Solutions Provider Gail M. Jorgerson Director of Acquisition U.S. Transportation Command
2013
U.S. Transportation command
U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND
Solutions Provider
Q& A
Developing and Maturing Global Transportation Relationships Gail M. Jorgenson Director of Acquisition U.S. Transportation Command Gail M. Jorgenson, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the director, acquisition, U.S. Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. She is responsible for all matters related to the program management and acquisition of common-user transportation services, transportation-related services, and information technology support for USTRANSCOM’s global transportation mission and the distribution process mission. She provides acquisition support for more than $7.3 billion in transportation services. She has a broad base of acquisition experience gained through a variety of positions with the Department of Agriculture, Coast Guard, Defense Mapping Agency and Air Mobility Command. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business education from Southern Illinois University in 1983 and a master’s degree in procurement and acquisition management from Webster University in 1985. In 2000 she earned a master’s degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. In 2005 she was in the Senior Executive Fellows Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She joined USTRANSCOM in 1993 as acquisition manager and was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in January 2010. She became the acquisition director in 2011. Q: Tell me about the role of the Directorate of Acquisition within USTRANSCOM? How does AQ support the command strategy? A: Let me begin by saying that our acquisition workforce is a worldclass innovative group of professionals. They fully support the command’s global transportation and distribution mission by working very closely with our industry partners and our customers. Our Acquisition Directorate’s contracting and program management functions are well integrated into the command strategy. We develop and mature relationships with each of our strategic airlift and sealift commercial industry partners, and we build upon their best practices in our contracts. We also collaborate with industry to provide the best service possible to our customers. Because they are so significant to the Defense Transportation System, we consider them as the commander’s fifth component. Commercial industry provides 90 to 95 percent of our wartime capability. Working together, we build acquisition solutions to maintain our overall readiness to support the warfighter. I take great pride in our successes in training and developing our people. Almost 180 of our acquisition professionals are experts in contracting and program management. Our customer-focused staff is highly qualified and highly educated: More than 95 percent have bachelor’s degrees, 57 percent have master’s degrees, and more than www.MLF-kmi.com
95 percent have Level I, II or III Acquisition or Program Management certifications. But what makes this team even more professionally effective is their depth of understanding of the transportation industry. Understanding our strategic partners’ business models and incentive needs makes DoD a better partner in the relationship. We ensure our staff has all required formal courses, and we routinely provide directorate-level training on acquisition topics. On average, our supervisors have more than 20 years of acquisition experience. In addition, through our robust intern we work with new entrants into the acquisition career field entrants to provide them the classroom training and on-the-job developmental assignments to prepare them for journey-level positions. Q: What is the total amount of your annual contract buys and what are some of the key awards? What has been the trend in those key areas? Do you see it stabilizing in the near term? A: We have seen the number of contracts and dollar value drop in the last two fiscal years. In fiscal year 2013, we processed over 4,900 contract actions valued at $5.5 billion, compared to more than 6,000 contract actions valued at $7.8 billion in fiscal year 2012. U.S. Transportation Command | MLF 7.10 | 1
U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND We realize the budget will continue to decrease, but we must also maintain our readiness capability within the transportation industry. We will continue to foster a competitive environment and maximize dollars by awarding best value contracts at a reasonable price. We will do this through constant communication with the industry, seeking mutual best practices as well as clearly defining our requirements. Q: I’d like to focus on a couple of specific areas. How has the USC matured? Has it lived up to expectations? Does the contract have an expected end date or is the next-generation replacement being developed? A: The Universal Services Contract, or USC, has grown from a primarily port-to-port shipping contract to an end-to-end/door-to-door solution for our customers. The contract has evolved to meet the needs of the warfighter in the last 10 years, and through the USC we have achieved incredible things: creating the Northern Distribution Network, cultivating the idea for a commercial multimodal solution to move cargo, and finding unique solutions to satisfy the complex requirements of our customers such as the Defense Logistics Agency. I believe the USC has exceeded our expectations. However, as the world continues to change, so must our contracts. World events requiring U.S. action can happen at any time and any