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        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Master Sgt. Steve Kaun, Air Force Military Working Dog Program Manager, gives the government-wide working dog team members a tour of 341st Training Squadron’s military working dog kennels on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, April 16, 2019. The 341st TRS provides training to MWDs used in patrol, drug and explosive detection, and specialized mission functions for the DoD and other government agencies. (U.S. Air Force photo by Shannon Carabajal)Government-wide working dog kickoff
                        
                        
                        Master Sgt. Steve Kaun, Air Force Military Working Dog Program Manager, gives the government-wide working dog team members a tour of 341st Training Squadron’s military working dog kennels on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, April 16, 2019. The 341st TRS provides training to MWDs used in patrol, drug and explosive detection, and specialized mission functions for the DoD and other government agencies. (U.S. Air Force photo by Shannon Carabajal)
                
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        Clark Young, Transportation Security Administration trainer, takes his explosives detection dog Bina through a training exercise at TSA’s canine training center on JBSA-Lackland, Texas, April 17, 2019. Every year, TSA trains about 250 canine teams at JBSA-Lackland to operate in the aviation, multimodal, mass transit, and cargo environments. (U.S. Air Force photo by Shannon Carabajal)Government-wide working dog kickoff
                        
                        
                        Clark Young, Transportation Security Administration trainer, takes his explosives detection dog Bina through a training exercise at TSA’s canine training center on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, April 17, 2019. Every year, TSA trains about 250 canine teams at JB San Antonio-Lackland to operate in the aviation, multimodal, mass transit, and cargo environments. (U.S. Air Force photo by Shannon Carabajal)
                
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        Terry Bashore, Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, holds a Belgian Malinois puppy, during a tour of the 341st Training Squadron military working dog training facilities on Joint Base San Antonio Lackland, Texas, April 16, 2019. From birth to eight weeks, future military working dogs bred at the 341st TRS are reared at the military working dog center. (U.S. Air Force photo by Shannon Carabajal)Government-wide working dog kickoff
                        
                        
                        Terry Bashore, Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, holds a Belgian Malinois puppy, during a tour of the 341st Training Squadron military working dog training facilities on Joint Base San Antonio Lackland, Texas, April 16, 2019. From birth to eight weeks, future military working dogs bred at the 341st TRS are reared at the military working dog center. (U.S. Air Force photo by Shannon Carabajal)
                
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Federal agencies kick off working dog collaboration effort for stronger, sustainable futurePublished April 19, 2019
                    
