The Air Force Manpower and Personnel Directorate signed an organizational change request in December after approval from the commander of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), Gen. Duke Richardson. AFRL announced the new directorate Thursday.
Both AFRL and AFMC are based at Wright-Patterson.
“AFRL has a long, successful history of engaging in collaborative partnerships, but today’s dynamic environment requires a more unified approach to increase the impact of our S&T (science and technology),” AFRL Commander Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle said in a release. “Creating a one-stop shop for partnerships will scale best practices and deliver efficiencies across the enterprise.”
Personnel from AFRL’s Small Business Directorate and Plans and Programs Partnerships division, or XPP, are part of the new directorate, AFRL said.
“We are bringing together two incredible teams, Small Business and XPP, with long track records of partnering,” Pringle said.
Most of AFRL’s 2,250-plus active partnership agreements are made directly with subject matter experts, sometimes referred to in the Air Force as “SMEs,” according to XPP Division Chief Gus Vu.
“In order to accelerate S&T, AFRL partnerships must move beyond the current paradigm of simply enabling SME to SME collaborations,” said Tim Bunning, AFRL’s chief technology officer.
Pringle decided to create the new directorate.
“Partnerships are simply core to AFRL’s mission effectiveness,” AFRL Executive Director Timothy Sakulich said. “The new directorate will support the strategic focus and delivery of streamlined partnering tools we need in order to create and deliver technological advantage for Airmen and Guardians now and in the future.”
A new strategic partnerships director will be hired via a competitive announcement on USAJOBS.
Before Thursday’s announcement, AFRL had nine technology directorates.
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