CIO Speaks: A Primer on Building, Maintaining Ties with Military Customers

10.10.17
By Candace Stuart, Director of Communications & Public Relations, CHIME

Chad Fletcher, the former deputy CIO and CTO at Brooke Army Medical Center, discusses best practices for industry representatives who want to work with a military CIO. He retired from the military in 2016 and is now director of information services at Methodist Texsan-HCA in San Antonio.  

Do industry representatives need to meet certain prerequisites to do business with a military customer, and if so, what are they? 

Absolutely.  If I were a company that wanted to conduct business with the U.S. military, I would start by visiting the website for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (www.acq.osd.mil).  This is a great place to find out what a company needs to do to begin to conduct business with the Department of Defense. 

I think ensuring a company is established correctly is critical, for obvious reasons. As a CIO, there were limitations on companies that I could use for either services or products. This was either based on the size of the company, location of the company, or location of origin for the equipment. If a company is established correctly to work with the DoD, it saves a lot of time and trouble for both parties. 

I would also say that a company wanting to get into the DoD healthcare space should have a thorough knowledge of the Risk Management Framework (RMF). The RMF is a set of security controls and measures used to manage the organizational risk for a system for the organization. Mind you, that is a very simplistic explanation of RMF. More information can be found at https://csrc.nist.gov.    

Understanding the RMF, again in my opinion, is crucial for a company to understand if its application or system touches the DoD or Defense Health Agency network.   

Did you have industry representatives approach you who were not aware of these things? 

Absolutely. Industry representatives who have a history of working with the government consistently stay up to date on changes and requirements to do business with the DoD. Where I would see it most, that industry was not aware of some of these requirements, was in the healthcare industry.       

Does that make a difference for the industry representatives? 

It does. Initially, I observed that our Information Assurance folks would work with the representatives because it was new territory for many of the vendors and for us. With the RMF being implemented in the Defense Health Agency, I think it is now expected that vendors “come to the table” with that knowledge. 

What is the best approach for a Foundation firm representative to establish a relationship with a military CIO? 

I think the best way to establish the relationship, initially, is through professional organizations such as CHIME. The Spring and Fall Forums are an excellent way to have the industry leader and the organizational leader get together in a non-threatening type environment. At these events, we are able to exchange ideas, thoughts and concerns and contact information. From there, each of us has the opportunity to decide if we can help one another.   

If that way isn’t possible, the industry representative should schedule appointments with those organization leaders. I was always, and I know other CIOs were as well, open to talk with industry about what was on the market and what needs my organization had.    

What I didn’t like was when industry sales representatives just showed up at my door. There is a process in place to get those appointments to discuss products and services and it really made a difference with me for those who followed the process.   

Are there common mistakes industry representatives make when initiating a potential sales deal with a military customer? 

I wouldn’t assume that a product or service that is working in a civilian healthcare system would automatically work in the DoD healthcare system. What I have seen in the civilian sector is that I have a little bit more latitude to get it in and try things out in a limited production environment than I would in the military.  

Is there anything they can do to mitigate making that kind of mistake? 

When you are trying to set those initial meetings with the military representative or decision maker, first know what the decision-making process is to get onto the network. The local CIOs in military healthcare facilities cannot arbitrarily approve something. There is a governance process through the facility, through the service commands and through the Defense Health Agency to get it on that network.  

Go in with a little humility and say, “This is what we have to offer. We believe it will work. Do you see any other gateway or checkpoints that we need to look at before we try to present it to you and your organization?” Most CIOs and CTOs will be happy to share that. Again, in my opinion, we know the civilian sector has a lot of the best practices and best of breed in equipment and we want to see that. You have to navigate it a little differently.   

Funding is a whole other issue. There are levels of governance for purchasing in the military that are different from what I have seen in the civilian sector thus far. Ensure that you know, or have an understanding, of that governance and purchasing process. There were certain times of the year that money was more available than others. 

So, the funding flow is different? 

The thinking is, “Hey, you are the government and you have money available any time.” Yes, I have been told that exact thing. In fact, we did not. Then, there would be an injection of funding that would have to be used in a short time period. This is where that relationship with the local IT leadership is priceless. If you haven’t previously built that relationship with that local leadership team at that facility, that timeline may come and go without having the opportunity to compete for the business. 

Can you give an example? 

Let’s say I had met you at a conference, and you went through the right way to meet me about a new product, and learned about some of our challenges and what we want to do. Today I don’t have the money; we are in February. It will cost $500,000 and I don’t have it in my budget but we keep that relationship. We are still talking; we are making sure our quotes are updated. Then come May when all of a sudden there is a fallout of money, I have everything together. You know what I need and I have an accurate quote, or as accurate as it can be, and we don’t have to go back and re-dig stuff up from three or four months ago. 

I did that all the time. My teams consistently worked with our vendors to ensure we had the quotes and we would keep that updated every 30 or 60 days. Perhaps the vendor has allowed us to put this in a testing environment or we may have had an opportunity to pilot at the hospital. We are just waiting on the money. The vendor has most likely invested some money and time, not knowing they may get the sale, but when the money is released, everything is together for submission. This is the advantage of building the relationship.     

Do the same best practices apply to civilian customers as in the military? 

Personally, I believe it applies to both. If you want me to keep you in the front of my mind, then let’s build a professional relationship now. Keep me up to date on what your company is doing and your latest innovations. We can look at how, and if, that is something that would be beneficial to my organization. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won’t. However, what that displays to me is that you have a true concern with my organization’s needs and success. You already know what I need and you know my challenges.  

I love sitting around and chatting with some of these guys. I know they are kind of feeling me out but I am OK with that because I am feeling them out, too. Maybe they can teach me. Maybe they aren’t making any money now but they show the interest. I am going to remember that and when it is time, I am going to come back because they educated me and they care about what I am doing.

More Foundation Insight Volume 1, No. 3: