Huntsville Center’s IT management program sunsets, transitions

Huntsville Center Public Affairs
Published Feb. 23, 2023

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- For nearly a decade, the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, maintained acquisition and contract management of ACE-IT, the enterprise information technology services delivery team providing enterprise-wide information management and information technology for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

However, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Corporate Information Office is delivering changes to the program and scheduled to turn over all work to Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity (HECSA).

Humphreys Center is a Field Operating Activity of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers providing administrative and operational support to Headquarters USACE and other Corps activities in the National Capital Region.

Ron Brook, Huntsville Center Facility Technology Integration branch chief, said Huntsville Center’s ACE-IT program provided solutions for ACE-IT requirements included the use of the Army Computer Hardware Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS) contract vehicle, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC), Multiple Award Contracts, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Schedules or single award or agency-specific contracts.

Brook said over the course of the ACE-IT program’s lifetime under Huntsville Center from 2014 to 2023, the ACE-IT program obligated more than $1 billion dollars in contracts and utilized over 20 project managers, contracting personnel and others to support more than 1,500 locations.

Huntsville Center’s ACE-IT Program provided program and project management, acquisition management, administration, and execution to the ACE-IT customer-which is virtually all USACE data centers, end user devices, software licensing and enterprise-wide IT services three general areas: ACE-IT Information Technology Enterprise Services – Next Generation (AIES-NG); ACE-IT Radio and Support Services (ARSS) and the USACE Enterprise.

AIES-NG provides enterprise-wide Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) services in support of the USACE, headquartered in Washington, D.C., in addition to locations in nine USACE divisions, 44 districts, several centers, and other ACE-IT organizations to include two IT data centers.

ARSS provides enterprise-wide radio communication support to include but is not limited to hand-held radios, emergency equipment and microwave satellite equipment.

Enterprise requirements provide services in support of USACE including automation (to include hardware/software), communication, information assurance, records management, printing & publications, and visual information.

For the remainder of the Fiscal Year, Huntsville Center’s ACE-IT program manager will complete final contract close-outs and remaining contract actions, Brook said.

“The program manager performed a considerable amount of coordination with HECSA to ensure the program a smooth transition,” Brook said.

Doug Pohlman, HECSA contract specialist, said the ACE-IT program transition between Huntsville Center and HECSA has been fluid.

“For the most part the transition has been seamless,” he said. “The Huntsville Center personnel have been very helpful and have always been willing to assist when needed. There truly have been no issues in transitioning this large of a program and I feel that this is because of all the preplanning.”