ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – A Contracting Team at Army Contracting Command-Rock Island (ACC-RI) is helping warfighters in theater obtain commercially available vehicles, allowing them to get around the base and local areas outside the base in portions of Central Command’s (CENTCOM) Area of Responsibility (AOR).
The Non-tactical Vehicle (NTV) blanket purchase agreements awarded and administered by ACC-RI support requirements in Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and United Arab Emirates (UAE). This contract is administered by Kim Jones, procuring contracting officer; Scott Glenn, contract specialist; with assistance from Michael Good, contract specialist.
ACC-RI’s Reachback mission has supported NTV requirements in Kuwait since September 2011; and in Qatar, UAE and Jordan since February 2014. In the last calendar year, the team has completed over 250 contract actions totaling nearly $17 million.
These NTVs allow the customer to perform missions that do not require the use of tactical vehicles such as all-terrain, four wheel drive, armored, etc., that are used mainly in the field. The vendors provide the NTVs as well as maintenance.
Customers include personnel from all branches of the military as well as civilian agencies within DoD.
“As we’re working with not just Army customers, but customers across the board from all services with varying processes; requirement and requirement systems; and various types of funding types and systems, we are working to create a win-win system and ensure customers are getting what they need,” said Jones.
To address this, the team developed an NTV packet in late 2018 and early 2019 to simplify the process as much as possible. The packet is comprised of a single spreadsheet that encompasses instructions, a checklist, vehicle descriptions, the funding document guidance - Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) or Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request, Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE), and is tailored to continuously improve results and processes.
“The customers fill this out, and turn it in to ACC-RI with their supporting documentation,” said Glenn. “All steps they need to take are listed in the spreadsheet to make it as user-friendly as possible.”
The sheer magnitude of the number of customers and number of orders makes the program complex and challenging as well as administering and closing hundreds of orders from the previous contracts. Jones said this packet and other tailored information have cleared the path for a more efficient and effective contracting process notwithstanding occasional challenges.
She also said they’ve seen more transparency from the contractors during the first year of performance due to some of the processes and continuing initiatives. The transparency results in more efficient joint inspections and transition of vehicles meeting the requirements.
“The previous process was haphazard, difficult to use and did not capture all of the information needed in one place,” said Glenn “Customers have expressed their appreciation with the ease of use and simplicity of the process.”
While the team keeps current requirements moving smoothly, it is also clearing out a nine-year backlog of unpaid traffic ticket fines in Kuwait, totaling over $2.6 million in approximately 24,000 tickets.
Over the past year, they have been working with contractors to determine what they haven’t been paid for and obtaining supporting documentation; having the Administrative Contracting Officers and Contracting Officer Representatives validate those claims; tracking down the units in question and securing the funding to pay those tickets; and executing modifications.
Reconciling the tickets is approximately 90 percent complete, but the next task to tackle is the backlog for Qatar, Jordan and UAE, which has similar numbers and challenges to the Kuwait backlog.
To address these tickets/fines going forward, the team has dedicated a percentage of the total contract value on every task order, on a separate CLIN, for paying them.
This benefits us in that we don’t have to go back to get funding,” said Glenn. “This process has also enabled us to identify the customers that routinely exceed available funds for claims and now we are putting in place measures to prevent that.”
Social Sharing