|
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION - As a deployed member here in Southwest
Asia, we might say that life here is pretty great with all the
little things most people take for granted. Now imagine being
deployed but this time instead of eating at a dining facility you
are eating Meals Ready to Eat, you are having GI parties, you have
no entertainment to help raise morale and you are probably living in
tents instead of dorm rooms. Now you just might be thinking ...
What's missing?
Airmen with the Expeditionary Contracting
Squadron can tell you first hand what's missing. From the
construction flight to the services flight all the way to the
commodities flight, you take them away and you end up with a
deployment no one really wants to be on.
|
Airmen with the Expeditionary Contracting Squadron inspect a construction site at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia Feb. 11, 2015. Contracting Airmen will usually inspect a work site at least monthly to ensure the work is progressing as agreed upon within the contract. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Beatrice Brown)
|
“Our mission here is to provide business advice to the
Air Expeditionary Wing and tenant units,” said Maj. Rebecca,
ECONS commander. “We try to get them the stuff they need in
a timely manner and do it legally.”
ECONS may be the
smallest unit on base, but they are easily one of the
heaviest hitters.
“We are
small but mighty,” said Rebecca. “We touch every unit on
base, whether you need a global positioning system for your
car, need to drive a leased vehicle or just need the
bathrooms cleaned. These are the types of contracts we
provide for both the U.S. and our coalition partners.”
The role of the construction flight is to award
contracts to meet the requirements of the Expeditionary
Civil Engineer Squadron.
“I would say our primary
mission would be to execute all of ECES's projected
requirements on time and on cost,” said Tech. Sgt. David,
construction flight contracting officer. “In the process, we
save as many taxpayer dollars as possible.”
The
process of actually finalizing a purchase or contract for
the constructions flight's primary customer is not as simple
as one might think.
“It is a pretty lengthy process
that would actually start with a requirements package and a
funded Form 9,” said David. “When we get everything we need,
we start to build solicitation for that contract internally.
Checks and balances are done to ensure there is no unfair
advantage between vendors.”
We then solicit to
vendors in which we anticipate a proposal. Once they start
to come in, we start our evaluation process, which can vary
depending on requirements, accuracy and pricing variations,
added David.
“The vendor that gives a technically
acceptable proposal and having the lowest price would win
the contract for that project,” said David, currently
deployed from Travis Air Force Base, California, and a
native of Spanaway, Washington.
“We act as the middle
person between the customer and the market,” said 1st Lt.
Samuel, construction flight commander. “It is a lengthy
process, because as the middle person, we need to understand
what it is the customer wants and we need to create it in
such a way that it is easy for the party to understand what
it is.”
Additional support provided by Airmen of
ECONS includes the services flight and commodities flight.
“Our commodities flight is our smallest section, but
they buy the most in volume,” said Rebecca. “It is just
small dollar stuff that everybody needs.”
The
enlisted and officer contracting officers essentially hold
the same authority and are asked to be held accountable for
this authority as well as to bind taxpayer dollars.
“As a warranted contracting officer, we have the ability to
bind the United States government to an agreement or
contract,” said Samuel, currently deployed from Ramstein Air
Base, Germany, and a native of Fullerton, California. “There
are things we have to satisfy such as competition
requirements and ensuring we are stewards of the taxpayer's
dollars by finding the best value to satisfy our
requirement.”
Given this authority, enlisted Airmen
also have additional requirements most people don't even
realize.
“Our enlisted Airmen have to have 24
business credit hours to upgrade,” said Rebecca. “It is kind
of shocking really to require college for enlisted, but that
is one thing I like to point out to everyone. They have to
follow books of law, and it is a very difficult job. It is
heavy in responsibility, especially in this environment
where the operation tempo is high.”
Despite their
unit size, ECONS Airmen have made a habit of delivering
knockout blows that cause even the largest squadrons and
groups to take notice.
Recently, the Airmen of ECONS
made a clean sweep of the U.S. Air Forces Central Command
December's Performer of the Month awards. From the Airman
category all the way to the team category this was a first
time for ECONS to win every category.
Their
accomplishments for the month included managing 27 contracts
and a $24M portfolio, awarding 56 actions totaling $567K for
all of ECES operations. They accelerated an $8.3M lodging
contract and negotiated a 70 percent period of performance
decrease, which resulted in 128 additional rooms in one
month, versus the average of seven months.
In
addition, they acquired respirators, eliminating massive
issues with one of the base facilities, bringing the
facility back up to code. Furthermore, they administered a
$1M furniture blanket purchase agreement, awarded three
calls totaling $168K and enabled an Air Force dormitory
expansion and beddown for a contingent of Royal Australian
Air Force personnel.
“We are competing against other
AFCENT personnel within the command,” said David. “We know
that we have counterparts doing the same jobs we are, but
somehow we managed to pull it off.”
“I like that my
[Airmen] are getting recognition,” said Samuel. “This is
just a testament of the hard work they do every day.”
By U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Beatrice Brown
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
Comment on this article |
