JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – It’s Mission Monday. Jackelin Guerrero Funes is a contract specialist with the Air Force Installation Contracting Center’s 773rd Enterprise Sourcing Squadron here.
Funes works on pre- and post-award contractual actions in support of the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency, to include market research, solicitation reviews, proposal evaluations and ensuring contractual compliance. She also provides guidance to her customers and assists them with working through complex issues that may affect mission capabilities.
We asked Guerrero Funes to tell us a little more about her and her team and what they deliver for the Department of the Air Force.
What do you love about your job?
I love the family-like environment, schedule flexibility, work-life balance and the opportunity to be part of our mission to execute agile and innovative enterprise-wide medical acquisition solutions for the warfighter and their families.
When it comes to your job, what keeps you motivated?
The people I work with and the collaborative environment that brings teams together to support the same mission and vision. Everyone is knowledgeable, very professional, respectful and supportive towards my contracting professional goals and growth. What also keeps me motivated is that all of my hard work doesn’t go unrecognized and that my coworkers, supervisors and leadership make sure I know how much I am valued and appreciated.
Why are you and your team important to the Air Force enterprise and your customers?
I am a mission-focused business leader who is a detail oriented, analytical, critical thinking, team player, problem solver, communicator, negotiator who is passionate about helping others and getting our mission accomplished.
We provide innovative and strategic business solutions that allow us to apply the best contracting practices to provide the warfighter and their families the services and supplies they need. We support our mission partners from the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency by offering important and critical professional and medical services like:
-Family Advocacy Program: These are programs designed for the prevention and treatment of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and problematic sexual behavior in children and youth.
-Learning Management System: This is a web-based platform that includes required online medical training for the Air Force medical staff.
-Dental Hygiene Education Agreement: The agreement provides accredited Dental education for selected Air Force personnel to receive college credits or an associate degree in a Dental Hygiene Program.
-Hazardous Air Pollutant on Site on Extended Range: This provides repair and maintenance to specialized equipment that detects chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals in air, soil and liquid sample matrices that may threaten the safety of human life or the protection of property world-wide.
Describe a project/event you and your team worked on recently that gave you a great sense of accomplishment:
We recently awarded a $135 million Family Advocacy Program contract worldwide, which is a congressionally mandated program that seeks to build healthy communities though implementing programs designed for the prevention and treatment of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and problematic sexual behavior in children and youth. This contract provides invaluable support to warfighters and their families and is a reminder that the work we support is truly meaningful.
How does what you do contribute to AFIMSC strategic priorities?
Lethality and readiness. I work with important acquisitions and critical programs that directly impact the life of warfighters and their families. If I succeed at what I do, I am helping the Air and Space Forces produce highly trained and mission-ready Airmen and Guardians to fly, fight, win and protect our country.
Is there anything else you’d like to add which might help people understand the importance of what you do for the Air Force?
The social and medical well-being of our warfighters and their families is of paramount importance. Our nation depends on them being at their best day in and day out, and their ability to be in the right mindset is critical. The medical support my office provides directly affects their quality of life which can have a significant effect on their performance levels. They have earned the best medical support money can buy and we do our best to ensure they receive it.