place. Our contracts must provide the flexibility and agility to meet changing needs. I anticipate the USC contract will continue as our premier commercial sealift contract, but USC-8 will see requirements change to meet the future needs of our customers. We have to take the lessons learned from the last 10 years of war and apply those smartly to our future contracts. Q: How are the commercial multimodal contracts working? A: I’m very excited about the maturing of the multimodal contracts. I can say the multimodal contracts are working well and are exceeding our expectations. We are using these contracts to move Department of Defense and other U.S. government cargo globally, door to door, by multiple modes of transportation, including airlift, sealift and line haul globally, to and from multiply locations. This relatively new acquisition incorporates the values of the CRAF and VISA (Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement) partnership, while moving the acquisition forward to meet the evolving capabilities of industry. Through our CRAF and VISA partners, we are capitalizing on existing industry infrastructure and contractor resources to solicit daily spot-bids, reducing contractor risk and driving down overall costs. The not-to-exceed rates established with initial awards were a baseline allowing prime contractors the opportunity to offer lower rates when specifically defined requirements are identified and solicited under this process. We have achieved per pound rates approximately 60 percent below the not-to-exceed contract rates with the multimodal contracts. Q: How have contracts for Civil Reserve Air Fleet carriers evolved? A: Since Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, CRAF contracts overall remained consistent, with some adjustments to 2 | MLF 7.10 | U.S. Transportation Command
contract language based on more than a decade of war in the wake of 9/11. During fiscal year 2002, the value of the contracts jumped from $700 million annually to more than $1 billion annually, and continued to climb to a peak of over $3.5 billion in fiscal year 2010. Although contract value was still over $2 billion in fiscal year 2012, the drawdown in Afghanistan coupled with restrained budgets is shifting cargo transportation from air to sea and land. We are forecasting that for fiscal year 2016 and beyond, contract value will decrease to less than $300 million annually. As a result, USTRANSCOM and its component Air Mobility Command are engaged in a thorough study of the CRAF program to determine the balance of DoD’s need for commercial airlift with the requirement for military aircrew training. The study will help us incorporate changes to the CRAF to maintain readiness into fiscal year 2016 and beyond. Q: Have you been ramping up air and sea carrier contracts in anticipation of the retrograde from Afghanistan? What is the estimated overall cost for retrograde? How are you looking to moderate those costs? A: We’ve built enough route capacity to have maximum flexibility in our operations. Options for air direct, multimodal and surface routing provide U.S. Central Command choices in the event of unforeseen political, economic or natural disaster interruptions. At the tactical level, a USTRANSCOM liaison officer supports U.S. Forces-Afghanistan who maintains direct communication, assessments and analysis of events, actions or decisions affecting the strategic transportation network. USTRANSCOM provides route guidance for retrograde and redeployment cargo from Afghanistan using CENTCOM’s priorities of operational flexibility, strategic engagement and cost. The guidance also maximizes the use of routes through Pakistan after meeting minimum route flexibility and engagement requirements. Q: How does USTRANSCOM ensure quality and safety of the aircraft and ships under contract? What kind of quality control authority do you have? A: For airlift, Air Mobility Command manages the DoD Commercial Airlift Review Board (CARB) safety oversight program mandated by federal and DoD regulations. The CARB enforces compliance with quality and safety requirements for commercial airlines providing passenger and cargo charter services for the DoD. If for any reason an air carrier loses its CARB-approved status for safety concerns, DoD ceases using that carrier immediately. Contracting officer’s representatives (CORs) at our most frequently used locations have oversight of contract quality and compliance. Contracting officers train and evaluate the CORs on critical performance items such as aircraft cleanliness, food safety, passenger handling, etc. Poor performance or quality is enforced through future business or price reductions. The USC allows the government to use scheduled liner service on cargo ships. DoD cargo is shipped on the same U.S. flag vessels that are transporting commercial cargo. The carriers are responsible for keeping ships up to commercial operating standards, following U.S. Coast Guard and Maritime Administration rules and regulations. Contractor use commercial quality control processes/plan www.MLF-kmi.com
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U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND
USTRANSCOM Leaders
Gen. William M. Fraser III, USAF Commander
Vice Adm. William A. “Andy” Brown, USN Vice Commander
USTRANSCOM Directors
Col. Shawna O’Brien, USAF J1 Personnel
Capt. Daryl Hancock, USN J2 Intelligence
Maj. Gen. David Post, USA J9 Reserve Component and Commander, Joint Transportation Reserve Unit
Bruce A. Busler, SES AC Joint Distribution Process Analysis Center
2013
Joint Enabling Capabilities Command
Rear Adm. Bret Batchelor, USN Commander
