FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- The seven new mission contracting center directors for the Mission and Installation Contracting Command met here to gain insight from senior Army contracting leaders Sept. 7 and 8 as well as to chart the future for the command's newest echelon.
MCC directors will lead the MICC transformation as it becomes more effective and efficient by standardizing processes and improving customer support.
The new MCC directors are April Miller at MCC-Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Clay Cole at MCC-Fort Hood, Texas; Tim Tweed at MCC-Fort Bragg, N.C.; Pam Munoz at MCC-Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; Deb Emerson at MCC-Fort Eustis, Va.; Carlton Foshay at MCC-Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; and Mike Coburn at MCC-Fort Knox, Ky.
Brig. Gen. Stephen Leisenring, the MICC commanding general, led the conference and Jeff Parsons, the Army Contracting Command executive director, briefed directors on the future state of Army contracting.
Each MCC will have approximately 15 to 20 people and be made up of a command and control element, contract operations, administrative operations and special staff. Each center will be aligned and focused on supporting a primary customer base. For instance, the MCC-Fort Eustis and MCC-Fort Leavenworth will be supporting the Army Training and Doctrine Command. Other primary customers supported by the MICC include the Army's Forces Command, Reserve Command, Military District of Washington, Human Resources Command, and Test and Evaluation Command. During the conference, the MCC directors were briefed by MICC senior staff members on the command and control functions of directors, manpower obligations, facilities management, operations, information technology, and the upcoming Acquisition Milestone Agreement, which will redefine how contract milestones are tracked by MICC assets and its customers.
"What we are doing in the contracting community is very different than just purchasing materiel and services," Leisenring said. "We're not buying things; we are buying combat capability, combat effectiveness and combat processes and procedures whether it is at generating force training bases or for deployed forces. Army Materiel Command cannot accomplish its mission as the global logistics provider without contracting."
Contracting is no longer just taking a request then writing a contract for goods and service; it is now a vital line of operation in order for the Army to accomplish its global logistics mission, the general said. MCC directors are not in place to administratively look over contracts, but to integrate contracting into customers' planning and execution processes so they do not think of it as a contract; they will think of it as a process that delivers goods and services necessary to execute the mission.
The MICC is responsible for planning, integrating, awarding and administering contracts in support of Army commands, direct reporting units, U.S. Army North and other organizations to provide the best value for the mission, Soldiers and their families. Contracting professionals at the MICC's subordinate units work with installation leadership throughout the generating force, or institutional Army, to translate their requirements into contracted materiel and services. The institutional Army prepares, trains, educates and supports the operational Army, which is made up of deployed forces.
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