JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (March 27, 2019) -- The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology has recognized a Mission and Installation Contracting Command Soldier, civilian and team for their professionalism and contributions to the acquisition community as part of this year's Secretary of the Army Awards for Excellence in Contracting.
The award winners for fiscal 2018 are: Sgt. 1st Class Terry Ann Lewis, a contracting officer with the 608th Contracting Team, 419th Contracting Support Brigade, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, named Contracting Noncommissioned Officer of the Year; Angela Chaplinski, a supervisory contract specialist with the MICC-Joint Base Lewis-McChord contracting office at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, for Exceptional Support of the AbilityOne Program; and the 902nd Contracting Battalion at JBLM in the Contingency Contracting Team category.
The award winners were recognized for their outstanding achievements between Oct. 1, 2017, and Sep. 30, 2018. The Secretary of the Army recognized 14 groups and individuals for their accomplishments in customer satisfaction, productivity, process improvement and quality enhancement in three categories: team awards, special awards and contracting officer awards.
Lewis was selected for the award based on her efforts toward contracting and contributions to the missions of both the 900th CBN and 419th CSB. She led, trained and mentored five contracting officers and NCOs, many of whom are new to the contracting profession. Her efforts led to the 608th CT successfully completing joint training exercise and unit contingency contracting exercises, resulting in the 608th CT achieving the highest readiness rating for all mission essential tasks. Lewis developed a contract specialist developmental program to train new contract specialists on achieving contracting proficiency with the end result of working toward a contracting warrant. In addition to tracking contracting proficiency, she developed a system to track warrior task and battle drills as well as mandatory Army annual training requirements, which provided her team leader a readiness snapshot.
"I am so incredibly humbled and honored to receive this award," Lewis said. "I'm grateful to my command for the opportunities provided to me throughout 2018 that led to this great achievement."
"Sergeant Lewis demonstrates the highest standards of loyalty and integrity that fosters an environment where she serves as a positive role model and an inspiration to the command," said Brig. Gen. Bill Boruff, the MICC commanding general. "She performed at the highest level of achievement as a contracting NCO and effectively executed all requirements to truly earn this highly esteemed award."
Due to her strong leadership and expert contracting abilities, the MICC-Fort Bragg contracting director appointed Lewis to fill a critical gap in a civilian supervisory contracting position as a branch chief, which is generally a General Schedule-13 civilian pay grade position for the unit migration support division from January 2018 to June 2018.
Chaplinski was recognized for the AbilityOne Program she manages at JBLM. She provides support to the program through contracts for vehicle maintenance, dining facility attendants, central issue facility, First Sergeant's Barracks Program and laundry -- all of which are under the AbilityOne Program and represent an estimated value of $126 million.
"Working for the MICC and supporting our Soldiers is by itself a privilege but to also be able to support Americans with disabilities, which includes many of our veterans, truly makes me proud of our country and our government," Chaplinski said.
Her contracts assist warfighters to meet mission requirements and at the same time support AbilityOne Program initiatives. In total, the local AbilityOne non-profit agency employs more than 300 disabled employees at JBLM. These employees account for approximately 85 percent of their total workforce.
"She is a staunch advocate of the program, believing in its intent and how it affects the lives of individuals in the program, including our veterans," Boruff said. "Her work ethics are beyond reproach. She tirelessly works to support the warfighter in her daily duties. Chaplinski is passionate about supporting these programs and takes great pride and ownership in the contracts that she manages."
The MICC's Special Operations Command Central contracting team, which was comprised of four noncommissioned officers: Sgts. 1st Class Jesse Campos and Antonio Woodson, and Staff Sgts. Jenny Cisneros and Renae Trujillo, were recognized for the outstanding team award in contingency contracting in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, while deployed to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, from February 2017 to November 2017. The team members are from the 902nd CBN.
While serving as deployed contracting officers, the team provided support to the warfighter and enhanced the Army contracting mission. The team provided guidance and support in the development of a $228 million base life support requirement, which provided critical life and infrastructure support to more than 700 multi-national special operations force operators. They also executed 82 contract actions valued at more than $5.5 million in support of the central Asian region. The team awarded contracts valued at more than $11 million within Syria, Iraq, and Jordan in support of OIR, including the facilitation of four humanitarian contracts valued at $1.4 million in two areas of operations that provided medical supplies and improved quality of life to more than 176,000 Syrian refugees and 179,000 Jordanian refugees. An additional 54 contracts valued at more than $4.5 million were awarded by the team in Syria, Iraq, Tajikistan and Kuwait.
"Sergeants Campos, Woodson, Cisneros, and Trujillo embody the highest standards of loyalty and integrity," Boruff said. "Their continued actions and selfless service foster a mature learning environment where they serve as role models for their subordinates and peers alike. This team has performed at the highest level of excellence and are well deserving of this award."
About the MICC:
Headquartered at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon. MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitate training in the preparation of more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.
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