FM capability enhanced in OCSJX-15

By Tech. Sgt. Robert Barnett, OCSJX-15 Public Affairs CellMarch 24, 2015

OCSJX15 Includes FM and Other Players
FORT BLISS, Texas - Army 1st Lt. Maria Moser shows Air Force Master Sgt. Gareth Davis and Army 1st Lt. Katie Whitmore how to fill out checks to fund contracts during Operational Contract Support Joint Exercise 2015. It's the first time that members o... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT BLISS, Texas -- The U.S. has always used contracted support for military operations at various levels of scope and scale. From the transportation, to billeting, to logistics, to weapons system, and maintenance on the battlefield, contract support is essential to most operations.

As a result of lessons-learned, the Department of Defense has developed Operational Contract Support doctrine to provide proper oversight and management of this contracted support.

OCS encompasses the planning, execution and oversight of government contracts for goods or services in support of military operations. This cradle-to-grave support can be complex, blending effects across geographical, political, economic and multi-service areas of responsibility.

To implement the new doctrine a series of annual exercises have been held over the past five years. This year, Operational Contract Support Joint Exercise 2015 builds upon the experiences and lessons learned from previous exercises by adding new participants and increasing the participation of previous participants.

For the first time, members of the Financial Management community are fully integrated in the exercise. Two FM members are incorporated into each of the 12 Regional Contracting Cells, with centralized disbursing agents overseeing four RCCs apiece.

"It is absolutely critical that we train side-by-side with our FM partners," said U.S. Army Col. Paul Pardew, division chief for OCS on the Joint Staff. "They are critical to how Operational Contract Support is planned, executed and synchronized with combatant command operations and desired effects."

The goal of this collaboration in OCSJX-15 is to familiarize the contracting and FM communities with each other's roles and how they apply to the strategic mission.

"We've always deployed with contracting professionals, so we're very excited to train with them in an environment like we're doing now," said U.S. Air Force Col. Regina Goff, Director of Financial Management and Comptroller for Pacific Air Forces and senior FM advisor for OCSJX-15.

Traditionally, FM members deploy in support of contingencies or humanitarian missions as disbursing agents to make payments on location.

"Very little gets done without money," Goff said. "We're the ones who bring the money to the fight."

The execution and outcomes of FM and OCS teamwork can effect strategic decisions, congressional mandates and DoD instructions.

Financial Management teams are responsible for everything from funding contracts to running a disbursing operation to pay local vendors, which can promote the local market and community relations, the FM director said. Operational Contract Support can make or break a strategic mission, which is one of the reasons for the enhanced FM involvement in OCSJX-15. FM experts also provide strategic advice on the impact of financial operations on the local economy and the area of operations. Monetary resources are vitally important to a commander's ability to shape the operational environment. Used properly, money is a key enabler. Used improperly, money can be counterproductive and even destructive to efforts to stabilize an area.

"This is what we do -- FM and contracting are together as a team in the real world," said Darin Jenkins, FM cell lead.

The FM team is performing as many processes as possible during OSCJX-15, Jenkins said. "Purchase requests will come down, resource managers will certify them, there will be a fund cite and fund priorities, purchase request items will be sourced, and then finance will actually pay," he said. "There will be accountability."

One strategic goal of OCSJX-15 is to grow the next generation of acquisition and non-acquisition leaders who are well-versed in all aspects of OCS.

Because financial managers act as paying agents and provide resource management capabilities for the commander, OCSJX-15 improves upon the FM team's OCS capabilities to meet the commander's intent, Goff said.

"We purposely picked people who had little to no deployment experience to participate in this exercise," she said. "Those are the folks who need the opportunity to learn."