VIEW ORIGINAL
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (Feb. 24, 2020) – The Mission and Installation Contracting Command’s 900th Contracting Battalion recently participated in execution of Fort Bragg’s 82nd Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division’s emergency deployment readiness exercise supporting more than 1,600 Soldiers deployed from there to Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina.
Battalion acquisition personnel, through a contract administration delegation of authority from the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, monitored contract compliance and quality assurance for more than 22 basic life support services for the exercise. This effort included establishing a life support activities, coordinating with Joint Base Charleston leadership to facilitate the influx of vehicles and equipment, and coordination with local authorities in anticipation of increased military vehicle traffic.
EDRE-21 is an exercise to deploy a battalion-size force from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, through Joint Base Charleston to conduct a joint forcible entry exercise and Joint Readiness Training Center rotation 21-04. The exercise is a strategic power projection capabilities test, which validates the 82nd ABN Corps processes to alert its paratroopers, assemble in its respective areas and deploy a brigade combat team on short notice in support of any mission worldwide.
“The U.S. Army’s force requires logistics, sustainment and material readiness for our strategic power projection,” said Lt. Col. Jay VanDenbos, the 900th CBN commander. “Our contracting professionals’ early business advice and superior contracting oversight enabled the success of the XVIII Airborne Corps validation exercise.”
Strategic power projection encompasses the Army’s ability to move troops and equipment, and includes the ports, roads, airfields, railheads and prepositioned supplies, which enables the Army to deploy rapidly. Army installations are power projection platforms supporting the Army to mobilize and generate the forces required, and project those forces anywhere in the world at any time.
To support the 82nd ABN DIV efforts, the 900th CBN team worked with contracting officer representatives to coordinate inspections of several facilities prior to occupancy. Lodging and food services were inspected several times during the exercise to ensure the life, health and safety of Soldiers. The team worked at length with the LOGCAP planner and contractor regarding any potential safety concerns and coordinated inspection prior to services becoming operational.
“There were a lot of lessons learned that enables us to better posture for future support at Joint Base Charleston,” said Sgt. 1st Class Marissa Warner, a 900th CBN contracting officer who deployed to Joint Base Charleston for the exercise. “We conducted daily syncs with our mission partners, the LOGCAP support personnel and the performance contractor, followed by several reviews of services at various sites across Joint Base Charleston. The ability to leverage our Air Force contracting counterparts and the LOGCAP planner from 406th Army Field Support Battalion was a testament to the shared understanding across the joint forces and Army Materiel Command supported elements.”
During the exercise, the team worked directly with the exercise mayor’s cell, contractors and contracting officer representatives to coordinate inspections of several other facilities. They provided constant contracting support ensuring services remained within the scope of the contract in order to reduce cost by issuing letter of technical directions and nonconformance reports.
“Our presence improved the 82nd ABN Corps’ ability to better operationalize and execute their plan through decisive direction to the performance contractor while remaining postured to provide sound business advice during multiple requirements changes,” Warner said.
The CORs completed multiple inspections for each service provided, ensuring the service requests were completed to the standard required, and corrected any issues that arose.
“It was an honor and great opportunity to support this exercise. It was a very busy couple of weeks but a rewarding experience getting to support the EDRE validation of the 82nd Airborne Division," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert Lively, a contracting officer representative and food service advisor with the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command. “Balancing the operational requirements and contracting authority becomes challenging during a rapidly moving exercise. Outstanding communication, teamwork, and support from the contracting team made it all possible.”
LOGCAP is a Department of the Army Regulatory Program to augment the force by providing a service capability to meet externally driven operational requirements for rapid contingency augmentation support. LOGCAP plans for and executes contracted support services in conjunction with the Army field support brigade and contracting support brigade for deployed forces performing missions directed or supported by DOD during global contingency operations.
About the MICC:
Headquartered at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon. As part of its mission, MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitate training in the preparation of more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.
Social Sharing