Army PEO Integration shifts, creates new command

The Army is creating a new command to manage the process for selecting and acquiring new technologies, and the Network Integration Evaluation exercises.

The Director, Systems of Systems Integration will open for business Oct. 1. Headquartered at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., and led by Army Col. Daniel Hughes, the new command will streamline a number of management and support efforts necessary to manage the NIE.

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One of the command’s first jobs will be to lead the acquisition management of the NIE 12.1, scheduled to begin Oct. 31 at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. This mission was previously performed by the Army's Program Executive Office Integration, said Paul Mehney, chief of public communications for PEO Integration.

Because there are so many parts to the NIE, putting its management under one office makes sense, Mehney said. Some 50 different systems will be evaluated in this fall’s NIE. These various systems range from new technologies entering the testing mix to established programs of record and the continued testing of Joint Tactical Radio System Rifleman Radios.

The new command also provides a more holistic approach to managing a technology through its life cycle. Under its agile process for technology selection and acquisition, the Army must work more closely with industry and other government agencies to select a system and then manage the areas associated with it, such as logistics, training and maintenance, Mehney said.