By Susan L. Follett
FORT BELVOIR, Va. (Dec. 1, 2017)—The undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics (USD(AT&L)) has announced the 2017 Defense Acquisition Workforce Achievement Awards, and the Army garnered three: two individual awards and one group honor.
“It is important that we continue to recognize the outstanding contributions of our acquisition, technology and logistics professionals who are critical in supporting our warfighter and the defense mission,” said USD(AT&L) Ellen M. Lord, who announced the awards.
Valerie Clinkenbeard, acquisition liaison manager for the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, received the Individual Achievement Award in Facilities Engineering. Clinkenbeard is responsible for the management of all pre-award activities of numerous indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts supporting services, which range from barracks and medical clinic upgrades to ordnance removal in a contingency environment and cybersecurity support. At any time, she is involved with 20 or more acquisitions with a total value of more than $3 billion. She has also supervised the Cost Engineering Branch, which develops all government estimates for contract actions over the simplified acquisition level, implementing process improvements that resulted in better estimates.
Dr. Charles A. Bass Jr., science and technology manager for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office, received the Individual Achievement Award for Science and Technology Manager for his work supporting the Joint Project Manager for Protection within the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense. Bass’ contributions to the Uniform Integrated Protective Ensemble Family of Systems program, the Contamination Indicator and Decontamination Assurance program and the Joint Biological Agent Decontamination System, played a key role in providing the technology and data necessary for DOD to acquire three valuable capabilities within the next five years: A family of individual protective systems giving DOD capability across the weapons of mass destruction threat; a spray that reduces the time and resources required to execute chemical agent decontamination; and a biological and chemical decontamination process that can return sensitive equipment and aircraft rapidly back to the fight.
Rounding out the Army awards is the Army Contracting Command (ACC) – Orlando, Florida, which received the Workforce Development Innovation Award in the Small Organization category. ACC-Orlando’s Workforce Support Branch and its Leadership Development Integrated Project Team developed and implemented a workforce development program that consisted of technical training, leadership training and an employee recognition program. Using funds from the Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund, the team implemented structured quarterly coaching sessions; created a career road map and leadership guide; organized “Notable Thinkers,” a series of guest speaker engagements; developed a leadership reference library; and set in motion the Executive Director’s Shadow program.
Award recipients will be honored at a ceremony scheduled for Dec. 6 at the Pentagon. The complete list of winners is:
Individual Achievement Award Winners
Acquisition in an Expeditionary Environment
Gunnery Sgt. Tamalia C. Adams, U.S. Marine Corps
Auditing
Melissa Panarelli, Defense Contract Audit Agency
Contracting and Procurement
Gary V. Trimble, U.S. Navy
Cost Estimating
Dr. Wilson Rosa, U.S. Navy
Earned Value Management
Lt. Col. Andrew R. Vrabec, U.S. Air Force
Engineering
Daniel Carroll, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)
Facilities Engineering
Valerie Clinkenbeard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Financial Management
Jeffrey M. Martin, Program Executive Office (PEO) for Space, U.S. Air Force
Information Technology
Michael R. Cirillo, Marine Corps Systems Command, U.S. Marine Corps
Life Cycle Logistics
George N. Graham Jr., USSOCOM
Production, Quality and Manufacturing
Capt. Charles M. Stuart, U.S. Navy
Program Management
Lt. Col. Thomas A. Atkinson, USSOCOM
Requirements Management
Skip Hinman, Air Education and Training Command, U.S. Air Force
Science and Technology Manager
Dr. Charles A. Bass Jr., Joint PEO for Chemical and Biological Defense
Services Acquisition
Ulises Cartaya, USSOCOM
Small Business
Lee R. Rosenberg, Missile Defense Agency
Test and Evaluation
Thomas Sachse, PEO Submarines, U.S. Navy
Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Innovation Awards
Large Organization
Defense Contract Management Agency – Fort Lee, Virginia
Small Organization
U.S. Army Contracting Command – Orlando, Florida
Related Links:
See photos of Individual and Workforce Development winners.
See the 2017 David Packard Award Winners.
Subscribe to Army AL&T News, the premier online news source for the Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (AL&T) Workforce.
