Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC) Project Managers participated in a series of Advanced Planning Assistance Training (APAT) at McKean Defense Group located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, May 4-6.

APAT is designed to define roles and responsibilities for all team members involved in a Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Availability. The training occurs prior to integrated project team development (IPTD), which begins 360 days before the start of an availability.

"The APAT sets the stage for project team success," said MARMC Commanding Officer Capt. Steven Stancy. "Each project team is unique with varying degrees of experience and knowledge, and it is important for project team members to understand each other's role and how the team must work together as one team in order to be successful."

"We have the availability project team come in to discuss their plan for contract execution and help them improve their oversight capabilities," said McKean Defense Group Training Consultant Wesley Wolfe. "I will get each person on the team to describe their roles and responsibilities and commit themselves to what they will accomplish for the team."

The project teams are led through a hardcopy planning procedure that outlines each step of the availability, including important milestones they will need to meet. An action item list is also established which prepares the team to go into their first IPTD.

"This is a chance for team members to ask questions and to brainstorm the possible risks involved with the project. Then, we can help them mitigate those risks and find them the answers that they will need to be prepared for the availability once it starts," said Wolfe.

Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Center began implementing this concentrated workforce development training over the past three years to allow subject matter experts to impart their experiences to the CNO availability execution teams.

"The project teams that have had the APAT training have performed exceptionally well during availability execution. APAT is definitely a worthwhile event for project team and availability success," said Stancy.

MARMC is currently preparing for several CNO availabilities scheduled for fiscal year 2016, including USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), and USS Normandy (CG 60).

For more news from Norfolk Ship Support Activity, visit www.navy.mil/.