JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (Oct. 15, 2013) -- September is the busiest time of the year for Mission and Installation Contacting Command as personnel throughout the command spent the last 60 days obligating more than $1.6 billion and completing 13,362 contract actions without a single dollar lost.
With annual appropriations expiring at midnight Sept. 30, MICC personnel spent the last remaining days of the fiscal year matching Army Budget Office funds to the various Army entities based on their respective mission needs.
If the funds were not distributed by midnight then they are lost, thus a supported activity's mission is impacted. This was the second fiscal year in a row that no dollars were lost while MICC personnel completed end-of-the-year operations with all obligations properly matched and recorded against appropriations.
Those participating in the MICC headquarters end-of-the-year war room worked long hours and weekends conducting contract actions and, reconciling General Fund Enterprise Business Systems and intermediate document errors to beat the Sept. 30 midnight deadline.
"The end-of-year workload crunch always takes place because during the course of the fiscal year Army priorities constantly change resulting in Army Budget Office and Army commands continually trying to determine the effective spend of funding," said Pat Hogston, director of MICC Contract Support and Integration. "Also, often times the Army operates under a continuing resolution so they are provided their funding in increments throughout the fiscal year."
Typically, all MICC offices experience a spike in their workload at the end-of-fiscal year and usually 40 percent of all MICC actions executed for the year are accomplished in the last quarter. In order to synchronize efforts between the Army Budget Office, major supported activities and MICC offices, an end-of-the-year war room was stood up and led by MICC headquarters personnel. New to the war room this year was the development and usage of a single end-of-the-year SharePoint site to facilitate communications and to ensure an efficient and effective fiscal year closeout.
Also, MICC Small Business Programs exceeded its small business goal achieving 46.3 percent of the dollars obligated going to small businesses and meeting three of its five small business category goals set for the year. The MICC also maintained its No. 1 spot in small business spending for Army Material Command, as the command obligated more than $2.1 billion to American small businesses.
"Our contracting offices and small business specialists did an outstanding job supporting the small business program with even fewer dollars allocated than in fiscal 2012," said Mark Massie, associate director of MICC Small Business Programs.
MICC officials also credited the collaboration efforts of its members in meeting the Army chief of staff's goal of obligating 80 percent of Army operations and maintenance fund dollars by Aug. 1.
"This fiscal year was extremely challenging due to sequestration cuts and not having full funding authority from Congress until March," Hogston said. "As a result of these two events, MICC experienced a significant reduction in capacity, our civilian workforce experienced a furlough during fourth quarter, and overtime request and approval was burdensome. Add to that two significant workload spikes -- the 80/20 goal met by July 31 and end of the year by Sept. 30. With reduced capacity and workload surges, it was an extremely challenging time for MICC."
The MICC is responsible for providing contracting support for the warfighter at Army commands, installations and activities located throughout the continental United States and Puerto Rico. In fiscal 2013, the command has executed more than 42,188 contract actions worth more than $5.3 billion across the Army, including more than $2.1 billion to small businesses. The command has also managed more than 780,000 Government Purchase Card Program transactions this fiscal year valued at an additional $880 million.
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