COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems
TITLE: Acquisition specialist, contracting officer’s representative, trusted agent
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 15
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: DOD contracting professional
EDUCATION: B.A. in mass communications, University of Denver

Julia Withers

by Holly DeCarlo-White

As an acquisition specialist with more than 45 years of Army civilian and private sector contracting experience combined, the most important part of a career with the Army Acquisition Workforce for Julia Withers is the continuous learning environment. “Just when you think you know all the rules of the road for contracting, you find out you don’t,” she said. “There’s always a challenge lurking around the corner that you discover through market research, collaboration with contracting centers, awareness of new contracting and budget regulations, etc.”

Withers coordinates contract modifications and awards for communication equipment installations in South Korea, Southwest Asia and Europe for the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS). “This enables Soldiers to communicate reliably over secure communication networks to complete their mission,” she said, adding that it was a natural progression to join Army acquisition from her private sector work for government contractors. “I went from responding to a request for proposal, to writing requests for proposals and administering the contract from cradle to grave after the award,” she said. “Most recently, I participated in building a contract providing program management operations (PMO) support to our global mission. Upon resolution of a protest, the contract officially started in October 2022, and I serve as the COR [contracting officer’s representative].”

PEO EIS delivers capabilities globally to support and field Army and DOD communications, logistics, medical, finance, personnel, training and procurement systems for every domain, branch, unit and Soldier.

The travel opportunities are typically what she said others find interesting or surprising about her role. She has traveled to South Korea three times for requirements development efforts resulting in three contract awards. In her current capacity as the program management operations contract COR, she maintains communication outreach to the theaters overseas using Microsoft Teams and Outlook from her base at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

“A common piece of advice [to junior contracting personnel] is to develop a solid working relationship with the contracting officers and specialists, and the budget support personnel you work with. You will not succeed without their support,” Withers said.

Her latest career development course was the four-week Army Advanced Course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which she said provided networking opportunities with other acquisition professionals across the Army. “It was a wonderful knowledge transfer experience,” she said. “That was followed by a five-month developmental assignment to help transition the Army Marketing and Research Group to its new incarnation as the Army Enterprise Marketing Office in Chicago. I learned how the Army conducts recruiting programs and helped stand up its new support contract.”

Outside of work, Withers has served on local community and neighborhood association boards for over 20 years, she is an amateur wine snob, and loves gardening and kayaking. She also was an active member of several local scuba clubs and participated in a museum-sponsored expedition to excavate a historic shipwreck off the west coast of Australia.

The most important lesson she has learned both on and off the jobs is: “Never lose your sense of humor,” she said. “Contracting can be incredibly frustrating at times as there are so many moving parts to any contract coordination effort that are outside your control.”