USASAC commander Maj. Gen Del Turner presents the Army Commanders Award for Civilian Service to John D. Bertsch, a procurement analyst with Army Contracting Command during the USASAC quarterly town hall Jan 7. Bertsch received the award in recogniti...
USASAC commander Maj. Gen Del Turner presents the Army Superior Civilian Service Award to Dan Cottrell during the USASAC quarterly town hall Jan. 7. Cottrell, the deputy director of U.S. Army Security Assistance Management Directorate, U.S. Army Avi...
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Maj Gen. Del Turner, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command hosted a town hall and employee recognition ceremony at USASAC's headquarters on Redstone Arsenal Jan 7.
During the two-hour session Turner recapped USASAC accomplishments of the past year and praised the workforce for its efforts in achieving the second highest dollar amount of Foreign Military Sales ever. He also provided updates on several strategic level initiatives undertaken to increase efficiencies and improve the workplace environment at USASAC headquarters and within the Security Assistance Enterprise.
While addressing the group Turner iterated that Security Assistance is an enterprise effort, requiring the collaboration and cooperation from individuals across numerous organizations to accomplish the mission. As an example of cooperative effort between the various commands within the enterprise, he pointed to Army Contracting Command and their work with USASAC and CECOM in developing a set of knowledge-based applications that allow all members of the SAE to see FMS contracting milestone information down to the requisition level.
In October 2012, ACC's Virtual Contracting Enterprise implemented a daily feed of contracting information through the FMS system of record, CISIL, Centralized Integrated System-International Logistics, allowing case workers to immediately see the current status of contracts. The establishment of FMS specific fields in the VCE was the result of a collective effort over four months by personnel from USASAC, ACC and CECOM. During that time they indentified and quantified the VCE data to feed into CISIL.
Once configured, the VCE data is used specifically to populate the line level information in the SAEMR (Security Assistance Enterprise Management Resource) to allow allows case workers to immediately see the status of contracts, including milestones like the completion of Acquisition Requirements Packages, Target Award Dates, Contract Award Dates and the contracting number for a single requirement on a case. More importantly, SAE members can now identify and engage in specific contracting actions which may require additional attention.
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Effective Jan 1, ACC directed of all its commands and contracting centers to implement VCE to greatly improve the FMS process and allow much needed visibility into contracting related data, from both a pre and post award environment. As a result of this effort, the SAE gains significant efficiencies by saving time and eliminating the requirement for additional phone calls or email traffic to obtain contracting updates.
Turner then recognized two members of the SAE assigned to other organizations, awarding each Army honorary awards in recognition for their significant accomplishments supporting the SAE mission.
Dan Cottrell, Deputy Director, U.S. Army Security Assistance Management Directorate, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, worked on several initiatives to foster cooperation inside and outside of the Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Enterprise and ensuring that everyone was abreast of all key FMS actions impacting the community.
Cottrell worked to enhance the performance of the key FMS processes of Pre-LOR, Case Development and Case Execution. He was also instrumental in developing, coordinating and expediting key FMS cases and programs with numerous Program Executive Offices, Project Management Offices and the United States Army Materiel Command.
Additionally, Cottrell instilled procedures to improve fiscal stewardship and responsibility within the AMCOM SAMD by initiating review and analysis sessions within the Aviation and Missile Enterprise to eliminate waste and duplication in the system.
Cottrell was also directly responsible for providing precise and constant updates on AMCOM SAMD FMS actions, case status and workload on a weekly basis to the entire Security Assistance Enterprise.
John D. Bertsch, a procurement analyst with Army Contracting Command, provided support to the SAE while serving as the ACC liaison to USASAC. As the ACC liaison, Bertsch contributed a wealth of experience and expertise that significantly improved customer support to the command and facilitated key working relationships between the ACC and USASAC.
Bertsch also conceptualized and implemented the co-location of two senior-level ACC contracting experts within the USASAC Headquarters to ensure key leaders could gain immediate access and timely information on contracting milestones affecting FMS cases.
Turner handed out additional awards, including an Achievement Medal for Civilian Service to Scott B. Huther, a Security Assistance Program Specialist, EUCOM/AFRICOM Regional Operations Directorate. Certificates of Appreciation were awarded to USASAC Employee of the Quarter for the 4th Quarter of FY 12, Giovanni J. Estrada, and Employee of the Quarter nominee, Thomas A. Brown.
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