Contracting work is large part of economic success at Robins

With recent news of the 2021 economic impact of Robins Air Force Base, one major facet to that success involves contracting work. Awarding 7,350 contracts or contract modifications to 1,904 businesses in FY22 led to $7.4 billion in generated funds.

Emily Jay, director of contracting at Robins, began her journey into government contracting work through a prior position with the Small Business Development Center, which was co-sponsored by the Small Business Administration and state universities.

“This [experience] led me to getting a position with the Air Force in the procurement intern program, and I have been in acquisition as a contracting officer,” Jay said.

Her career in contracting and program management, so far, has spanned over 36 years with 3 years of service at Robins.

Before this, she pursued and received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in management science with a finance minor, attending the University of West Florida and the Fort Walton Beach branch of Troy University.

In her current position in supporting the 78th Air Base Wing, Air Logistics Complex and the infrastructure of Robins, the contracting division buys all the goods and services required in assisting the base to run smoothly.

“We purchase everything from small construction projects to janitorial cleaning services,” Jay said. “We support the [Air] Logistics Complex with the procurement of services and supplies to support the depot work being accomplished.”

Companies can find more details on what is available for them to bid on a contract by checking the online system at SAM.gov. “SAM” stands for “System for Award Management.”

“You may register online and peruse current and historical contract offerings for a variety of supplies and services,” she said. “SAM.gov is our one-stop-shop for market research, releasing draft and final requests for proposals and announcing industry days, requirement symposiums and other special events.”

Jay continued, offering more details on the Requirements Symposium event since it is coming up this Thursday and will feature the Program Executive Officer’s organizations providing briefings on what current requirements exist and their projected roadmaps for the future. The Contracting Division and National Defense Industrial Association are sponsoring the event.

“We have a speaker who will discuss current supply chain management issues, and we have a Government-Industry Panel [speaking] on how we can accelerate all that we do to keep pace with the change of technology and our adversaries,” Jay added. “The symposium allows a chance for industry and government to exchange ideas for improving our acquisitions, and it gives industry a perspective on what requirements will be seen in the future.”

In light of the pandemic, virtual work has become more prevalent and has brought about new challenges in her work, Jay said. Her division has also made adjustments when doing business with new industries.

“We implemented a new contractor outreach last fall where we meet at the Aviation Museum on the first Tuesday of every month at 10 a.m. to meet with contractors and answer any questions,” Jay said. “We provide a 30-minute program on some of our processes, such as source selection or technical evaluations — and we always offer 30 minutes with the Speaker or other points of contact to “Ask Me Anything.”

One common phrase floating around the base relating to the contracting division is: “If you got it, we bought it.”

“We touch everything on base, either through supporting the infrastructure, depot or providing logistics support to the program offices,” she said. “We buy supplies for everyone from the med group and security police to supporting JSTARS and the C-130.”

The contracting division has around 450 employees between two different Air Force Material Command Centers. Jay said they are seeing a shift in some of the skill sets required as the base moves towards more artificial intelligence, standardized contract writing and file systems, digital data and the need for data analytics.

“We train people to become contracting officers and price analysts, so having a business background is helpful,” she added. “It typically takes a minimum of four years to grow a contracting officer who is warranted to obligate government funds.”

This year, the contracting division made use of a Training Cell to teach interns since most personnel are teleworking. Technical Director Dr. Tom Eller was recently certified by the Defense Acquisition University to teach new training classes for Contracting certification.

“Dr. Eller is leading our training cohorts in becoming certified in contracting,” Jay said. “This training program has received a lot of positive feedback from the attending members.”

A new “shining star” associated with Contracting is Eric Jackson, bringing along with him his skills in executing a wide array of contract actions, Jay said.

“He recently awarded the Robins AFB custodial contract, base-wide solid waste management refuse contract and Simplified Acquisition of Base Engineer Requirements (SABER) multiple award IDIQ contract,” she explained. “Eric also expertly managed 41 construction contracts and issued a wide range of modifications to the base custodial and refuse contracts in response to quickly changing requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also serves as the unit’s CON-IT Subject Matter Expert.”

She said an “unsung hero” involved in their operations is John Driver, the branch chief of the Contracts Pricing Branch at Robins where he has worked for nearly four decades at pricing contracts and overseeing pricing support for all of the major actions on base.

“IN FY21, his branch completed 63 pricing cases valued at $8.3 billion, including options for future years,” Jay said. “Mr. Driver oversees a three-day Pricing Training Steps course, which enhances the pricing skills of the buying community. He has worked to establish enterprise tools, such as a Pricing Wiki library to share local lessons learned, pricing topics and issues, and a Pricing Tracking System to gather metrics and track status of pricing cases. He is one of our silent warriors who is quietly moving behind the scenes getting things done, but he has an impact on so many programs and people.”

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