or cost avoidances, quality improvements, or efficiencies to the DOD.    

Value engineering was born out of innovative material and design alternatives that resulted from the material shortages of World War II. The DOD uses value engineering to analyze supplies, services, buildings, and systems to achieve best value, or the best relationship between worth and cost consistent with required performance, quality, and safety of essential functions. Value engineering efforts reduce cost, speed delivery, and enhance the performance of the equipment and services provided to our fighting forces. The DOD realized $3.1 billion in cost savings and avoidances in fiscal year 2015 and continues to use value engineering to help programs execute within their resources.

The individuals and teams recognized for their value engineering activities can be found here.