MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM) hosted its inaugural Reverse Industry Day at the Gray Research Center at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., June 5, 2025.
In total, more than 100 acquisition professionals attended the event in person and another 150 individuals contributed online.
“I think it was great success,” said Janice Weiland, contracts competency manager, supervisory contracting officer, and agreements officer for MARCORSYSCOM. “There was really good active participation from the audience.”
Reverse Industry Day is a forum where industry representatives present their perspectives and experiences to government acquisition and program professionals.
“It's essentially the opposite of a traditional industry day in that the government is the audience listening to industry leaders versus the traditional industry day where the government presents information about upcoming requirements to industry,” said Weiland. “These events aim to enhance transparency, improve communication, and foster better understanding between government agencies and industry.”
According to MARCORSYSCOM’s Director of Contracts Constance Ealey, the vision for Reverse Industry Day was to create a venue for open dialogue where industry partners could provide their personal insights and perspectives.
“All too often the government proceeds with its formal procurement processes but never asks industry for feedback,” said Ealey. “What are we, the government, doing that makes it difficult for industry to submit a proposal? Are our requirements unclear? Are our timelines unreasonable? For true procurement streamlining and transformation to occur, we must listen to industry feedback and make changes. Reverse Industry Day is our first step in the right direction.”
Another key aspect of the inaugural event involved creating a space for feedback between government and industry, which many attendees said led to better understanding about ways to potentially improve acquisition processes.
“It was extremely informative for me as a program manager,” said Col. Marcus Reynolds, program manager for Training Systems. “It provided valuable insight into the challenges industry partners face when interpreting our draft [Request for Proposals] and final RFPs. One key takeaway was the importance of using plain language and clearly defining critical capability requirements to prevent industry from spending unnecessary time and resources trying to decipher our intent.”
The event included three panels, each with multiple leaders of industry leading question and answer sessions that focused on acquisition topics, and it quickly became one of the highlights.
“We had more questions than what we had time for so we might extend the session next time,” said Weiland. “We really appreciate industry taking the time to participate and their willingness to speak on multiple topics, which shows their proactive mindset to look for solutions."
Weiland also said they’re planning a second Reverse Industry Day next year.
“We’re going to build upon our successes and have another great event in 2026,” said Weiland.