U.S. Army Garrison - Detroit Arsenal, Mich. -- Detroit Arsenal engineer Jason Pietrandrea received the Installation Management Command's Stalwart Award from IMCOM Commander Lt. Gen. Bradley A. Becker at a ceremony Nov. 28 at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
The Stalwart Award is given to IMCOM employees who distinguish themselves amongst their peers as outstanding civilians who exceed the call of duty to achieve Army and IMCOM objectives. This ceremony honored recipients for their dedication and hard work for fiscal year 2017.
"Jason is an exceptional employee who is a positive change agent for the Detroit Arsenal," stated Garrison Manager Joseph Moscone. "He is customer-focused and his knowledge, hard work and attention to detail is an asset to the Army mission here and beyond."
Pietrandrea is the master planning chief for the directorate of public works at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan.
As part of exceeding the call of duty, he assumed two additional roles when the arsenal lost personnel. He took on the duties of construction team leader and master planning chief. This ensured not only that all construction projects were completed without safety issues but also that master planning mission requirements were completed on time and with the utmost quality. By assuming those two roles, it opened up positions for other employees to advance their careers and allowed for the recruitment of new hires.
Another initiative spearheaded by Pietrandrea was to merge multiple construction projects into a single contract. He did this by combining construction projects that were similar in nature into one contract effort. This resulted in project cost savings by reducing contractor overhead management costs. More importantly, this change ultimately reduced DPW workload by reducing the total number of contracts the team members generated and managed. This vision successfully supported more than $21 million in construction projects being awarded, monitored, and completed to support the Army mission with only three engineers on staff.
"Jason Pietrandrea is a valued garrison teammate who is dedicated to our mission of best serving our Army tenants that support our Warfighters," said Deputy Garrison Manager Carrie Mead. "Jason is a collaborator and assures partners and stakeholders work together, a very challenging feat when often faced with competing priorities. Jason is the essence of Stalwart, steadfast, loyal and selfless, focused on creating a positive environment and a better IMCOM."
Another initiative Pietrandrea implemented was to hold poor performing construction contractors accountable for their performance which was negatively impacting mission readiness. To facilitate this change, he partnered with the Army Contracting Command and Tank-automotive and Armaments Command's legal office to closely monitor and document subpar contractor performance. Through this partnership, Pietrandrea successfully highlighted contract negligence which resulted in more than $350,000 in penalty fees reconstituted to construction projects.
With more than 7,000 employees wedged into 178 acres and 2 million square feet of building, space is a valuable commodity at the Arsenal. Pietrandrea tackled this problem by developing a plan called "Reduce the Footprint." This idea introduced larger tenants on the installation to the flexible work station concept. This concept promotes the use of under-utilized space while employees are out of the office. Since many employees here work routine alternate work schedules, this concept has a high potential to help alleviate the current administrative space issues.
"These achievements are not only measurable successes towards IMCOM mission and goals, but also captures the spirit with which Jason enacts garrison command strategies," said Director of Public Works Bob Riparip. "He is customer-focused and his knowledge, hard work and attention to detail is an asset to the Army mission at Detroit Arsenal and beyond."
Since taking on his new roles, Pietrandrea has fostered many community partnerships with the United States Army Corps of Engineers from both the Louisville and Detroit districts, the City of Warren and Macomb County. These partnerships are important to meeting the demands of DPW's mission.
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