FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- The 925th Contingency Contracting Battalion and Mission and Installation Contracting Command Fort Drum recently were recognized for earning the highest-rated metrics in the MICC for its performance during fiscal year 2014.
About half of the 40 individuals at the post's contracting command who obligate tens of millions of dollars each year are Civilians, while the other half are Soldiers assigned to 925th CCBn, 419th Contracting Support Brigade.
"The job they all do here is second to none," said Lt. Col. Wyeth Anderson, commander of the 925th CCBn and MICC Fort Drum.
Anderson, who assumed command in June, said Fort Drum was well on its way to receiving the Army's highest MICC rating before he arrived.
"The effort really began here about five years ago," he explained. "A lot of it was just in cleaning up administrative requirements on contracts.
"Contracting is a very complex (field)," he added. "The rules constantly change."
Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, MICC began tracking installation metrics earlier this year. Each "metric" is added up and used to measure each office's overall performance.
All MICCs are judged on 17 metrics, five of which focus exclusively on improving small business programs.
Anderson said contracting specialists at Fort Drum act as business advisers to the community, weighing each incoming requirement against many government regulations and legalities.
They also understand the aspects of the procurement process that include the mechanics of everyday situations.
"If you need a five-ton forklift, but (you) tell me you just need a forklift, I can't go and just look for any forklift," he explained. "Requests have to be specific. It's even better if you don't tell me what you need, but what needs to get done.
"That's a part of what we do," he added. "We look for solutions to what has to occur."
Anthony Sligar, deputy to the commander of 925th CCBn and MICC Fort Drum, said in addition to the dedicated and outstanding work of the contracting team on post, working alongside such a professional workforce at Fort Drum helped them stand out.
"With some of these metrics, we would not have been able to be successful without the support of the entire post," Sligar said. "The support we got from the installation was just phenomenal."
As an example, Sligar said one metric evaluates the timeliness of monthly surveillance reports from the 30 or so contracting officer's representatives at Fort Drum who monitor contracting performance.
"The CORs work for either garrison or division," Sligar said. "They have to submit their reports monthly and timely for us to receive a positive metric."
He said although MICC Fort Drum has no control over those reports, the metric is important because studies have shown some problems related to contracting performance.
"When a contract is written to do a certain service and the contractor does not perform the service, the government is not getting what it paid for and is therefore losing money," he said. "Bottom line," added Sligar, "the people working for Lt. Col. Anderson and myself are doing a fabulous job.
"We are super thrilled with their performance, and we are also super thrilled with the performance of our customers and the customer relationships we have outside of this office."
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