HNC provides Electronic Security support to National Guard

Published March 10, 2022
After two decades of witnessing the outstanding support provided by the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, the National Guard Bureau has chosen the Center for its Electronic Security Systems needs.

After two decades of witnessing the outstanding support provided by the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, the National Guard Bureau has chosen the Center for its Electronic Security Systems needs. (Courtesy Photo)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – After two decades of witnessing the outstanding support provided by the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, the National Guard Bureau has chosen the Center for its Electronic Security Systems needs.

What started out as a few small task orders more than 20 years ago has ballooned into a programmatic effort awarding about $10 million in contracts each year, said Leigh Ann Toth, project manager for Huntsville Center’s Electronic Security Systems program.

“We started kind of small with some projects in California, but their needs and their reliance on us has expanded tremendously since then,” said Toth, who has worked on the National Guard Bureau projects from the beginning.

The ESS Program provides cradle-to-grave support for the design, procurement, installation, testing and maintenance of ESS for U.S. government agencies worldwide. For the National Guard, ESS mostly covers intrusion detection systems used to protect their primary assets, including arms, ammunitions and explosives.

The Center’s ESS program’s success comes down to speed, efficiency and relationships, said Daryl Britton, project engineer.

“We’ve worked with the National Guard Bureau for many years to help them select the equipment they would be using for the installation, establishing their policies and procedures, creating drawings specific to their requirements, all of it,” said Britton.

“But what’s helped the most is the contract vehicles we have established that enable us to turn around task orders much more quickly compared to what they would get from other agencies.”

The ESS team uses multiple types of contracts to competitively acquire products and services using streamlined acquisition processes. The primary contract vehicle currently being used is the ESS VI Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC), which has a contract capacity of $450 million. This MATOC includes multiple small and large business contractors experienced in designing, installing and maintaining ESS.

The ESS VI MATOC is ideal for the level of support required by the National Guard Bureau. Federal regulations require all ESS to be updated every ten years, so the program’s work in support of facilities in all 50 states is ongoing and requires numerous task orders each year.

“We’re continuously updating systems,” said Toth. “Our biggest year was in 2017 when we did roughly $50 million to upgrade all the small, stand-alone facilities throughout the U.S. That was about 2,000 sites.”

To successfully support the National Guard, Huntsville Center has also established a programmatic team of contractors dedicated solely to understanding the specific needs of the program’s largest customer.

“A lot of the people involved with the team are retired National Guard people who work well with the states because of their background and are able to help us oversee the projects on site,” said Britton. “They also teach certification classes to our contractors, so they can make sure they have a good understanding of the equipment that is being installed.”

For more information about the Center’s Electronic Security Systems program, visit https://www.hnc.usace.army.mil/Media/Fact-Sheets/Fact-Sheet-Article-View/Article/482087/electronic-technology-division-electronic-security-systems/.