# DLA Strategic Goals Award winners from Land and Maritime announced for 1st Quarter

/ Published April 28, 2020
COLUMBUS, Ohio, 
Several Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime associates were recognized with the DLA Director's Strategic Goals Award for the 1st Quarter of Fiscal Year 2020. The award recognizes the measurable contributions made by teams, or individuals, toward achieving the goals set forth in the DLA Strategic Plan.

Thirteen members from Land and Maritime’s Business Process Directorate were recognized as part of a team award that acknowledged their contribution to streamlining the acquisition process, while Kimberly Howe from DLA Warren garnered honors for her extensive cost saving initiatives through collaborative contract negotiations with defense contractors. Land and Maritime’s Automated Indefinite Delivery Procurement Team was victorious in the Warfighter First and Always Accountable Lines of Effort. Howe secured for her individual award in the Strong Partnerships and Always Accountable Lines of Effort.

All Land and Maritime winners were selected after vying against other outstanding nominees throughout DLA. Their efforts demonstrated dedication to our agency's core values of leadership, professionalism and technical knowledge through dedication to duty, integrity, ethics, honor, courage and loyalty.

Howe is a Contract Price/Cost Analyst at DLA Land and Maritime Warren. She excelled in forging Department of Defense and interagency partnerships through collaborations with the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency in evaluating and negotiating contractor proposals. She effectively applied objective cost consciousness by using her experience and interagency relationships to negotiate fair and reasonable prices with defense contractors to highlight the agency’s practice of transparent and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

Working contracting issues with a variety of vendors Howe was able to negotiate significant savings of more than $2.5 million off an original proposed price exceeding $37.8 million. Howe’s coordination with our DOD interagency partners during proposal evaluation and negotiation resulted in significant savings and represented cost-conscious stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Her negotiating ability provided vital support to weapon systems like the self-propelled howitzer, the Raytheon Missile System and the Bradley fighting vehicle system.

During the first quarter of FY 2020 Howe also leveraged her DCAA relationship with the Detroit Arsenal DCAA Financial Liaison Advisor to bring DCAA indirect rate and overhead training to DLA Land Warren. This training has been presented to Army Contracting Command Warren contract price/cost analysts and is expected to be valuable for DLA Land Warren contract price/cost analysts as well.

Led by John Dotchin, DLA Land and Maritime’s 13-member Automated Indefinite Delivery Contract Procurement Team ensured the successful role out of a complex Request for Change action which drew senior leadership and agency-wide interest.

In addition to Dotchin, team members included:
      - Kenneth E. Rumbaugh
      - Kelly T. Penwell
      - John A. Dotchin
      - Alan C. Searfoss
      - Renee B. Luebben
      - Travis L. Robertson
      - Jamie C. Carnevale
      - Stephen C. Fischbach
      - Christina M. Geobert
      - Douglas L. Griffith
      - Susan A. Knisley
      - Natalya N. Radyk
      - David C. Beckwith

The team’s efforts included executing all project aspects to include requirements writing, cross-discipline coordination, internal/external communications, user training and functional system testing under an expedited timeline.

The purpose of the RFC is to automate Infinite Delivery Contracts below the Simplified Acquisition Threshold. Achieving this simplifies the functional requirements, while at the same time making the process more efficient and adaptable to future needs. The original designs from 10 years ago were no longer relevant and this new acquisition logic allows for the automatic creation of simplified Long Term Contracts that will reduce administrative lead-time to purchase material and increase material availability to DLA’s  military customers, while increasing the return on investment. The improvement also supports reduced inventory levels and associated costs.

The team discovered and reported 190 defects and were required to retest each one prior to migration. In addition to testing, they balanced coordinating pre­release planning across multiple disciplines and mission subordinate commands, conducted multiple briefings at all levels and facilitated regular calls with 16 other interested groups.      

Each Major Subordinate Command participated as part of a pilot after release of the RFC. Over the next year a potential exists for approximately 10,500 Fully Automated and Buyer Assist AIDC awards across the enterprise. That execution will position the Agency to recoup an estimated administrative lead time savings of over $37 million for DLA.