Defense Contract Management Agency - Wikipedia

Agency in the US federal government Not to be confused with Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Defense Contract Management Agency

Agency overview
Formed	2000
Headquarters	Fort Lee, Virginia, United States
Employees	9,526 civilian542 military
Annual budget	$1.54 billion
Agency executive	VADM Stephen R. Tedford, Director
Website	www.dcma.mil

The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) is an agency of the United States federal government reporting to the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment. It is responsible for administering contracts for the Department of Defense (DoD) and other authorized federal agencies. Its headquarters is located at Fort Lee, Virginia. DCMA also administers Foreign Military Sales contracts.

History

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Contract administration within DoD has been studied and modified for many years. In the early 1960s, a study was commissioned by the Secretary of Defense to examine the entire DoD contracting process. Known as "Project 60," the findings pointed to numerous benefits of consolidating contract administration and audit. At that time, each defense agency and military service was administering and auditing its own contracts, which resulted in a great amount of duplicate effort. Many of the contract administration responsibilities were eventually moved to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). However, the military services continued to retain oversight of the major weapon systems acquisition programs.

Defense Contract Management Command

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The contract administration process was again reviewed in 1989. Citing continued problems with the manner in which the services were administering contracts, a Defense Management Review Decision (DMRD) 916 recommended the establishment of a joint command to administer defense contracts, to ensure that consistent policies and standards were applied to the defense acquisition process. Defense Contract Management Command (DCMC) was established as a command within the Defense Logistics Agency in February 1990 to satisfy the findings of DMRD 916.

DCMC transition to DCMA

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On March 27, 2000, DCMC was renamed as the Defense Contract Management Agency and established independently from DLA. In DoD Directive 5105.64, the Deputy Secretary of Defense formally established the mission, responsibilities and functions of DCMA; save for 18 specific exceptions detailed in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, DoD activities normally delegate a wide variety of contract administration functions to DCMA.

The DCMA headquarters moved from a northern Virginia location to Fort Lee, Virginia, as part of the federal 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process. The new headquarters was dedicated as Herbert Homer Hall[1] on September 15, 2011. Homer was a DCMA employee killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.[2]

According to the DoD's Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Estimate, DCMA had 10,637 civilian and 472 military personnel, located in over 740 locations, managing over 19,000 contractors and nearly 350,000 active contracts. The operations and maintenance budget estimate for fiscal year 2015 was approximately $1.3 billion.[3] By 2019, those numbers changed slightly. As of 14 January 2019, DCMA had 11,641 civilians and 552 military assigned. Number of contractors and number of active contracts remained roughly constant. Total contracts serviced were valued at $5.2 trillion and authorized contractor payments per day was valued at $678 million.[4]

DCMA seal, duty badge, and lapel pin

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The DCMA Seal is pictured above. The eagle represents courage, honor, and dedicated service to the United States, represented by the shield of thirteen pieces. The thirteen pieces of the shield represent the original thirteen colonies that became the first thirteen states. The thirteen pieces are joined together by the blue chief, representing Congress. The eagle is clutching thirteen arrows and an olive branch with thirteen leaves and thirteen olives, similar to the Great Seal of the United States. The eagle is superimposed atop a map of the world, representing DCMA's global mission. The rays emanating from the center to the thirteen stars represent glory. The color blue matches the canton of the American flag and signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The circle shape and blue color are also reminiscent of the official seal of the Department of Defense.[4]

In 2018, DCMA and the military services (the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, and US Marine Corps—as the US Space Force did not exist in 2018) approved a duty badge for military personnel to wear while assigned to DCMA. A similar lapel pin version is also available for civilian employees (and military not in uniform). The badge and lapel pin were designed by The Institute Of Heraldry (TIOH), working at the direction of military officers assigned to DCMA. Those officers directed the badge and lapel pin be reminiscent of the DCMA Seal and they wrote the heraldry of the Seal (above) as part of the badge/pin approval process. Then-Director of DCMA, United States Air Force Lieutenant General Wendy M. Masiello approved the badge and pin for DCMA. Ultimately, TIOH approved the badge and pin as an official insignia for the US military and the individual Services approved the badge for wear on military uniforms.[5]

List of DCMA directors

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No.	Director		Term			Service branch	Ref
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Term length
1		Major GeneralTimothy P. Malishenko	March 2000	~April 1, 2001	~1 year, 17 days	U.S. Air Force	[6]
2		Brigadier GeneralEdward Harrington	~April 1, 2001	2003	~3 years, 107 days	U.S. Army
3		Major GeneralDarryl A. Scott	2003	January 2006	~2 years, 214 days	U.S. Air Force	[7]
4		Keith Ernst	January 2006	May 5, 2008 (appointed Director February-May 2008)	~2 years, 121 days	Senior ExecutiveService	[8]
5		Charlie E. Williams Jr.	May 5, 2008	November 25, 2013	~5 years, 179 days	Senior ExecutiveService	[8]
–		James M. RussellActing	November 25, 2013	June 6, 2014	193 days	Senior ExecutiveService	[9]
6		Lieutenant GeneralWendy M. Masiello	June 6, 2014	May 4, 2017	2 years, 332 days	U.S. Air Force	[10][11]
7		Vice AdmiralDavid H. Lewis	May 4, 2017	June 4, 2020	3 years, 31 days	U.S. Navy	[12][13]
8		Lieutenant GeneralDavid G. Bassett	June 4, 2020	December 20, 2023	3 years, 199 days	U.S. Army	[14]
9		Lieutenant GeneralGregory L. Masiello	December 20, 2023	July 17, 2025	1 year, 209 days	U.S. Marine Corps	[15]
–		Sonya I. EbrightActing	July 17, 2025	December 11, 2025	147 days	Senior ExecutiveService	[16]
10		Vice AdmiralStephen R. Tedford	December 11, 2025	Incumbent	24 days	U.S. Navy	[17]

References

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1. ^ "Herbert Homer Hall". September 11, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
2. ^ DCMA news release (September 1, 2011). "DCMA to officially open new HQ on Fort Lee". Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
3. ^ "Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Estimates Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)" (PDF). March 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 19, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
4. ^ a b "DCMA About Us". January 14, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
5. ^ "DCMA personnel now authorized to wear new organization badge". August 1, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
6. ^ "Major General Timothy P. Malishenko".
7. ^ "Major General Darryl A. Scott".
8. ^ a b "AllGov - Officials".
9. ^ "DCMA change of leadership: Russell becomes acting director".
10. ^ "Lieutenant General Wendy M. Masiello".
11. ^ "LT. GEN. Masiello takes command of DCMA".
12. ^ "Navy.mil Leadership Biographies". Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
13. ^ "Navy Vice Adm. David Lewis takes helm of DCMA".
14. ^ "Lt. Gen. David Bassett, U.S. Army".
15. ^ Perry, Thomas (December 21, 2023). "Lt. Gen. Gregory Masiello takes charge of DCMA". DVIDS. Fort Gregg-Adams: Defense Contract Management Agency. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
16. ^ "The Deputy Director". Defense Contract Management Agency. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
17. ^ https://www.dcma.mil/About/The-Director/

External links

[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Defense Contract Management Agency.

• www.dcma.mil

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