BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN -- Anyone who has built a deck for their home, remodeled a kitchen or helped their 7-year-old with an art project knows that when the job is finished there are inevitably small bits and pieces left over. It's generally no big deal to just toss those leftovers away.
But what about when the project is a $3 million building and the American taxpayer is paying the bill? What becomes of those left over bits and pieces, and equipment, which can accumulate into the hundreds of thousands of dollars?
In Afghanistan, excess from completed projects, as well as excess from bases that have been closed, falls under the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract managed by the Defense Contracting Management Agency (DCMA).
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- Transatlantic Afghanistan District (TAA) has started utilizing those excess parts and equipment to save millions on existing and future projects. The cost-saving program has been dubbed USACE Recovery of LOGCAP Excess (UROLE).
"We'll have a base close, and all the property has to be pulled off of that base. Then LOGCAP has to figure out how to get rid of it. DCMA determines the protocol for disposing of each individual item," said Nancy Farr, administrative contracting officer, USACE-TAA. "To be able to transfer it to some other governmental organization that can use it is huge, because that's government property that has already been paid for."
Farr estimates in the first 45 days of the program, UROLE has saved USACE $5.5 million, with an expected savings of $32 million in the first year.
"We were in a situation where we needed some long-lead items," she said. "Long-lead items, the contractor is asking for some authorization to order some parts from back home, stateside or from a distance, things that we can't get here. Our contractor tries to buy things locally as much as possible, but these are items that are not available locally."
The equipment available ranges from big-ticket items like forklifts and cranes, to everyday use items such as electrical and plumbing supplies, power tools and power washers.
"It's all new because it was back stocked. It wasn't over-purchased, it was required to be purchased for the original contract," said Farr. "Those are the type of things you never know if you are going to need, you don't know when plumbing is going to be needed. So the LOGCAP program had a certain bench stock that had to be maintained."
"USACE makes every effort to be good stewards of resources in our mission to execute construction and build capacity in Afghanistan," said Col. Pete Helmlinger, USACE-TAA, commander. "The UROLE program allows us to deliver key facilities for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces at a significant savings to the American people."
Col. Anthony Wizner, commander, DCMA-Afghanistan, said it's a win-win for everyone involved. Instead of shipping the excess back to the States (which would be an additional cost), or destroying it in country, turning it over to another contractor helps keep contract costs down.
"We call it cost avoidance," he said. "We have re-distributed $300 million of LOGCAP property to other users, (military, contractors, State department, Government of Afghanistan). It costs us on average, $36,000 to ship by ground back to the States, so a lot of times it's a cost advantage to turn items over."
"It's fantastic!" added Farr. "It's great for LOGCAP, who certainly doesn't want to have this property destroyed, it's great for DCMA who wants to make sure that property can be used by the government. USACE is becoming the avenue by which we can use that not just in the O&M (operation and maintenance) of our USACE buildings, but also in the training and the reconstruction of Afghanistan."
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