BATTL CREEK, Mich. –
Within the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center, resource analysts from across Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services gathered for a three-day summit. Each region was represented in Battle Creek, Michigan, to discuss topics ranging from contract requirements to training.
Funds and Agreements Branch Chief Brittany Bristow – the primary organizer of the event – explained the main purpose of the summit is to bring together all of the RA’s and walk through specific trainings and conversations that truly benefitted the audience.
“Resource analysts are the cog that make the agency work,” said Bristow. “They aren’t the boots on the ground receiving property, but they are the ones ensuring that we are paying our bills at the sites we’re located at. That we are making necessary purchases, and making sure we have contracts in place to have material handling equipment maintained.”
Money is a necessity for all organizations and Disposition Services is no different and senior leaders expressed how each member of the audience has a hand in ensuring the agency’s success.
“If you don’t manage your money you’re going to fail as an organization,” said DLA Disposition Services Director Mike Cannon. “We understand as an organization that operations don’t just drive finances but [rather] finances enable operations.”
Cannon also underscored the important role resource analysts play in managing the day-to-day finances and minimizing the agency’s duplicate charges and excessive or unnecessary expenditures. For example, through management of MHE contracts, RA’s managed to save over a million dollars.
Over the course of the three days there were individual briefings, breakout sessions and interactive exercises designed to not only educate their ranks but also to stress the impact they have around the world.
“How well we do our job is predicated on you,” said DLA Disposition Services Chief of Staff Pete Foreman. “I want to stress how extremely important you are because you’re that first line of defense that measures ‘was this a valid cost?’. You’re very important, and you make this organization go and you are what make the mission happen.”
This was the first time nearly every RA in the agency gathered for a summit, , and while many of them have performed their duties for extended periods of time, others are relatively new to the financial arena.
“All of this is all new to me,” said Heath Bushwell, deputy director to the Mid America region. “So this was a great opportunity for me to start seeing what billing officials and RA’s see so that I can learn it and be able to make more informed decisions. This was definitely a very positive event for me to attend.”
As the event concluded Bristow went on to say the goal is to continue hosting the summit into the future – either as an annual or bi-annual event.