409th Contracting Support Brigade exceeds expectations with contract close-outs

By Ms. Rachel Clark (Army Contracting Command)May 5, 2014

409th CSB contract close-out
Stacy Stewart, a procurement analyst with 409th Contacting Support Brigade, and Mark Vacarro, chief, 409th CSB Field Support Division, work on contract close-outs as part of an Army wide-ranging directive by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secreta... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany--The 409th Contracting Support Brigade here recently surpassed contract close-out objectives established by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Procurement).

As part of a wide-ranging directive, a DASA(P) task force mandated that the 409th close out more than 7,300 overage contracts by September 2014.

"The Army has had an ongoing issue with overage contacts, and the 409th was no exception," said Mark Vaccaro, chief, 409th CSB Field Support Division.

Overage contracts are those contracts that are at the point where they need to be closed out. Contracts in this closeout category have a six-month window to be closed out after physical completion.

The command did just that. As of March, the 409th had closed out almost 9,500 actions, 23 percent above the planned objective.

A close-out action occurs when contract specialists or contracting officers ensure the goods or services that the government ordered have been properly received or performed. They also ensure that the contractor has received all payments as required by the contract.

"The brigade team came together under a situation of reduced personnel and proved that with a well-grounded plan and command support, endeavors such as this can be mastered," said Vaccaro.

"At one of our brigade quarterly management meetings, we laid out a five-phase plan that was submitted in November 2012 to Army Contracting Command headquarters and that was our road map to success." said Col. William J. Bailey, 409th CSB commander.

The 409th contract close-out plan ran from December 1, 2012 to March 31, 2014.

"This is quite an accomplishment that our offices have achieved. It was due to the hard work and dedication of our teams that we made this happen. Contract close-out is possible with the right emphasis and teamwork, and we have that here in the European theater," said Bailey.