PHILADELPHIA –
An acquisition specialist with Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Medical’s National Contracts team and the organization’s J3/5 Operations and Plans Weapon System Readiness Support Branch, were recognized for their accomplishments in fiscal year 2021 fourth quarter.
Ryan Ferry was selected as DLA’s Employee of the Quarter and the J3/5 team was recognized for their contributions towards DLA Strategic Goals. The recognition period for the awards was July 1 through Sept. 31, 2021, and award selections were announced Dec. 2021.
“[The awardees’] efforts show true dedication to our agency’s core values of leadership, professionalism, technical knowledge through dedication to duty, integrity, ethics, honor, courage and loyalty,” DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Michelle Skubic wrote in the selection notification for both awards.
Ferry was selected for his superior performance in oversight of 15 pharmaceutical national contracts with a maximum dollar value of $167.4 million and total cost reductions from Department of Veterans Affairs Federal Supply Schedules of $237.2 million, according to his nomination. These contracts provide savings for generic drugs that can be jointly purchased through the pharmaceutical prime vendor program by the Department of Defense and federal partners.
Some of his specific accomplishments during the award period include:
- Awarding four new contracts estimated at a combined $108.3 million.
- Awarding two Joint National Contracts with an estimated maximum value of $19.5 million.
- Successfully negotiating a cost reduction of $3.9 million off the VA FSS.
- Contributions as the Medical subject matter expert and point of contact for the National Contract's Reimbursement program to recoup money owed from vendor back orders.
“It's difficult to put into words how essential Ryan has been to the success of the National Contracts team,” National Contracts Integrated Support Team Chief Jason Wray wrote in the nomination. “Along with cheerfully performing on all of the responsibilities listed above, Ryan has also attended meetings with vendors and answered questions for them, worked seamlessly with the [Customer Pharmacy Operations Center] team when performing market research and developing solicitations, and assisted new personnel with resolving issues.”
The WSRB, a new J3/5 team established within the past two years, was selected for supporting the “Warfighter Always” objectives of the DLA Strategic Plan in its collaboration with DLA headquarters personnel, other DLA-internal organizations and logistics liaison officers to synchronize DLA Troop Support supply chain capabilities to the warfighter and federal partners, according to the nomination.
Some of the team’s specific accomplishments during the award period include:
- Daily monitoring and tracking of weapon system statuses to ensure they are on-course to mutually agreed upon material availability goals.
- Providing a detailed analysis for certain backorders; discovering and communicating that only 5.3% were in a “high priority” range.
- Aggressively supporting the DoD Nuclear Enterprise Support Office customers.
“While the team is still in their infancy with the new workload, [they have] been providing stellar support to the NESO program since the beginning of the program and will grow within their new mission with optimism and professionalism,” J3/5 Combatant Command Division Chief Kathleen Nitka wrote in the award submission.
According to DLA’s Official Awards Handbook, available to DLA employees, EoQ and Strategic Goals Awards are just two ways to reward employees, acknowledge their contributions to DLA’s mission and incentivize outstanding performance.