Irina Nguyen: Bringing transparency to acquisition

As the Army continues to overhaul and streamline the ways it buys technology, one person is working behind the scenes to make the processes more transparent.

Irina Nguyen manages acquisition and reporting at the Army's Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems. But aside from overseeing IT portfolios, she is also a beta tester, developer and translator. The results go beyond the Army Acquisition Dashboard she helped implement, and her efforts could have an impact on the entire Defense Department.

"PEO challenged us to look across the Army at different acquisition processes and try to identify how to get [new requirements] validated, funded, developed, incorporated and tested. Irina has taken that program on," said Victor Hernandez, director of program management at PEO-EIS. "The ultimate intent is...to present this to DOD leaders to show them where current laws and regulations could have disconnects that need to be fixed to ensure programs are executed effectively. Her efforts are far-reaching, not just contained to her team or PEO-EIS," and they could affect regulations for all of DOD's components.

Nguyen said her previous work at the Office of Management and Budget helped broaden her vision and understanding.

"I never thought my first job working at a tier 1 help desk would eventually lead to working on IT projects that can and have made an impact on the Army community," she said. "It's amazing to see how IT is changing the way the government does business and makes use of the latest technologies."