Running Head: MGMT 610-Risk Management Plan 1
MGMT 610- Risk Management Plan
Bryson C. Barnette
Liberty University
MGMT 610- Risk Management Plan 2
Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Project Description..........................................................................................................................5
Project Scope and Objectives..........................................................................................................7
Risk Management Methodology......................................................................................................8
Tools for Risk Assessments...........................................................................................................10
Risk Communication Plan.............................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
Appendix A....................................................................................................................................14
Appendix B....................................................................................................................................15
Appendix C....................................................................................................................................16
Appendix D....................................................................................................................................17
MGMT 610- Risk Management Plan 3
Abstract
The project of Unit Type Code (UTC) will be an extensive tasking of a unit within Air
Force Special Operations (AFSPECWAR). An exact way forward and proper planning will be
instrumental in the project's success. Risks within AFSPECWAR projects normally involve a
limited pool of resources and must be advocated from properly
Keywords: Risk Management, Department of Defense, and Safety.
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Introduction
After decades of being at war with a known adversary, the United States Air Force had to
transition the way it deploys people and equipment fundamentally. In 2004, the United States Air
Force had transitioned from a threat-based reaction to capability-based forces (Snyder & Mills,
2004). During this transition, the Air Force created a program to break down unit capabilities
into Unit Type Code (UTC). These UTC's Identify a unit's capability and the minimum
equipment needed to meet their mission sets.
The current unit this author is assigned to is tasked with managing fifteen UTC's. The
largest UTC is broken down into 1,800 pieces of equipment. This equipment varies from
firearms, carabiners, ropes, wrenches, and parachutes. These capability items must be reported
monthly to higher headquarters to give a baseline of the unit's predictions of effectiveness on
equipment readiness. Furthermore, the UTC's are also based on the workforce need to support its
capability.
Having UTC's equipment separated from its people allows higher headquarters to deploy
an equipment rich unit with a unit that may have more personnel. The simplest way to view
UTC's are by seeing them as Legos; combatant commanders now have to ability to view
capabilities that can be activated and moved. These UTC's must be able to be packed and ready
to ship anywhere in the world in 72 hours or sooner based on the requirements of the unit.
Having both accurate reporting and equipment ready allows commanders to utilize forces
for quick and decisive action if needed. Furthermore, as seen in the recent decade, these UTC's
can be utilized for domestic operations to ensure public safety in response to natural disasters,
civil unrest, and search and rescues throughout the country.
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Project Description
The Pararescue creed assigned to the members of this unit is, "It is my duty as a
Pararescuemen to save life and aid the injured. I will be prepared at all times to perform my
duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts. These
things I do that others may live (Smith, 2019)" order to live up to the Pararescue creed, the
UTC's assigned to these units must be fulfilled promptly, with appropriate equipment to meet the
last sentence "that others may live."
This project will involve retrofit of all current equipment to meet the needs currently
expected of the Air Force Special Operations War (AFSPECWAR) and the members using the
equipment. Secondly, all equipment will need to meet all safe-to-fly requirements set by the
higher-Air Force.
The United States Special Operations Command (US SOCOM) has requested all forces
refocus their efforts on a neer-peer adversary. From fighting guerrilla forces within Iraq and
Afghanistan and throughout Africa to countries such as Russia and China. These new adversaries
require greater maneuverability than over the previous conflicts. The modernization of this units
UTC's will align with the commander's intent and allow for a more capable force.
Evaluating the benefits of this project allows for US SOCOM and other forces the ability
to activate and meet the mission needs of the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of
State goals for the political will of the United States. Moreover, with continuing counter-
insurgency operations throughout the world allows for the DoD to build places of worship,
libraries, and museums. These types of structures add stability and allow for the operational
environment to further educate, shape, build, and transition a region to mitigate extremist groups
from operating in an area (DoD, 2020).
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Operating within the DoD and other government organizations are limited with their
budget with a project. Funding for this project will come from the operational and maintenance
(O&M) budget. These annual budgets are taken from the larger DoD budget and broken down by
higher headquarters based on past spending, personnel, UTC makeup, and training requirements.
Throughout US SOCOM, these units receive higher funds than other squadrons. However, this
project will span multiple fiscal years due to its expense and contracting requirements.
