FORT BRAGG, North Carolina -- (March 3, 2016) The Army Contracting Command commander made his first official visit Feb. 2 to the 419th Contracting Support Brigade and the Mission and Installation Contracting Command-Fort Bragg contracting office.
During the visit, Maj. Gen. James Simpson received a command overview brief of the 419th CSB and MICC-Fort Bragg, and re-emphasized the importance of integrating with customers all year long.
"We need to ensure that we are continuously talking to our customers about not only their initial requirements but also any potential new requirements on the horizon to ensure that we're providing them the best contracting service possible," Simpson said.
He also provided guidance on MICC 2025 and the current hiring process.
"The current generation will not stay in one place to work for 20 to 30 years like our parents used to, but at most they will spend three to four years at one location and then look for another place to work, causing a continuous search for new personnel," Simpson said.
He pointed out that due to the high turnover rate and losing personnel to other contracting agencies, ACC needs to look for creative ways to incentivize its workers to stay.
During a town hall with the 419th CSB and MICC-Fort Bragg personnel, Simpson discussed the 13 challenges to the strategic environment. The general focused on continuous deployments, budget constraints, inexperienced workforce, persistent conflicts and Army-wide force reductions. He stated that some of these issues will continue well into 2019 and beyond. He also shared that ACC will continue to grow and develop a professional workforce, maintain a customer-focused team that educates our customers, and continue to develop learning organizations that are adaptive, flexible and responsive.
In addition to visiting the 419th CSB, Simpson met with the XVIII Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division leaders to discuss the operational contracting support the 419th CSB provides during its deployments. He also took advantage of the visit to speak to them regarding the importance of establishing an operational contracting support integration cell at both headquarters to improve OCS within their respective staffs as they prepare for future deployments, combat training center rotations, exercises and missions. Currently, the 419th CSB's 900th Contracting Battalion is deployed supporting the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, and the 922nd CBN from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is preparing to deploy and replace the 900th CBN in order to support the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
The 419th CSB is one of three brigades that along with a field directorate office make up the MICC. Headquartered on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, the MICC is an organization of more than 1,500 military and civilian members responsible for contracting for Soldiers. In fiscal 2015, the command executed more than 36,000 contract actions valued at more than $5.2 billion across the Army, including $2.25 billion to American small businesses. The command also managed more than 600,000 Government Purchase Card Program transactions in fiscal 2015 valued at an additional $747 million.
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