USACE names Installation Support Professional of the Year

U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville
Published June 25, 2015
Dominic Ragucci named Installation Support Professional of the Year June 2015.

Dominic Ragucci named Installation Support Professional of the Year June 2015.

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Executive Governance Board meets in August, Dominic Ragucci will receive the Installation Support Professional of the Year Award.

Ragucci, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, is a project manager in the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center’s Facilities Repair and Renewal and Base Operations programs. He currently manages five projects in the FRR Program valued at more than $13 million, and nine projects valued at $11 million in the BASEOPS Program.

He said while he is honored to receive the award, it is really his team and their contributions that get the work done.

Ragucci said he read in a management book, “If you get a pat on the back from your higher leadership, you remember it for a month; if you get a pat on the back from your supervisor, you remember it for three months; but, if you get a pat on the back from your peers, you never forget it.”

“It is truly a blessing to be awarded this distinction,” Ragucci said. “I’m excited. It’s a great to be nominated by your peers. I have a very good team; that is what makes me achieve success. Every time I would get up on a mountain, my team would bring me back down. It is a team effort for me; I wouldn’t be successful without them.”

The FRR Program provides direct support to Army and other Department of Defense installations by managing projects that refurbish and renew facilities to extend their useful life and bring the facilities into compliance with the latest life-health-safety codes and provisions. The BASEOPS Program provides a suite of installation support services such as: facility maintenance, roads and grounds, environmental operations, waste management, pest control, snow removal, and tree and shrub management. Both programs support a diverse customer base of Army installations and support all other services in both the active and reserve components.

“Mr. Ragucci's support to our installations is noteworthy and is making a positive impact on the installation's ability to achieve mission success,” said Col. Robert Ruch, Huntsville Center commander. “His efforts allow our installations to better operate day in and day out and directly impact the ability of the installation to thrive and accomplish its mission.”

In an era of declining Directorate of Public Works resources and capability, the Huntsville Center receives numerous requests for installation support in a variety of BASEOPS areas. Ragucci, who has been with the Center seven years, started the entire BASEOPS endeavor with a single facility at the National Defense University at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Washington District of Columbia. He forged a cohesive Project Delivery Team (PDT) with all required disciplines and developed comprehensive and executable performance work statements (PWS) that ensured sustained facility mission readiness. Is success has led to ever-increasing project size, complexity and responsibility – from one building to an entire installation to a soon to be 19-state region consisting of nearly 350 installations and sites.

As an FRR project manager, Ragucci has led cradle-to-grave project management life-cycle actions on more than 50 projects valued in excess of $1OO million. He served as project manager on small projects such as a $300,000 administrative facility renovation for the Defense Logistics Agency at Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, up to a $7.5 million Research, Development and Engineering Command Headquarters repair and renovation at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

“In every endeavor, Ragucci's project management skills result in successful project execution and satisfied customers,” said Chip Marin, director of the Installation Support and Programs Management Directorate. “His success is hinged directly to his professionalism, outstanding project management skills and second-to-none communication skills. There is simply no more deserving and no better qualified person to be recognized as the USACE Installation Support Professional of the Year.”