CPAC services moving to Fort Belvoir

By Courtney Dock-Abuhl, Pentagram EditorMay 7, 2012

CPAC services moving to Fort Belvoir
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

The Civilian Personnel Advisory Center located on the Fort Myer portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall will be moving to Fort Belvoir starting May 7. The change is due to an overall Civilian Human Resources Agency organizational realignment.

CPAC Human Resources Director Jennifer Tavares said the move is a result of recent base realignment and closure changes in the area and manning requirements.

"What we've found is the smaller and smaller [in size] CPACs get, it's harder to provide really good services," said Tavares. "The reason is because a lot of times you've only got one person doing that function. If that person is out, then it either has to wait, or someone else has to try and pick it up."

Consolidating and realigning the CPACs will allow the staff to function more efficiently she added.

"We can do better things internally as well, as far as our quality and our back-up, being able to shift work around as we have fluctuation," explained Tavares. "We have so many CPACs here in this small geographic area. It just didn't make sense to have all of these offices."

The realignment affects both appropriated and non appropriated-fund employees. Services for appropriated fund employees move to Fort Belvoir May 7; whereas, NAF employee CPAC services will move to Department of the Army Headquarters CPAC in Crystal City June 7, said Tavares.

She explained that even though the services are moving, customers shouldn't be alarmed. Most of the services already provided, such as job applications, resume referrals and benefit questions are handled online. However, if someone would still like to schedule an appointment, there will be office hours available at JBM-HH.

"For appropriated fund employees, we're going to have at least two individuals here in the office on Mondays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. That will be in case somebody wants to schedule an appointment, they can schedule it during one of those two times to do it here," she said.

NAF employees will have walk-in office hours every Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. New employees will also still be in-processed on JBM-HH every other Monday.

Tavares said she understands that with any change comes hesitation.

"I know everybody is very concerned, but we really don't have that many walk-in customers anymore. Everybody picks up the phone and calls or sends an email about something. So that's a lot of how we provide service anyway."

She explained that the Fort Belvoir CPAC has already begun working remotely to provide service, and it's not much different than what Army Benefits Center or Army Network Enterprise Technology Command does already.

"As far as my CPAC at Fort Belvoir, I have 25 percent of my staff located at Rock Island, Ill. And I provide full servicing for my customers here at Fort Belvoir from Rock Island. So it's not like it's something new that we haven't done," she added. "We also provide servicing for the Fort A.P. Hill garrison, which is 70 miles south of us, and we're able to do that from our location at Fort Belvoir. It's not like it is new providing remote servicing. A lot of what we do is electronic anyway."

The directorates will be provided with contact information for their CPAC representative and there is also a main hotline number to contact if you have any questions, 703-704-3009. The new CPAC will be located at 5800 Putnam Road, Bldg. 320, Fort Belvoir, Va. 22060.

Related Links:

Joint Forces Headquarters - National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington

Fort Belvoir Civilian Personnel Advisory Center