Acquisition Soldiers attend contracting workshop

Huntsville Center Public Affairs
Published July 11, 2018

The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville hosted U.S. Army Corps of Engineers military contracting professionals for a workshop on issues unique to the Corps’ contracting Soldiers June 26-27 at the Defense Acquisition University campus at Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama.

Col. Christine Beeler, USACE’s director of contracting, was on-hand throughout the workshop and provided advice and guidance as workshop attendees discussed career expectations and shared knowledge on topics ranging from professional development to individual and group training management.

Lt. Col. Dachelle Banks, USACE deputy for workforce development, said the workshop provided the Soldiers with an understanding of their roles and responsibilities within the command and imparted critical management, leadership and supervisory training to both the newly-assigned and more senior 51C (military contracting career field) Soldiers.

“This workshop led to increased proficiency, cross-communication and issue awareness,” Banks said.

Huntsville Center contracting officers Samuel Curry and Matt Urbanic facilitated the workshop by providing logistic support. They also arranged for speakers from different acquisition agencies to address the Soldiers.

Chip Marin, Huntsville Center’s program director, provided a broad overview of the Corps’ and Center’s mission portfolios and Colleen O’Keefe, Huntsville Center contracting director, spoke to attendees regarding specific situations and considerations in technical and management across USACE’s contracting workforce. Other presenters included leaders from the Defense Acquisition University, Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Army Acquisition Center of Excellence.

Urbanic said the open forum portions of the event allowed Soldiers to draw valuable insight from the pool of experts.

“It was great to see the outreach,” Urbanic said. “With USACE’s 51C Soldiers spread nationwide, bringing them together gives them a chance to connect with each other and experienced leaders in the career field. The challenges they may face in their assignments are often ones that can most often be solved in a collaborative environment.”