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New SDDC directorate ensures command-wide contracts visibility

By Kimberly SpinnerOctober 6, 2023

New SDDC directorate ensures command-wide contracts visibility
Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command G-9 Acquisition Management and Execution directorate personnel pose for a photo October 5, 2023 during a ceremony recognizing the new directorate at its headquarters on Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. (Photo Credit: Kimberly Spinner) VIEW ORIGINAL

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (Oct. 6, 2023) – The Headquarters Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command Contract Support Oversight Office officially became the G-9 Acquisition Management and Execution directorate here Oct. 1, and Kristina O’Brien, SDDC deputy to the commanding general, officiated a small ceremony to recognize the G9 team at the headquarters Wednesday.

“The staff really helped along the way with getting with all of the directorates and providing feedback on all these SOPs,” said Michael Ozols, G9 director. “This has been a long process. They’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to this point.”

The directorate’s personnel provide strategic contract management and oversight, data analysis, process standardization, and regulatory compliance for all SDDC acquisitions in support of SDDC’s global mission.

Why is this important, and why should you care?

The new directorate exists to support all headquarters staff, its directorates, and the Transportation Engineering Agency with their contracting needs. The G9 personnel do not generate contracts, they do, however, have visibility and maintain strategic oversight of hundreds of contracts across the command, ensuring the command’s Surface Warriors make effective and efficient business decisions and maintain strategic oversight of contracts they execute.

“Everyone in the G9 is assigned to either a directorate or one of the brigades, which means they are that point of contact to help manage, execute and assist,” said O’Brien. “That assist part is a very big part of that.”

There are six core functions within the directorate. They are acquisition management and execution, to include the requirements approval and development process and managing and administering U.S. Army Materiel Command’s Service Requirements Tracking Database. They also manage the Contract Management Review, Category Management, Contracting Officer’s Representative, and Government Purchase Card programs.

“Having that visibility across the entire command, which includes all of the brigades, allows our team to ensure we are smartly, efficiently and effectively managing those contracts,” said O’Brien.

As a key member of the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise, SDDC is the Army service component command to the U.S. Transportation Command and a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. SDDC's mission is to provide global deployment and distribution capabilities to meet the nation's objectives. With approximately 5,200 people, SDDC books, ships, tracks, and conducts port operations for surface movements worldwide by leveraging services from the commercial transportation industry, including sealift, trucking and rail.