Command Sgt. Maj. Lemuel Brock, USA Senior Enlisted Leader
Air Mobility Command
Gen. Paul J. Selva, USAF Commander
Chief Master Sgt. Andy Kaiser, USAF Senior Enlisted Leader
Maj. Gen. Gregory Couch, USA Chief of Staff
Chief Master Sgt. Martin Klukas, USAF Senior Enlisted Leader
Maj. Gen. Rowayne “Wayne” Schatz Jr., USAF J3 Operations and Plans
Rear Adm. David F. Baucom, USN J5/4 Strategy, Policy, Programs and Logistics
Gail Jorgenson, SES AQ Acquisition
Col. Michael J. Benjamin, USA JA Staff Judge Advocate
Surface Deployment and Distribution Command
Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Richardson, USA Commander
Command Sgt. Maj. Cedric J. Thomas, USA Command Sergeant Major
Brig. Gen Sarah E. Zabel, USAF J6 Command Control Communications & Cyber Systems
James L. McGinley, SES J8 Program Analysis and Financial Management
Col. David O’Brien, USAF SG Command Surgeon
MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND
Rear Adm. Thomas J. Shannon, USN Commander
Master Chief Petty Officer Kevin Blade, USN Command Master Chief
U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND to ensure quality service is provided throughout the term of the contract and must notify the COR of any problems or failures that may affect performance. CORs monitor contractor performance using standard techniques such as inspections, U.S. governmentgenerated management reports, contractor reports and customer feedback. Q: How similar are USTC’s acquisitions and management systems compared to those in the commercial world? Do your systems allow you to directly communicate and share data with other services and commands—such as DLA? What about commercial partners? A: USTRANSCOM uses many of the acquisition and management systems that allow for government and commercial interaction and data sharing. Most have been developed for USTRANSCOM needs, and certain functions are restricted for government use only. We use PD2 as our primary contract writing tool to build solicitations, award contracts and for other contract actions. It also allows us to report data associated with these actions to other government entities including Congress. USTRANSCOM and Air Mobility Command’s Tanker Airlift Control Center use the Web-based COINS (Commercial Operations Integrated System) to procure and award commercial chartered airlift requirements. DoD members and their families have access to the Defense Personal Property System (DPS), [which] is a Web-based system for moving household goods through the Defense Personal Property Program (DP3). DPS rewards transportation service providers (TSPs) who provide better service at lower rates by giving them repeat business. DPS interacts with DoD personnel, personal property shipping offices, and TSPs to provide online counseling, selecting a TSP, and invoicing. USTRANSCOM’s component command, the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, uses interactive systems as well, allowing customers and contractors to interact and share data. Systems like Global Freight Management and the Integrated Booking System are used to identify requirements and order transportation services. The Carrier ITV Entry Tool is used to track shipments and the Cargo and Billing System is used to verify ocean carrier invoices for payment and bill DoD shippers.
continue our dialogue with the USC, CRAF and multimodal contractors through scheduled carrier meetings and ‘hot wash’ sessions to address any contractual and operational issues. At the strategic level, USTRANSCOM engages industry through the Corporate Executive Acquisition Board to collaborate and share ideas on distribution and acquisition issues. The board comprises representatives from the air, sea and surface carriers and meets on a quarterly basis to discuss top-level transportation acquisition issues. Most recently USTRANSCOM created a Surface Executive Working Group based on the success of the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement EWG, the CRAF EWG and feedback received from the National Defense Transportation Association meetings. Q: What is your relationship with small business? How much of what you do is contracted with small businesses; is that the right amount or should the number be higher or lower? A: USTRANSCOM has a positive relationship with small businesses. Last fiscal year, we made contact with over 270 small businesses. This interaction gives us a greater understanding of capabilities within the small business community available to meet mission requirements. We consider the information we obtain early in the planning phase of each acquisition to ensure we have maximum participation from small businesses USTRANSCOM exceeded its fiscal year 2013 small business goal of 15 percent set by DoD by almost 2.5 percent. We awarded $1.23 million more to small disadvantaged veteran-owned small businesses compared to FY 2012, and $1.16 million more to Hub zones. We achieved much of the success through small business set-asides. In fact, we awarded about $30.2 million to small business in three of our major IT support programs, where the incumbent was historically large business. We will continue to the trend to support small businesses in fiscal year 2014. Two of the five awards made since October 1 were to small businesses replacing large business incumbents. Program totals are valued at about $17.6 million. Small businesses wanting to learn more about USTRANSCOM programs can access the “Doing Business with USTRANSCOM” website (www.transcom.mil/doing_business.cfm) or contact the small business office at 618-220-7066. Q: Anything you’d like to add about USTRANSCOM Acquisition?
