Elliott Branch
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Acquisition and Procurement)
U.S. Navy
Elliott B. Branch is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Acquisition and Procurement) in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition). He is the senior career civilian responsible for acquisition and contracting policy that governs the operation of the Navy’s world-wide, multibillion-dollar acquisition system. Mr. Branch is the principal civilian advisor to the Navy Acquisition Executive for acquisition and procurement matters, serves as the Department of the Navy’s Competition Advocate General and is the leader of the Navy’s contracting, purchasing and government property communities.
Prior to joining the Navy Acquisition Executive’s staff, Mr. Branch was the first civilian director of contracts at the Naval Sea Systems Command. In that role he led one of the largest and most complex procurement organizations in the Federal government. As the senior civilian for contracting at NAVSEA, Mr. Branch was responsible for the contractual oversight of the Nation’s most complex shipbuilding and weapons systems procurement programs. His duties involved the obligation and expenditure of
approximately $25 billion annually.
He is a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES). Members of the SES serve in the key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. They are the major link between these appointees and the rest of the Federal work force. SES members operate and oversee nearly every government activity in approximately 75 agencies.
Mr. Branch spent time in the private sector, where he specialized in acquisition and project management education, training and consulting for the federal workforce and its associated contractors. In this role, Mr. Branch was responsible for the design, development, delivery and maintenance for a wide variety of course material ranging from project management to contract law. Mr. Branch’s clients included Computer Sciences Corporation, QSS Group, BAE Systems, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the Departments of Defense, Energy, Justice and State.
Prior to that, he served as the Chief Procurement Officer for the Government of the District of Columbia, where he was the agency head responsible for procurement operations, policy, and for formulating legislative proposals for local and Congressional consideration. Mr. Branch led a staff of over 200 employees that supported over 40 city agencies, administered a $14 million annual operating budget, and oversaw the placement of $1.5 billion, annually, in city contracts.
Before joining the District government, Mr. Branch held various positions in the SES with the Department of the Navy (DON). In 1993, he became a member of the SES as the Director, Shipbuilding Contracts Division, at NAVSEA. He next served as Executive Director, Acquisition and Business Management for DON, responsible for policy and ove sight of contract operations throughout the entire Navy. While in this position, he also served as Project Executive Officer, Acquisition Related Business Systems. In this role, he was responsible for the formulation and execution of a multi-year effort transforming the navy’s acquisition system from a paper-based system into one that made use of electronic technologies and methods. In this role, Mr. Branch was directly responsible for a portfolio of projects worth more than $200 million.
Mr. Branch graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and completed the Executive Program at the University of Virginia Darden School. He has received the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award, two Presidential Rank Awards for Meritorious Executive, the Vice Presidential Hammer Award for Reinventing Government, and the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal for
Management Excellence.