The initial project budget is expected to be nearly $2.6 Million. The hefty price tag
accounts for all items needed and further the 8% mark up on contracting and prime vendor fees
in order to abide by all federal fiscal law. The United States government requires all spending
over the micro-purchase threshold of $3,500-$10,000, according to 41 USC 1902 (a).
To allow for these contracting delays and fiscal limits, this scheduled timeline for this
project will extend into the fiscal year 2022 with an approximate end date of December 2021.
The lead time will allow for all equipment to be inventoried, placed into tracking software, and
updated readiness status to higher headquarters.
The requirements for this project are a dedicated project manager, a supply specialist, and
a contracting specialist. Supporting these three key members should be project specialist not to
exceed 120 days. These members will be used for product solution research and physical
placement of items into the appropriate Individual Storage Unit (ISU) and any individual cases to
allow for periodic inventory after the items are placed into service.
Lastly, the project of UTC rebuild will be advantageous to the American people ensuring
that the unit it supports will be ready to meet the needs of the DoD. Even at the price tag and
timeframe, this project must become a priority and dedicated resources to meet the intent of the
Air Force readiness needs. If this project is not approved, it could cause a loss of readiness and
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even mission failure to support the Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) needed of AFSPECWAR
and US SOCOM.
Project Scope and Objectives
The initiation of this project was speered from the National Defense Strategy of 2018.
Within the National Defense Strategy, a vital charge tasked to the DoD by rebuilding readiness to
build a more lethal joint force (DoD, 2018). By increasing readiness, this further develops a
partnership with other nations to increase allyship within NATO, all while attracting new
partners.
The key objectives for the UTC rebuild project can be broken down into multiple phases.
Phase one will require all onhand equipment to account for and updated mission to reflect
reporting. The ability to correctly report readiness status will ensure that this unit will not be
tasked without the ability to fulfill mission requirements. The importance of this phase while
reporting may seem like a setback with limiting reporting but allows for the most relevant
information as we advance.
The second objective for the project is to reconcile all micro-purchase items and prime
vendor-supplied requiring contract items. In this phase, the supporting staff needs to provide the
contracting and supply specialist with the appropriate product solution. During this phase, it will
be imperative to show the progress through meetings and budget execution as products may have
delayed delivery dates and or longer solicitation of bids. While awaiting items to return with
accepted bids or rejects, the team must focus on energy on prepping ISU's with cases and
packing lists to prep for equipment delivery.
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The third phase of the project is to receive gear, annotate any expiration date, place into
the correct increment position, and track all applicable information in a local database. This
database will allow the supply specialist to replace equipment in the future once its shelflife has
expired. This is a key phase for sustainability and to continue to be good stewards of the
taxpayer's dollar. Phases two and three will have a continued overlap as equipment will vary with
fulfillment dates. The final phase of this project is to update the current reporting status of
available equipment to allow for higher headquarters situational awareness.
Throughout this project, risk arrives in many forms. The largest risk factor in this project
will be available funding. The start of this project will start after an election year. Past years,
after elections, cause an increase of risk for the federal government to shut down or work under
Continuing Resolution (CR) funding. During CR, units are given 10% of their annual budget.
During CR of 2018, the DoD lost approximately nineteen billion dollars (Belinsky, 2019).
Furthermore, This unit is responsible for conduction Search and Rescue Missions both for
combat and civilian. Each civilian mission of a lost hiker or sailer costs taxpayer funding. One of
these missions conducted by the team cost $663,000 (Steele, 2014). Each of these missions will
cut into unit funds to allow project completion.
A further risk to this project is the change of military priorities or mission. Through the
evolution of commands and turn over new leadership may decide that projects and it's workforce
can be better utilized for other projects. Further risks will be identified within the risk
management chart.
Risk Management Methodology
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As with any project, risk must be identified to ensure all stakeholder requirements and
deliverables are met. Throughout the risk management process, all risks must be accepted,
mitigated, transfer, or accepted to have a favorable outcome. Along with any project, there may
always be an unforeseen risk; however, as a project manager, it is instrumental that all risks be
taken into account.
As previously mentioned in the project scope, a significant risk to this project is funding.
Without the ability to advocate for further funds, this project will have to proceed within the
O&M budget given by the DoD. This risk will have to be accepted and become apart of a
flexible completion timeline. A further risk of funding comes from the reprioritization if money
to meet training, rescues, and deployment needs. Each of these events allows for an incursion of
limited resources.