Q: How have you partnered with industry to understand and share best practices, to exchange experiences and take advantage of the parts of their business in common with yours? A: We remain extremely committed to enhancing our relationships with our commercial partners through open communication and trust. We have created forums to help facilitate two-way sharing of ideas. We have increased our engagement with industry at the earlier stages of acquisition through integrated process teams and pre-award conferences. Such activities help the acquisition community better understand industry capabilities and commercial best practices. Following major awards, we put together an after action report that incorporates both negative and positive feedback received from key stakeholders, customers and carriers. We apply the information as lessons-learned for future procurements. Additionally, we 6 | MLF 7.10 | U.S. Transportation Command
A: DoD’s 2010 Better Buying Power initiative mandates defense agencies to “Do More Without More.” USTRANSCOM’s experienced acquisition workforce is carrying out this mandate by establishing best practices for acquiring transportation and related services. Innovative acquisition solutions have resulted in greater efficiencies and increased industry productivity. The declining DoD budget and drawdown from Afghanistan has led to a downward trend of customer requirements, both in volume and level of service. We will continue to work with our customers and strategic industry partners to ensure we can support daily and contingency transportation requirements. We remain focused on maximum operational capability and will employ those acquisition strategies that promote awarding contracts to the provider that achieves the warfighter’s operational objectives at a reasonable cost. O www.MLF-kmi.com
U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND
USTRANSCOM has a number a initiatives in the works seeking solutions to operational, administrative and structural requirements. Utilizing nondevelopmental and more off-the-shelf capabilities benefits industry and the DoD. Comprehensive Financial Services USTRANSCOM is conducting market research to determine the feasibility of a company providing indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contract services for USTRANSCOM Program Analysis and Financial Management Directorate (TCJ8). TCJ8’s diverse composition along with the DoD cost culture transformation necessitates on-demand services at any given time. TCJ8 formulates and integrates the command’s budget while focused on the effective and efficient use of the command’s resources. TCJ8 develops command fiscal policy procedures and resolves issues on the use of the combatant commandwide $13.5 billion Transportation Working Capital Fund (TWCF) budget. TCJ8 requires support services to provide financial management/cost analysis, program cost analysis, compliancy, support financial IT, and operational support of logistics and financial information. This analysis and information supports TWCF billings, government accounting and financial analyst functions, resource advisor budget support, acquisition cost analysis, financial analysis studies, command initiatives and business process support, cost modeling, accounting, financial improvement audit readiness, systems accounting functions, billings and revenue support, billing rate development, internal controls and quality assurance, and information technology financial and operational support as required and identified in each specific task.
Transportation Decision Support System USTRANSCOM has issued a sources sought inquiry seeking sources that possess the availability and capability to provide a Web-based geographic information system integrated with automated business rules enabling mission management for www.MLF-kmi.com
transportation professionals. The system may become a primary support platform for a variety of transportation business missions, which fall into two primary categories. The first is mission management for the movement of goods, and the second is transportation infrastructure analysis.
Global Freight Management The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) is the surface transportation component of the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). SDDCs primary functions include worldwide port operations, global traffic management, deployability engineering, and development of integrated transportation systems. SDDC’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Information Management/Chief Information Manager (IM/ CIO) supports SDDC’s mission by designing, developing, implementing and operating standard DoD transportation systems for which SDDC has been assigned responsibility. The Surface Cargo Branch supports the SDDC mission by managing global freight management (GFM). GFM is the capstone automated execution system of the Defense Transportation System for the movement of domestic freight. It is also used to a certain degree as an outside the continental United States shipping tool. GFM consists of a host computer and database located at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. Users access the GFM system through the Electronic Transportation Acquisition (ETA) System via an Internet connection 24 hours a day, seven days a week. USTRANSCOM and DoD relative stakeholders (Office of Secretary of Defense, joint staff, combatant commands, military services, defense agencies, and other departmental organizations) is seeking subject matter experts, functional analysts and additional labor categories who can provide automatic identification technology (AIT) and in-transit visibility (ITV) program support. The AIT/ITV-related projects and implementations would support both
the DoD concept of operations for supply and distribution and the related DoD AIT Implementation Plan, focused logistics, total asset visibility, integration within the DoD supply chain, and those tasks that assist USTRANSCOM in addressing automatic data capture policies and standards, assessing AIT technology, examining future trends, and recommending department policies providing the warfighter the best possible integrated solution. The government intends to award one labor-hour indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract resulting from this solicitation which will include a base year and two one-year option periods. The period of performance will be from approximately March 17, 2014, through March 16, 2017. Task Order 1 and future task orders will be issued against the contract. The requirement will be managed by the USTRANSCOM, Directorate of Acquisition, Distribution Process Owner Division, Scott AFB, Ill.
