SIMPLE INTENT, COMPLEX MISSION
HOME BASE
Cessna C-208B Grand Caravans, used by the Afghan air force as basic training and light lift aircraft, sit on the ramp at Kandahar Airfield, in March 2016. The author’s assignment as chief of contracting for RCO-S at Kandahar, overseeing LOGCAP, provided firsthand experience of the importance of proper COR training and contractor oversight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Robert Cloys)
Tis task served two purposes: Besides making sure the contractor was report- ing water production data accurately, it demonstrated to the contractor that its data was being monitored and validated. Service orders, work orders, fuel issu- ance and billeting management were other areas where we visited work sites to ensure that the contractor was reporting data accurately.
Something I could have done better to exploit data was
arming myself with
appropriate manuals or regulations. I rou- tinely made unannounced observations, but rarely did so with the guidance of an appropriate supporting manual. In many parts of the LOGCAP PWS, for example, the requirement would be simply that
“the contractor will conduct food service operations in accordance with Technical Bulletin, Medical (TB MED) 530, Tri- Service Food Code.” Tis supporting publication is over 300 pages long and
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discusses everything from the maximum lead content acceptable in food to the capacity of the kitchen drainage system.
In retrospect, at least weekly I should have found a specific requirement in a referenced manual, regulation or pub- lication and checked the contractor’s compliance. Tis wouldn’t have been to catch the contractor in the wrong but simply to enforce the requirements. Tis also would have made it crystal clear that the government was enforcing compli- ance not only with the large items in the PWS, but the minutiae as well.
LEAVING A BETTER SYSTEM Before I entered the contracting career field, I served in the maneuver commu- nity as an armor officer in the 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division. In that community, “leave lasting footprints” meant “constantly improve your battle position.” Looking at the concept from
a contracting perspective, I considered it an edict to make systems and processes better than I found them, to improve the contracting support that each subsequent RCO chief can provide the warfighter.
Management of CORs is one area I focused on improving. At RCO-S, we managed our active CORs through face- to-face interaction and by using a few tools we created. Te first tool was our COR tracker: a spreadsheet containing COR names, locations, email addresses, phone numbers, the date they were appointed as a COR and, most important, the number of days remaining until their redeployment back to their home station. Tis information gave us everything we needed to manage each person and to ensure that we identified their replace- ments before they departed theater.
Another tool in our COR management was our audit tracker. Established at
Army AL&T Magazine
January - March 2018
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