When executing funds, there is a risk of infractions of fiscal laws. This risk can be
transferred by procuring items through General Services Administration (GSA). Requesting
contract fulfillment through GSA will allow a third party government agency to handle all
solicitation and contract award. The risk transference allows for contracting officers to separate
any preselected vendors and or favoritism within government contracting. Furthermore, GSA is
properly equipped with the knowledge and programs to review contracts and their compliance of
the United States government's fiscal laws.
Lastly, an accepted risk will be if a product cannot be fulfilled. Products may no longer
be contracted to be made by the federal government. Systems such as a radio tester that has a
national stock number (NSN) may no longer have an existing contract be made. These NSN
items will have to be accepted, and a product with similar capabilities should be procured to
replace it.
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Tools for Risk Assessments
The tools required for analyzing risks for this proposed project shall be completed prior
to the project charter being signed. At an exorbitant cost, it is imperative that all pathways to
success be balances with the possible failure points. A multitude of tools will have to be in place
to ensure a successful project. These tools range from brainstorming, risk register, information
gathering, SWOT analysis, risk assessment forms, risk assessment matrix, and risk response
matrix.
All of the tools, as mentioned above, can help project team members and the project
manager create a viable project. During the initial brainstorming phase, it will be key to have a
supply specialist, contracting specialist, finance specialist, the commander, note taker, and a
disinterested party involved that has not done this type of project before. The last individual is
key to this process. Inviting a person into the group without prior knowledge of these types of
projects can look at processes and risks from an angle than others. During this brainstorming
phase, a risk register can be created from these conversations. Regardless of the validity of these
risks, all ideas should be taken down and discussed further.
Information gathering will come from other units who have already found product
solutions for items missing on UTC increments. This type of information gathering at the front
end of the project will create an accurate timeline and identification of the proper resource
allocations. Moreover, the information gathering allows for the identification of risks that can be
identified with certainty based on prior experiences.
SWOT analysis allows for internal examinations of a business's strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats. After this examination, additional risk can be identified and mitigated
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and or accepted. When a team and or business further understand short term goals and long terms
goals that can be accomplished within the team makeup (Berry et al., 2020)
The risk assessment form (Appendix A) shows these risks identified from the
brainstorming, information gathering, and SWOT analysis. Each of these risks is given a
likelihood of occurrence, impact, and contingencies. Thought these events, funding, contracting,
and reallocation of resources were all identified as risks that could affect this project. These risks
can be mitigated, accepted, or transferred to give this project a chance at success.
The risk assessment matrix (Appendix B) allows for a weighted view of the identified
risks. This document will help the project manager successfully navigate the identified project
risks. The largest risk, according to the weighted risk assessment, is the funding allocation
throughout the two fiscal years this project covers. The risk is followed by contracting. The
contracting risk will be transferred to GSA to ensure the proper solicitation and fiscal laws are
followed.
Lastly, the risk response matrix (Appendix C) allows for a clear way forward when risk
triggering events happens. Furthermore, the risk response matrix identifies the appropriate party
to handle the risk event. Having pre-identified parties allows for those team members to plan and
look for these triggering events.
Risk Communication Plan
The risk communication plan (Appendix D) allows for a concise communication plan for
both regularly scheduled meetings and triggering events to navigate the risk properly.
Furthermore, in an environment with lots of traveling, communication planning is critical in a
virtual environment (Project Management Institute, 2017). The risk communication plan
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mandates internal bi-monthly meetings to monitor the status of all stakeholders during the
execution of the fund's phase to ensure products are procured in order of precedence.
Furthermore, the risk communication plan calls for regular monthly reporting of
equipment status to higher headquarters. These monthly communications ensure that all
stakeholders involved are appraised of the most current readiness status of the unit. Lastly, bi-
monthly budget execution balances between training and logistics to ensure and advocate for the
priority of spending. These meets are to ensure that training and equipment needs are met to
maintain mission readiness.
Conclusion
This project faces multiple risks, from budgets to the allocation of personnel, rescue
missions, and deployments. However, with proper risk planning, the project can be protected and
ushed to the finish line by the project managers. The project description will show the benefits of
the combatant commander, which will allow for the leverage for the project manager to advocate
for resources and protect the project teams' focus.
When it comes to projects within a vast enterprise such as the DoD protecting projects is
imperative. Without this protection, most projects will fail before they have a chance to succeed.
