COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command Acquisition Center
TITLE: Contract specialist
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 3.5
YEARS OF MILITARY SERVICE: 10.5
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level III in contracting
EDUCATION: MBA in finance, Columbia Southern University; B.A. in liberal arts, Hays State University; A.A. in management, Portland Community College
AWARDS: Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Accommodation Medal (3), Army Achievement Medal (2), National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal (2), Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Army Service Medal, Overseas Ribbon (4), NATO International Security Assistance Force Medal, Expeditionary Contracting Command Contingency Contracting Officer Award, 413th Contracting Support Brigade Officer of the Year
Contract specialist seeks to be ‘voice of the warfighter’
By Susan L. Follett
Capt. Raven Cornelius is good at saving the Army money. During a 2014 deployment to Regional Contracting Center – East at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, when she served as joint team lead and contingency contracting officer for the U.S. Central Command – Joint Theater Support Contracting Command (C-JTSCC), she terminated and settledmore than two dozen contracts valued at $20 million, and closed nearly a dozen more Defense Contract Management Agency and C-JTSCC contracts worth $14 million.
She’s now lead contract specialist for the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), managing contract actions from procurement to post-award for $7.6 billion in global intelligence support services contracts. Her work supports INSCOM, the U.S. intelligence community, combatant commands and Army service component commands worldwide. “My role is to ensure that requirements needed to shape the mission are available to the warfighter,” she said. “Combat effectiveness is essential in the Army, and the work I do is an essential piece of the puzzle that enables mission success.”
Cornelius credits a handful of mentors with her career success, and she noted that those mentors “pushed me to be the voice of the warfighter and impact the military for positive change. A contract creates positive change to both the mission and the warfighter by allowing them to focus on their job.”
Among those mentors is Irvin Bonus, her former team leader and now team leader for Regional Contracting Office – Hawaii, part of the 413th Contracting Support Brigade. “He is an excellent mentor who challenged me to learn the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and understand the importance of contracting,” said Cornelius. She took that advice to heart, earning a certification of federal contract management from the National Contract Management Association along with her Level III DAWIA certification in contracting as a way to better understand the FAR.
Col. Kevin Nash, her former commander, also has been an important part of her professional development. “His leadership and mentorship were key in showing me what a military acquisition professional should be,” said Cornelius. Nash helped Cornelius master operational contract support and become a valuable business adviser to the command, she said, skills that improved her ability to write contracts as well as brief and provide input at the senior level.
Perfecting those skills and building a solid foundation are vital to success, Cornelius noted, as is stepping outside one’s comfort zone. “Contracting is evolving, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t grasp everything,” she said. “Challenge yourself each day to learn something new and assist with unfamiliar requirements. Learning opportunities are endless in this career, so take advantage of them.” Finally, she added, “Take pride in your career and learn everything you can to be able to understand why acquisition is a mission enabler.”
Cornelius’ military career started right after high school. Following the path of her father—“my biggest hero,” she said—she joined the Army in 1999 as a private. She left active duty and earned a bachelor’s degree, and returned to active duty to attend Officer Candidate School (OCS).
Following OCS, Cornelius spent seven years as a chemical officer. In late 2011, she was working in the Operational Protection Directorate for Eighth Army and was assigned to a team researching ways to measure and reduce warfighter exposure to radiation. “As a result of our work, we identified and fielded radiation detection equipment to subordinate commands to allow for low-level radiation monitoring of more than 28,000 service members across the Korean Peninsula,” Cornelius said. That assignment also gave her the opportunity to meet people from the acquisition community, “and I became very interested in that career field,” she said, “as a way to mitigate threats and provide products viable to the field.” She transitioned to the Acquisition Corps one year later.
“I have been exposed to many different levels of acquisitions to understand why what we do is invaluable, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with different services’ components in multiple countries—and I have found every minute of it rewarding,” she said.
Maintaining mission focus is the most challenging part of her work. “Sometimes the mission exceeds the existing capabilities,” she said. “We face challenges in handling all the requirements in the timeframe requested for each mission.” The solution? Old-fashioned hard work, according to Cornelius: “Longer hours when they’re needed to be sure we complete the requirements needed to enable the mission.”
CONTRACT BRIEFING
Capt. Cornelius, right, briefs INSCOM Acquisition Center staff members, from left, Sgt. 1st Class John Wysocki, Maj. Ryan Ocampo and Betty Jarman.
“Faces of the Force” is an online series highlighting members of the Army Acquisition Workforce through the power of individual stories. Profiles are produced by the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center Communication and Support Branch, working closely with public affairs officers to feature Soldiers and civilians serving in various AL&T disciplines. For more information, or to nominate someone, please contact 703-805-1006.
This article was originally published in the January – March 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.
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