IAT Roadshow comes to Whiteman

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jason Barebo
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  The 509th Contracting Squadron held an Installation Acquisition Transformation forum Sept. 5 to discuss with local small business owners changes that are on the horizon.
Col. Steve Elliott, 788th Installation Acquisition Group provisional director located at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., spoke to more than 10 members of local small businesses about how IAT works and how it will affect them. 

IAT is an Air Force-wide initiative to modify contracting business practices at the Continental United States Installation level to create a more efficient acquisition process. 

Under the transformation, Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, will head five geographically-based installation acquisition groups, leaving only a small contracting presence at each installation. 

"We understand that with base level contracts, it is the local small business owner that continues to support this base and this wing," Colonel Elliott said. "We need to and will continue that relationship no matter how we organize ourselves in the United States Air Force." 

Using grounds maintenance as an example, Colonel Elliott explained that currently each base contracting office ties up two-three Airmen per base to acquire a grounds maintenance contract. By setting up regional centers, an office could use five-six Airmen to acquire grounds maintenance contracts for each base in a region. 

"I'm not talking about bundling these (contracts) so that one contractor gets a contract for the Air Force," the colonel said. "I'm talking about making sense of that spend. 

"The bottomline is, for the Midwest region, I can bring that buy-in to Scott AFB, have one procurement for 11 different bases and even make 11 different awards and still be more efficient than having 11 different contracting offices doing it," he added. 

In fiscal year 2006, 36 percent of all Air Force small business contracts went to local small businesses. To maximize the success of the transformation, the regional centers will continue strong socio-economic program support. 

The new system maintains acquisition support and administration at installations, introduces five regional centers and consolidates the research and procurement of contracts at one of these five centers. The central office for Whiteman will be located at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

"The transformed installation acquisition structure focuses on the use of strategic sourcing, minimizes supply chain costs through integration and collaboration, and results in considerable annual savings to the Air Force," said Charlie Williams, the previous deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for contracting. "It creates increased visibility and accountability in the acquisition process, and simplifies purchasing at the installation level." 

Strategic sourcing is a collaborative and structured process of critically analyzing an organization's procurements and using the information to make strategic business decisions about acquiring commodities and services more effectively.
IAT may also create new opportunities for small businesses to expand to other areas. The majority of contracts will be sent out from a regional center to businesses allowing them to see what services installations are asking for and if they can provide that service, Colonel Elliott said. 

There will still be a contracting office at each base to be a conduit between local small businesses the regional center they work with, he added. Also, if a sewer pipe breaks at 2 a.m. and a contractor is needed to fix it, the local contracting office will be able to award that contract locally to avoid delays in repair. 

The installation acquisition transformation structure will enable the Air Force to better support the warfighter by capitalizing on industry's best practices, driving improvements in the delivery of acquisition support to customers and by introducing commonality and standardization where appropriate. 

For more information on IAT visit the website at:
http://ww3.safaq.hq.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=11457