With so many members fighting for limited resources such as funding or a workforce, the
communication plan will allow for regular updates to maintain the project viability.
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References
Belinsky, M. (2019, December 23). The Last Continuing Resolution Cost DoD $19 Billion.
Congress Is on Track to Do It Again. MOAA. https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-
and-media/news-articles/2019-news-articles/advocacy/the-last-continuing-resolution-cost-
dod-$19-billion.-congress-is-on-track-to-do-it-again/.
Berry, T., Morgaine, B., Landau, C., Koharchick, B., & Furgison, L. (2020, July 10). How to Do
a Swot Analysis for Better Strategic Planning. https://articles.bplans.com/how-to-perform-
swot-analysis/.
DoD. (2018). National defense strategy. Department of Defense.
DoD. (2020). Counterinsurgency (Ser. Joint Publication 3-24). Headquarters, United States
Continental Army Command.
Project Management Institue. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge:
(Pmbok guide) (sixth). Project Management Institute.
Smith, S. (2019, January 6). A Look at Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Creeds, Codes
and Mottos. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/creed-and-mottos-of-the-special-
operations-command-socom-4108507.
Snyder, D., & Mills, P. (2004). A methodology for determining Air Force deployment
requirements. RAND Corp. https://doi.org/ 0-8330-3567-3
Steele, J. (2014, April 10). Cost for sailing family rescue: $663,000. Tribune.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/sdut-rebelheart-cost-nationalguard-navy-
rescue-2014apr10-story.html.
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Appendix A
# Risk Name Risk
Description
Function at risk Action to be taken
1 Funding Unable to
acquire funding
Delays in project
completion, date
readiness status.
Identify alternate funding lines and
advocate for resources
2Contracting Product
unavailable to
procure or to
exceed
contract
officers warrant
Inability to meet
higher
headquarters
UTC tasking
requirements
All contracting will be done through
GSA to solicitation of contracting
3 Priority
retasking
Change of
commands may
reallocate
forces to meet
other mission
needs
Without proper
advocation of
funds and project
importance,
funding may be
moved to other
projects
Proper communication and regular
project updates will show the validity
of the project.
4 Project
Benchmarks
Delays in the
project due to
funding,
contracting, and
workforce
Delays in funding
or product
fulfillment will
further delay a
project
Prioritizing purchases and contracting
will ensure continued success
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Appendix B
Weighted Risk Assessment Matrix
Risk Impact Likelihood Sum of Weight
Funding 3 2 5
Contracting 2 2 4
Priority Retasking 1 1 2
Project Benchmarks 2 2 4
Low=1 Medium=2 High=3
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# Risk Name Risk
Description
Risk
Likelihood
Risk
Impact
Risk
Impact ID
Risk Response
Type
Risk Response
Description
1 Funding Continuing
resolution
funding
Medium
High Delays in
project
completion,
date
readiness
status.
Mitigate/Accept Identify
alternate
funding lines
and advocate
for resources
2Contracting Products
being
unable to
be
contracted
or items
unable to
be fulfilled
Medium Mediu
m
Inability to
meet
higher
headquarte
rs UTC
tasking
requiremen
ts
Transfer All contracting
will be done
through GSA
to solicitation
of contracting
3 Priority
retasking
Change of
commands
may
reallocate
forces to
meet other
mission
needs
Low Low Without
proper
advocation
of funds
and project
importance,
funding
may be
moved to
other
projects
Mitigate Proper
communication
and regular
project updates
will show the
validity of the
project.
4 Project
Benchmarks
Delays in
the project
due to
funding,
contracting,
and
workforce
Medium Mediu
m
Delays in
funding or
product
fulfillment
will further
delay a
project
Mitigate Prioritizing
purchases and
contracting
will ensure
continued
success
Appendix C
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Appendix D
Risk Communication Plan
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What Auidiance Purpose Frequency Method
Project Start All stakeholders Project
introduction and
roles
Once In-person
meeting
Project updates All stakeholders Appraise
command of
readiness
reporting
Monthly In-person or
video call
Budget
reporting
Approving
official, project
officer, and
commander
The advocation
of remaining
funds to fulfill
benchmarks
Bi-Monthly In-person or
video call
Change of
reporting
Status
Readiness
reporter and
project manager
To properly
report status to
high
headquarters as
needed
As needed E-mail
