ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- Kim Denver, deputy assistant secretary of the Army (procurement) visited ACC-RI and took the time to present the 2011 Secretary of the Army Awards for Excellence in Contracting during a town hall June 21.
ACC-RI Executive Director Michael Hutchison invited Denver to come to ACC-RI because of the increased interaction between the center and the DASA(P) staff.
"I wanted him to get a flavor of what it is that we do," said Hutchison. "We're not like a lot of the other centers. Other than ammo, we're not a real commodity-focused center."
Preceding the award presentation, Hutchison noted that there are 13 Secretary of the Army awards given out annually, and the fact that ACC-RI received four is an accomplishment he is proud of.
"The pool of candidate organizations include the Army Contracting Command, all of its five centers, the Expeditionary Contracting Command, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Guard Bureau and some others as well," said Hutchison. "This is a tremendous honor to garner so many awards. It recognizes the good work that you do and, in many instances, all you are sacrificing to do this work. You're giving up personal time and I want you to know that I am grateful for it."
Denver thanked the employees at ACC-RI and other centers, stating that the daily innovation and feedback on the impact that policies have on the field are valuable to DASA(P).
"It's no mistake that you received four awards," said Denver. "You are a superior organization and your reputation is known in (Washington) D.C."
The first award was given to Joan Wysoske, chief of the Reachback Contract Closeout Branch, for her commitment to and support of the AbilityOne Program during fiscal 2011. This closeout mission was new to ACC-RI and she supplemented her workforce by hiring personnel under the program to include six contract specialists, one supervisor and two warehouse data specialists.
The Outstanding Unit/Team Contingency Contracting award was presented to Carolyn Young, chief of the reachback division. The division was noted for its time sensitive, critical support of the military mission in Southwest Asia, as well as its responsiveness to requests, no matter how challenging the schedule or complicated the acquisition.
The Installation Division's Garrison Contracting Branch Chief, Lisa Determan, accepted the award for installation level contracting. The branch was not only recognized for its construction contracting and routine support of the arsenal and its tenants, but also its emergency response contracting to protect the arsenal during the Mississippi River flooding in 2011.
Timothy Johnson, former acting chief of the LOGCAP division, accepted the Systems, R&D and Logistics Support Contracting award, which was recognized for the period between July 2010 and September 2011 in which the division successfully managed highly visible contract activities for critical logistics under extraordinarily challenging circumstances.
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