ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Illinois – Army Contracting Command-Rock Island (ACC-RI) has been supporting the European Assure, Deter and Reinforce mission to provide assistance and support to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partners.
The center’s Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) support began in January in Wiesbaden, Germany, while the Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise (EAGLE) Program also started in January, utilizing and preparing equipment for issue to the European preparedness mission inside of Germany.
Richard Schildman, procurement operations officer, said that the U.S. Army Europe and Africa have been quick to react to changes and are able to perform because of the proactivity that both U.S. Army Europe and Africa and ACC-RI had in Setting the Theater (STT).
“We’ve had something in place since March 2020 under our STT,” said Kristine Pennock, LOGCAP procuring contracting officer. “Our performance task order (our big task order) was awarded September 2020. A lot of the base camps and sites were already set up under that task order.”
The LOGCAP strategy maintains a footprint in every Combatant Command (COCOM) across the world, so that they are setup to quickly act when they are needed.
“For decades, we have been in EUCOM helping with existing requirements and exercises as they come up,” said Rebecca Jessen, procurement operations officer. “The contractor has made relationships with subcontractors in the area, so that if and when things happen, contractors can mobilize resources that they have developed. An example of this would be the Presidential Drawdown to support the security assistance to Ukraine. This assistance included weapons and other aid tailored to meet critical Ukrainian needs.”
Another example of the Army’s long-established European logistics support is EAGLE’s Army Pre-Positioned Stock-2 (APS-2) contract, which handles Care of Supplies In Storage (COSIS).
“The prepositioned stock is located in Germany, and it is designed to enable units to deploy into theater and fall in on prepositioned equipment at a moment’s notice,” said Maj. Neidas Cezar, EAGLE procuring contracting officer. “The Task Order is designed to issue equipment to units that came from either CONUS or OCONUS locations and the current Task Order has been in effect since 2016.”
Jessen said that if an everyday citizen wanted to understand the efforts being taken of the European Assurance and Deterrence Support (EA&DS) mission, it could be described as the Army being a “little town” with the necessities they need to survive.
“We are getting our forces in Europe to support the training of the Ukrainian Army as well as move American forces east into Poland and other countries to do what they need to do as they have been directed,” said Jessen. “We are helping Ukraine fight Russia, while preventing Russia from threatening NATO Allies.”
Schildman said using the APS-2 and LOGCAP contract methods in tandem allows units that utilize tanks and armored equipment ready to fight in Europe two to three times faster than it would if that unit deployed equipment from the continental United States.
“What LOGCAP did was provide a place for them to live and APS provided the equipment to rapidly form combat power,” said Schildman.
The base life support elements provided by LOGCAP are intended for U.S. Soldiers, but are ready to support NATO allies if needed. However, there are already some sites that are co-use in some fashion.
“For instance, there is a site in Poland that has had an American battalion for quite a while,” said Schildman. “LOGCAP provides services, and the host nation provides services so that it is kind of a hybrid model.”
The team has faced many challenges throughout this mission, mainly the requirements’ fast pace.
“The speed of execution has been a challenge, but as a collective team we have been able to meet the challenge and execute requirements quickly,” said Pennock. “The mission is constantly changing and morphing on a daily basis.”
Despite all of the challenges the teams face, there have been many successes.
“The LOGCAP program has the capability to turn around requirements within hours to days which has resulted in Logistic Support Areas being set up very quickly,” said Pennock. “It’s a success knowing that our Soldiers had a place to sleep, shower, and eat, all within a timely manner.”
Cezar said without EAGLE and LOGCAP contracting support, the Army would risk the chance of not being able to provide support to our NATO Allies.
“It would take too long for designated units to get their home station equipment sent from their locations into theater, so this most viable option would be to utilize the APS-2 EAGLE Task Order,” said Cezar.
While ACC-RI’s EAGLE and LOGCAP contracting teams have had a highly visible impact on the U.S. efforts in Europe, ACC-RI’s other contracting directorates – the Munitions and Industrial Base (MIB) Directorate and Information Technology (IT) Directorate – have also played a major support role.
ACC-RI has supported the mission in multiple ways with munitions support. These include the non-standard ammo of old Soviet style, which is what Ukraine predominately operated prior to the war’s start.
“Through the Presidential drawdown authority action, there have been multiple times we have supported Joint Munitions Command (JMC) and the shipment of 155mm Howitzer rounds to Ukraine,” said Schildman. “Very recently, with Presidential Drawdown 12, about 21,000 rounds were identified coming off our ammunition plants slated to be transferred to Europe in support of all these actions in the near future.”
Schildman said that in January, the MIB was directed to help transfer non-standard ammunitions such as machine gun ammunition, machine gun-type launchers, mortars and rounds to Ukraine.
“These are items we had on prior contracts for another customer that no longer needed them,” said Schildman. “We also awarded a cyber-contract to help protect the communications and infrastructure in U.S. Army Europe. As a center, the team has been involved in multiple ways to get all the equipment to where it needs to go. To date, this support has enabled U.S. Army Europe and Africa to deter further Russian aggression against all of the NATO allies and helped the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue fighting.”
As efforts in Europe remain and progress, ACC-RI remains dedicated to providing responsive contracting support of the Army and NATO allies.
“As long as U.S. and NATO troops support the European Assure, Deter and Reinforce mission, ACC-RI’s responsive contracting professionals will be available to assist at the speed of need,” said Cezar.
The support ACC-RI has provided to the mission in Europe is a first-rate example of the center’s mission of delivering decisive contracting solutions across the full spectrum of conflict as part of the Joint Force, anytime, anywhere.
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