FORT BRAGG, North Carolina -- (Sept. 5, 2017) Soldiers from the 900th Contracting Battalion's 639th Contracting Team partnered with an online marketplace mobile training team to provide real-world, hands-on training for the Simplified Acquisition Threshold Supply Procurement Program Aug. 23 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The 639th CT hosted units from across Fort Bragg to introduce them to the program, also known as S2P2.
Unit representatives from the 82nd Airborne Division, 43rd Air Missions Group, U.S. Army Special Operations Command and 1st Special Warfare Group took part in the training.
"The original intent of the training was to identify brigade-level S2P2 points of contact from the 82nd ABN DIV and enable those unit representatives to act as S2P2 subject matter experts for their assigned organizations," said Sgt. 1st Class Casey Gordon, 639th CT NCO in charge. "S2P2 calendar invites quickly circulated the installation and resulted in a diverse and enthusiastic student body."
The S2P2 program was established to reduce procurement lead time and touch labor with supply purchases below the simplified acquisition threshold of $150,000. S2P2 allows requiring activities to post their requirement on the FedBid Inc. marketplace and communicate their needs directly with the seller.
The lowest price, technically acceptable requirement is sent to the action arm of the S2P2 program, located at the 925th Contracting Battalion at Fort Dum, New York. The contract is awarded in 24 to 48 hours, and the customer receives an email with the applicable vendor and delivery information.
"I never knew that there was a way to leverage the expertise of industry to help me get what I really need for my unit," said Capt. Vern Wall, a budget officer with the 1st SWFG.
"By utilizing this program, end users of supplies will get the items they need faster by reducing inefficient processes in the procurement life cycle," added Anita Nawab, the senior FedBid account lead.
The 639th CT conducted the training in tandem with online market mobile training team from Washington, D.C. FedBid's Nawab and Richard Newby provided insights into how end users interact and can leverage the online marketplace to procure supplies for their organization.
Once the training team completed their overview of online market's role in the S2P2 program, the 639th CT took the helm. Students were grouped by unit and were allocated a dedicated screen so they could watch an actual requirement package built on the FedBid site in real time. Contracting Soldiers walked through how and when to use one of the two types of templates offered under the S2P2 program. Both examples were based on real-world S2P2 purchases.
The 639th CT was able to communicate potential challenges and best practices for using the program based on the recent experiences of S2P2 acquisitions. S2P2 unit representatives were able to input four real-world requirements into FedBid after the training.
"This program is a game changer for the Global Reaction Force. It's difficult to predict the GRF's requirements because our mission set is so diverse. Having the ability to quickly get what we need to support an ever-changing mission set is a true enabler" said Capt. Brock Waddell, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd ABN DIV logistics officer.
The 639th CT is co-located with the 82nd Airborne Division's headquarters and provides general contracting support to the 82nd ABN DIV as well as direct support to the division's Global Reaction Force.
Social Sharing