SHAPING ARMY ACQUISITION
The timeline from requirements identification to contract award would typically take around 30 days for procurements similar to these; however, contracts were being executed in less than five.
team’s dedication and willingness to work extended hours to complete the mission, it was able to turn around proposal reviews within 48 hours, unheard of in normal circumstances.
Te team encountered many restrictions when procuring not just the PPE but also the waivers that would need to be applied to make the PPE acquisitions possible. Because some of these products are made outside of the U.S., Kloehn and his team needed waivers for the Berry Amendment, which says certain textiles and fabrics must be U.S. made, as well as waivers for the Buy America Agreement and the Trade Agreement Act. Tis meant they had to do a lot of regulatory work in order to under- stand what was possible and what was not, had to bring in lawyers to learn the nuances of the regulations, and needed to work with the highest levels of the Office of the Secretary of the Army in order to determine how to handle these roadblocks and decide when to push some of the items to DLA because they weren’t able to find a workaround. “Again, this was far outside the scope of the work we typically do in non-pandemic circumstances, so it was a lot of learning and growing on our end, and even we were surprised by some of the things we learned along the way,” said Kloehn. For example, when procuring basic PPE, even when it’s intended for non- medical use (like walking around outside), it still has to adhere to medical regulatory requirements. Tis led to rejecting some already-procured items, but it also got the team smarter on what was expected from
U.S. Army Medical Research and Devel- opment Command on all these PPE items.
BUILDING THE TEAM Tom Kloehn said that he does what he can to mentor every member of his team, and explained that taking advantage of opportunities outside of normal swim lanes can be a benefit to anyone’s profes- sional career. “Tis not only allows for junior personnel to develop new skills and abilities, it can also highlight adverse qual- ities that may not provide value as a leader in the acquisition workforce. Our team’s COVID-19 PPE efforts are a great exam- ple. Our lead test analyst is the primary lead for communicating with all of the PPE vendors and submitting all regulatory approval requests, while our lead program analyst is coordinating the receipt, inspec- tion and acceptance of all material at the Army warehouse,” said Kloehn. “Both of them are working way outside of their normal roles but definitely knocking it out of the park.”
“Even when our efforts shifted, my team continued to pull together and went above and beyond to make sure we could complete the mission and help get the warfighter the items they needed,” said Kloehn.
CONCLUSION Kloehn and his team will undoubtedly return to their core mission when the pandemic subsides—the need for mass decontamination systems and human remains transfer cases haven’t gone
anywhere—but not before taking a lot of the lessons learned with them. “Tis effort proved that when working with contract- ing and industry, we can do things a lot faster when we put our minds to it,” he said. “Tat’s been a huge takeaway and I hope it continues. I don’t need to commute two hours to get this job done.”
For more information on JPEO-CBRND’s roles in the COVID-19 response, visit
https://www.jpeocbrnd.osd.mil/corona- virus.
RACHEL PORTO is a contractor with Kalman and Company Inc. supporting the JPEO-CBRND Strategic Communications Office. Before working with the JPEO- CBRND,
she supported various defense
efforts as a technical writer and editor. Porto holds an M.S. in professional writing with an emphasis
in journalism from Towson
University and a B.A. in psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
ADAM LOWE is a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, supporting the JPEO- CBRND as the acting public affairs officer. Before working at Booz Allen Hamilton, he worked various public affairs jobs at a national security think tank and mental health nonprofits. Lowe holds an M.S. from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health and a B.S. and B.A. from James Madison University.
https://asc.ar my.mil
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