Combined Joint Operations Area-Afghanistan Short Take-Off and Landing Low Cost/Low Altitude Aerial Drop, Cargo Service, Passenger Service, and Combined Service The government intends to solicit written proposals for low cost/low altitude (LCLA) aerial delivery services throughout Afghanistan, Kyrgystan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The contractor shall provide one fixed wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance and supervision necessary to perform short take-off and landing LCLA aerial delivery of para-drop resupply bundles, cargo, passenger, and combined air transportation services between locations in the area of responsibility of Afghanistan, Kyrgystan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The contractor shall provide no more than 10 hours of flight time per day. The government anticipates contracting approximately 150 hours per aircraft per
U.S. Transportation Command | MLF 7.10 | 7
U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND month and allows six days per month for scheduled/unscheduled maintenance. Aircraft shall be available for services 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Flight missions are intended to originate and terminate at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, or other suitable airfields that will support flight operations. The contractor shall provide passenger/cargo aircraft that are twin-engine, fixed wing, unpressurized and have the flexibility to transport cargo (as para-drop resupply bundles or as palletized cargo) and passengers. Total aircraft lift capability will equal a minimum of 4,000 pounds at above 10 degrees Celsius for a 400-mile length stage non-stop during instrument flight rules conditions. Aircraft at a minimum must be able to operate from an unimproved 3,500-foot runway at sea level. Aircraft may operate on runways shorter than 3,500 feet, but such operations must be executed in compliance with the aircraft technical manual for performance, weight and balance. The pilot in command has final authority for all operations and retains responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft at all times. Aircraft must have the ability to hold a minimum of nine passengers with an alternate configuration for cargo only. Aircraft shall have the capability to change configurations as required by USFOR-A. Carriers will be given 48 hours to change configurations.
Agile Transportation for the 21st Century Market research is being conducted to gain industry input as related to an anticipated requirement for Enterprise Capability Development, Integration and Sustainment in support of Agile Transportation for the 21st Century. Inputs will be used to help develop the government’s acquisition strategy in support of this requirement. In addition, responses generated from this market research will be used to assist in determining whether the requirement should be issued as a small business set aside.
(TPS) on behalf of SDDC. SDDC’s mission is to provide surface transportation to meet DoD’s national security objectives in peacetime and wartime. As such, SDDC is responsible for the management and oversight of shipments requiring TPS. They are looking for contractors to provide all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision and other items and services necessary to provide transportation services to, from, within, and between the CONUS, Alaska, and Canada for the movement of arms, ammunition and explosives (AA&E), AA&E hazardous material, classified (secret and confidential), sensitive and controlled cryptographic items, and materials requiring movement with TPS.
CRADA Partners Sought USTRANSCOM, on behalf of SDDC, is seeking non-federal partners (collaborators) from industry and academia for consideration to enter into cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs). USTRANSCOM/SDDC is seeking CRADA collaborators to explore and advance the military’s ability to create feasible container loading plans which are more effective than the military’s current capability in accommodating irregularlyor complex-shaped items, resulting in more efficient use of container volume and decreased transportation costs. The complex-shaped items typically have a dimension greatly differing from the others, are far from cubical or rectangular in overall shape, and may be separately packed for shipment, making otherwise void spaces in the container unusable for other items, and requiring significant additional handling, packaging and cushioning. The primary container of interest is the typical military ISO 20-foot or commercial 40-foot container; however, adaptability of the techniques to other containers (high cube and flat rack) or transportation methods is also of interest. USTRANSCOM and MSDDC are interested in collaborating on all aspects of the problem, including:
Transportation Protective Service USTRANSCOM Acquisition Directorate has issued a solicitation/request for proposal for transportation protective service 8 | MLF 7.10 | U.S. Transportation Command
• The entire system of accommodating complex items, including methods of automated capture of physical dimensions in field use, data architectures and data storage/ transmission methods, algorithms to
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select the best kind of container and optimize the use of container volume (to maximize container utilization and/or minimize delivery cost) Production of a load plan for an individual container or across a fleet of containers Improved methods of accurately and easily capturing the dimensions of irregularly- or complex-shaped items’ dimensions, in practice in the field at austere locations in the continental United States (CONUS) or beyond CONUS, as well as in well-equipped storage locations or transportation nodes Predicted reliability, durability and affordability (including return on investment) of the techniques Improvements to software algorithms that build optimized container load plans to accommodate complexshaped items Ability to optimize loads which include multiple complex-shaped items in a single container, or across a set of containers Integration requirements for new hardware and software components into existing DoD systems (ICODES as one example) Features and utility of existing systems and techniques currently used outside of DoD, but potentially adaptable to DoD use and the effort required in doing so Methodology for choosing between containerization and breakbulk configuration for individual items Improvements to human-computer interfaces (i.e., better visualization and manipulation of computed loading solutions) Assurance of feasibility and utility of the new techniques in realistic field-use environments, including austere locations lacking data communications, power supplies, etc. Operator training requirements and ownership and maintenance concepts. O
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