New streamlined processes and strong partnerships with industry enabled Defense Logistics Agency Energy to complete one of its two largest bulk fuel purchase programs on time in July despite COVID-19 challenges.
The procurement includes 12 contracts for over 800 million gallons of aviation jet fuel and more than 100 million gallons of Navy-specification fuel to over 100 locations west of the Rocky Mountains, Alaska and Hawaii. The contracts are worth $1.86 billion and run from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021.
DLA Energy’s Bulk Petroleum Products Division streamlined acquisition procedures and supply-chain managers refined technical evaluation processes to make the procurement smoother, said Callie Ettleson-Lake, chief of the division’s Rocky Mountain West team.
DLA Energy also kicked off the annual program in January with a pre-proposal conference to improve partnerships between vendors and DLA contracting representatives.
“The COVID-19 situation made it more difficult to vet our contractors because of travel restrictions for our quality assurance representatives. We had to delay parts of our procurement because our contractors could not respond due to their own COVID-19 efforts at their refineries,” Ettleson-Lake said.
Technology tools like Virtual Desktop, smart phones and web conferencing allowed DLA Energy employees to support contracts despite travel restrictions and social distancing.
The Rocky Mountain West team includes members from several DLA Energy offices with specialists in bulk petroleum, supply chain management, technical quality, procurement and legal.
“It was a tremendous effort and accomplishment,” said DLA Energy Bulk Petroleum Products Director Erin Ralph. “The sheer size of the program presents new challenges each year, but this year the team cleared a number of new hurdles stemming from the impact of COVID-19.”
The DLA Energy Bulk Petroleum Products Division provides contract support to meet worldwide military jet fuel, marine diesel fuel and other bulk petroleum needs worth $6.6 billion annually.
DLA Energy bulk petroleum solicitations are available at beta.SAM.gov.