Employees recieve recognition for their support

By Betsy Kozak-Howard, Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.April 10, 2014

Quander
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Angel Quander, contract specialist from the Army Contracting Command- Aberdeen Proving Ground, receives a Commander's Award for Civilian Service for contracting support she provided to the Field Deployable Hydrolysis System. This customer recognitio... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Field Deployable Hydrolysis System
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Nearly two dozen Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., employees received customer recognition for their support of the Field Deployable Hydrolysis System.

The 21 awardees received the Commander's Award for Civilian Service during a town hall meeting April 3. The awards were presented by Suzanne Milchling, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, director of program integration.

The FDHS is designed to convert chemical agents into compounds not usable as weapons. This new system was built by ECBC and is capable of destroying chemical materials in bulk. According to Milchling, the system was deployed on a ship to the Mediterranean Sea in January with a mission to destroy the chemical weapons within Syria.

"The team of ACC-APG contracting professionals was responsive and ensured FDHS mission deadlines were met," she said.

The FDHS requirement originated from a joint emergent operational needs statement. The total processing time, from receipt of the first package to the delivery of the first system was completed in 6 months, according to Debra Abbruzzese, ACC-APG Contracting Division chief.

"The team processed approximately 63 contracting actions for this project and several of these actions were awarded to small businesses," Abbruzzese said. "They spent numerous hours tracking deliverables and coordinating with business entities. There were many unique procurement transactions to support the system and teamwork was required to meet the customer's needs. This was truly an outstanding team effort and successful mission support."

After the award ceremony, Bryon J. Young, ACC-APG's executive director, congratulated the employees and commended them on their "remarkable accomplishment."

"This team demonstrated speed, capability and efficiency with the development of this government-designed system. More importantly, this system added a capability that is part of our government's negotiation on the international stage," Young said.