CONTRACTING
She received the secretary of the Army award for her contri- bution to developing and managing innovative contracting approaches for two high-priority missions within the Stryker Combat Team Project Management Office. First, she played an important role in supporting an operational needs state- ment (ONS) to add a 30 mm direct fire weapon to the Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle, a $450 million effort. Hernan- dez helped develop a three-phased contracting strategy that condensed the acquisition lead time and met tight schedule deadlines, in part by eliminating redundant documentation and using urgent acquisition mechanisms.
She was also involved in an $858 million effort to replace flat-bottom hull Strykers with double-V hull (DVH) Strykers to improve survivability, a project that also included mod- ernization to address space, weight and power-cooling issues. Hernandez’s team conducted a successful Defense Procure- ment and Acquisition Policy review, receiving approval to award the production exchange requirement.
One of her first assignments in the Stryker/LAV division was incorporating the DVH into Stryker production in 2010, an enhancement urgently needed in theater to mitigate threats from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). “When the DVH Stryker vehicles were fielded to the Stryker units in theater, we started hearing from Soldiers who were involved in IED blasts,” Hernandez explained. “Te DVH survivability enhancement was the reason they were still alive. Tat’s the reason I do what I do. Knowing my work contributes to helping keep someone’s son, daughter, mom or dad safe is priceless to me.”
Hernandez has been with ACC-Warren for 13 years, joining the organization after an internship in logistics didn’t pan out.
“I graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a mar- keting major, and the only available jobs I found were sales positions. I knew I didn’t want a career in sales, so I started talking to family and friends about their jobs,” she explained.
“My dad’s cousin worked at the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command and told me that most of the career fields were hiring interns.” Hernandez was hired in 2004 as a logistics management specialist intern within TACOM’s Inte- grated Logistics Support Center.
“After a little while, I figured out that the position was not a good fit for me,” she said. “Six months later, I applied for and was selected as a contract specialist intern within ACC-Warren. What I love about the contracting field is the variety of assign- ments, the challenge of negotiating with the contractor to get
the best value for the taxpayer and, most of all, the overall positive impact the contracted goods and services have on the Soldier.”
While Hernandez finds her work rewarding, she concedes the process is not perfect. “When I tell people we buy Stryker vehi- cles, they think it sounds awesome, but the length of time the procurement process takes often surprises people. Tere is a lot of red tape involved in the procurement process. Numerous regulations to follow; many stakeholders involved in defining the requirements, and challenging negotiations with the con- tractor; political pressure and budget constraints—all of that feeds into the procurement process. A lot of blood, sweat and tears goes into the final contract document.”
Procurement actions can take as little as a month or as long as several years, she said, depending on the complexity of the task. “If I were in charge, I’d change some of the approval thresholds,” Hernandez said. “Some actions are reviewed, and decisions are made, at the highest levels of the Department of the Army. In my humble opinion, not all of the documents need that level of review. I’d also consolidate some of the docu- mentation we’re required to provide. Many of the documents we produce overlap, and eliminating duplicate work would help shorten the process.”
Her career has afforded her numerous opportunities to take advantage of training and educational programs, including leadership training offered through the University of Vir- ginia’s Darden School of Business and Eckerd College. One assignment in particular during the Darden Women’s Leader- ship Program, known as Reflected Best-Self, “really stuck with me,” she said. “While many leadership training classes focus on improving your weakness areas, this assignment forced me to analyze times I felt I was at my best, request feedback for times others felt I was at my best, and then create a self-portrait discussing the patterns in my strength areas.”
Tat focus on strength also is rare in the workplace, she said, but “identifying strengths in ourselves and others is a key to effective leadership. It’s been my experience that if you take the time to develop people, help them overcome roadblocks and show you appreciate them, everything else falls into place.”
—MS. SUSAN L. FOLLETT
ASC.ARMY.MIL
213
CONTRACTING
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