                    By Debbie Aragon
                    
                    
                    Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center Public Affairs
            **JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas (AFNS) --**Ten federal agencies — including the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice and State — began an important dialogue at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland for government-wide collaboration in working dog operations.
The government-wide working dog team kickoff meeting, April 16-18, gave federal agencies the opportunity to talk through things like program challenges, sourcing strategies and best practices in an effort to build stronger, more sustainable canine operations for the future.
The event began with tours of JB San Antonio-Lackland’s canine campus to include DoD kennels, dog evaluation, veterinary and rehabilitation services and breeding program areas; and on-base transportation security administration training facilities.
Mission briefings and open discussions on each federal organization’s canine patrol or detection programs followed the tours and allowed program managers, canine subject matter experts and various acquisition and contracting experts to talk through all aspects of canine operations and sustainment.
“We were listening to working dog program managers and (subject matter experts) talk about their programs, especially relating to things they buy from industry whether a product or a service,” said Scott Heise, Air Force Security Forces Center, Air Force Security and Protection Category Management Council director.
Although the federal category manager for security and protection is the Department of Homeland Security, Heise and the Air Force were designated as the execution lead for this week’s meeting designed to lay the groundwork for a category intelligence report and future inter-agency collaboration.
The intelligence report is expected to be key to “maximize mission effectiveness with every dollar that we spend,” said Peter Herrmann, a member of the Air Force Installation Contracting Agency at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and the category program manager supporting Heise’s efforts.
There are a lot of great opportunities for collaboration between some or all agencies at the event, Heise said.
“These are people who already have great programs and are doing great things,” he said, noting the long-established partnerships between the TSA and DOD at JBSA-Lackland and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Virginia as examples.
“We want to build on these already successful efforts,” Heise said.
Chris Shelton, branch manager for the TSA canine training center on JB San Antonio-Lackland, agreed.
Shelton knows how strong the long-standing relationship is between his organization and DOD’s military working dog operations managed by the Air Force and how both agencies benefit from it.
Much has changed since the relationship began in the early 1970s with the Federal Aviation Administration, well before TSA was established.
“The TSA canine program as it is now and the DoD’s 341st (Training Squadron) have kind of grown up together over the years,” Shelton said. “The program size has increased and the mission has increased ... it’s a great partnership ... the ability to share resources and a similar mission on (Joint Base San Antonio-)Lackland is outstanding.”
The 341st is part of JB San Antonio-Lackland’s 37th Training Wing.
This week’s event and the potential for expanded collaboration across federal agencies are extremely important, Shelton said.
“There’s already collaboration taking place because of increased security requirements across the country,” he said. “So we look forward to these events because we can learn from each other. Opening up the conversation between all of these (federal) agencies is critical to making sure that we are increasing the capabilities and performance of our programs.”
A large part of collaboration and partnerships is smarter acquisition and that’s why Herrmann and numerous contracting experts were at the table for this week’s discussions as well.
“This week is extremely exciting,” Herrmann said. “It’s our first ever federal category management meeting specifically for an intelligence report (where) from an execution standpoint, we’re specifically looking at government working dogs. Bringing 10 federal agencies together to understand commonalities as well as variances in their requirements, the challenges they face at a tactical level and how we can acquire these and also manage the programs for working dogs more efficiently and effectively.”
There are multiple requirements at play for government working dog programs, Herrmann said.
“We’re not only looking at the acquisition of the dog or the statement of work for the vendors that are coming out, we’re also looking at tangible commodities like dog food and trailers and vet needs of these animals,” the category program manager explained.
This means taking a holistic look at all costs for dogs and the strategic management of working dog programs to determine commonalities among agencies as well as differences, Herrmann added.
Ultimately, it all adds up to better fiscal management of taxpayer dollars, Shelton said.
“The more we can share those taxpayer dollars for the same mission, the better the programs are,” Shelton said.
For example, TSA is currently building additional infrastructure on JB San Antonio-Lackland to support its mission but it’s doing so in partnership with the DoD.
“The ability for the TSA and the Department of Defense to share those facilities is saving the taxpayer money because we’re not building separate facilities to meet our missions. The more of those types of events we can do with our partners, the better off we are with being a good steward with taxpayer dollars,” Shelton said.
As the kickoff meeting wrapped up April 18, Heise said discussions among agencies continued as Herrmann and his team began the process of crafting the category intelligence report.
“We’ll continue to compile what we’ve learned from this week in terms of a requirement analysis that then will shape and form the scope for this category intelligence report,” Herrmann said.
That means “focusing where we want to look from a market analysis standpoint ... beginning to understand who the primary vendors in this particular area are, how do we fit in terms of the entire market share for government working dogs,” he said. “We’re competing at a world-wide level — buying against many other countries — and if we’re not buying as a consolidated federal government, then we’re competing again ourselves. Collaborating and looking at this from a federal perspective is advantageous.
“For us (from an industry perspective), our mission is our profit so it’s maximizing that mission with the dollars that we have,” Herrmann explained.
The end result, Heise said, “could be a new, multi-agency or government-wide contract, but we also look at our buying practices, demand management. We look at industry and academia best practices ... can we apply them to the federal government.”
“We’re super excited about this federal working dog opportunity,” Herrmann added. “We believe this is the first of many to come in terms of just collaborating with other agencies ... bringing a magnifying glass to some of the specific efficiencies and effectiveness that can be brought together.”LR 



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