KANSAS CITY --
An Air Force panel of leaders from the civil engineering and
installation and mission support communities told an audience of industry
professionals Dec. 9 the Air Force will continue to rely on partnerships with
the private sector to support its operations.
Brig.
Gen. Tim Green, Air Force director of civil engineers; Joe Sciabica, director
of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center; and Col. Brian Duffy, vice commander of
the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center (Provisional); shared
that message with more than 750 people during the Air Force general session at
the Society of American Military Engineers Small Business Conference.
With
shrinking budgets and the potential return of sequestration in fiscal 2016, the
three leaders said the Air Force needs innovative solutions from industry to
maintain its combat capability.
"We
rely on small business for many things, such as technical competence,
experience and professionalism," the general said. "We're looking for
solutions and we've found small business can be cost-competitive and give us
innovative solutions because they're agile. So, there are a lot of great
benefits for the partnerships we have with small business."
The
Air Force is transforming to centralized execution of its mission support
functions under AFIMSC, a new provisional organization that stemmed from
decisions to reduce interim staff levels at the Pentagon and major commands as
the service works to become more efficient and effective in a constrained budget
environment.
Duffy
provided attendees background on the establishment of AFIMSC(P), and explained
the unit's Air Force support role and its alignment as the sixth center under
Air Force Materiel Command. On Oct 1, six organizations detached from their
parent organizations and were gained as primary subordinate units assigned to
AFMC and attached to the AFIMSC(P). These include the Air Force Civil Engineer
Center, Air Force Financial Services Center, Air Force Installation Contracting
Agency, Air Force Security Forces Center, AFMC Financial Management Center of
Expertise, and the Air Force Services Activity.
Duffy
said industry should not expect much to change in how it interfaces with the
Air Force.
"While
some organizational changes may take place to align functions under AFIMSC, in
general, the people and offices within the Air Force that small businesses work
with today remain the ones you will work with in the future," Duffy said.
Small
business work with the Air Force has grown over recent years. AFCEC alone
contracted more than 50 percent of its execution program to small businesses in
fiscal 2014.
The
alignment of several units under AFIMSC could generate even more opportunities
for small business, Sciabica said, such as projects or programs that cut across
an integrated civil engineering, services and security forces community.
"It's
about making sure we effectively use every dollar, because we have no
slack," Green said of the need for business partnerships. "We have no
excess capacity. We're focused on those things that will enable our mission to
continue."