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News | July 20, 2015

DLA Energy SRM program hits velocity

By Irene Smith DLA Energy Public Affairs

A continuous process improvement event adopted by the Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization division at the Defense Logistics Agency Energy is shortening the execution lead time for repairing fuel facilities.
 
The new process for allocating minor construction funds allowed DLA Installation Support for Energy and the DLA Energy Defense Fuel Support Point Management SRM division to expedite a 1.5 million SRM contract covering 16 projects for Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. A minor construction approval process was completed in less than four hours.  

“If the contract was not funded immediately, the execution lead time for repairing fuel facilities at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, (Arizona,) would have been delayed at least 90 days,” said DFSP Management’s SRM Navy and Marine Corps Branch Chief David Douglas.

As part of its mission, DLA Energy provides funding to the military services for sustainment, restoration and modernization and military construction for fuel related projects. The SRM division funded a fuels facilities assessment at the air station to evaluate the condition of all DLA-capitalized fuel facilities for physical and environmental compliance and to determine any near or long-term improvements that may be required.

The new process revises the SRM project approval thresholds, allowing division engineers sitting with the Navy and Marine Corps SRM team to approve funding up to $750,000 for capital minor construction and $5 million for combined repair and construction projects, as part of a 120-day trial period, running from May 1 through August 31.

“We were in the process of packaging 19 projects into a $1.5 million contract, funded by the Army Corps of Engineers Omaha, when I noticed that one of the projects was a minor construction capital project over $250,000,” Douglas said.

“Past procedures would have caused a time delay since approval was required by DLA Headquarters Installation Support and the DLA HQ Finance staff. Without the new local authority to approve minor construction capital projects and the establishment of a quarterly budget authority, the award date would have been missed and the Army Corps of Engineers contract would have been delayed another 90 days,” Douglas said.

Together, the SRM Navy program manager, Ken Walker, and the DLA Installation Support for Energy Navy/SRM Engineering Branch Chief, John Cummings, were able to quickly regenerate the projects and obtain the needed approval, and upload into the Enterprise Business System the necessary evidential matter within a four hour period to meet the engineers’ critical award date the next day.

“We saved the contract; otherwise we would have had to push the contract out to fiscal year 2016,” Cummings said. “In addition, workload was shifted from the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center to the (Army Corps of Engineers) for execution of SRM projects at (Marine Corps) sites this fiscal year. This helped NAVFAC and increased the velocity execution by using an alternative executing agent.”

“The process helped Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, the busiest air station in the Marine Corps and the third busiest in the Naval Service, get a head start on repairing fuel facilities,” Douglas added.

 “The new procedures are a win-win for both DLA Energy and the warfighter,” Douglas said. “We exceeded in fulfilling DLA Energy Commander (Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark) McLeod’s goal of increasing velocity for SRM execution.”