JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (Mar. 04, 2025) –Army civilian contracting professionals assigned to the Mission and Installation Contracting Command gained a new perspective of the size and scope of their requirements mission during a UH-60L helicopter familiarization flight Feb. 11 over the vast terrain of White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Members of MICC’s Theater Support Center, Cheri Richards, Amy Hahka and Danette Wilson, alongside the MICC Deputy Commander Clay Cole, participated in a nearly three-hour flight that spanned roughly 300 kilometers. The aerial tour provided the acquisition team a better understanding of the requirements that may go into contracts they are procuring. The tour demonstrated the magnitude of the area and gave the team the opportunity to ask experts specific questions about the kinds of contracts required to maintain the installation and range that they might not have considered in a standard overview brief.
The TSC is responsible to conduct market research for the White Sands Test Center, headquartered at the WSMR, the largest installation in the U.S., in support of the Army Test and Evaluation Command, one of MICC’s largest mission partners.
The TSC Director Lucy Lopez explained, “Since the Air Force also utilizes Army contracting in the area, the tour allowed the team to visualize which areas are Holloman Air Force Base space, Army space or shared space.”
WSMR is the largest land-based open-air test range in the U.S., according to ATEC planners. The range is 40 miles wide by 100 miles long. Encompassing 2.2 million acres, along with the neighboring Fort Bliss, it represents 25% of all the land the Army owns in the United States. It is so large that WSMR controls the airspace above the range, not the FAA; the only other air space not under FAA control in the U.S is over the White House.
“Our team was able to ask questions on what they would need to cover for acquisition contracts in real time,” Lopez said. The flight oriented on roadways, highlighting focus areas of interest for contracts for blockages, new construction or repairs needed in the past. “This assists the team in not leaving out important requirements for various projects and ensuring that everything is in clear, detailed language for future contractors—if the team understands the terrain, then our industry partners will have a better understanding.”
The flyover was a scheduled scene-setter itinerary event in advance of their attendance at the 2025 WSMR Industry Day for Mission Support Services on Feb. 12 conducted by ATEC in the Professional Development Center Auditorium, located on the garrison portion of the installation.
Prior to the aerial tour, the team met with mission and industry partners during a question-and-answer session and even recruited several of them to attend the industry day. During the formal portion of the industry day program, the team provided an overview brief on their follow-on MSS contract at WSMR. The TSC brief detailed when MICC expected the solicitation to be released, the projected contracting timelines and concluded by answering wide-ranging questions about the requirement.
Though headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, MICC teams across 30 supported locations within the continental U.S. seek opportunities like industry days to bolster government and industry coordination and partnership, ensuring quality, accountability and efficiency in Army contracting.
“Our attendance during these industry day events help the contractors understand the high standards they will be held to when fulfilling the Army’s contracting needs,” said Cole, who has been the MICC deputy commander since Jan. 2016. “When our team understands exactly what is required, along with the contractors’ actual capabilities, the contracts will be written, awarded and executed in a more efficient, cost-saving manner while ensuring that the readiness of the America’s warfighters and our installations.”
Industry partners unable to attend in-person industry day events are invited to register for the fifth-annual MICC Advance Planning Briefing for Industry virtual, no-cost contracting forecast event scheduled for May 5-8, 2025.
About the MICC
Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible to deliver the power of Army contracting by acquiring equipment, supplies and services vital to the U.S. Army mission and well-being of Soldiers and their families. The command also supports the Army's contingency and wartime missions by rapidly deploying trained and ready contingency contracting Soldiers around the world to procure goods and services in austere environments to win in multi-domain operations. MICC’s two field directorate offices, two contracting brigades and contracting battalions are strategically aligned to provide operational contract support to their respective corps or divisions when deployed. MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, preparing more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, facilitating training for more than 100,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures. In fiscal 2024, the command executed more than 22,000 contract actions valued at nearly $5.5 billion across the Army, including $3 billion to American small businesses. The command also manages the Army’s largest and most complex Government Purchase Card Program, administering more than 366,000 GPC transactions in fiscal 2024 valued at an additional $567 million.
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