NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center (Provisional) vice commander gave military and industry mobility professionals an update about the new center's development Oct. 31 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Col. Brian Duffy presented his remarks at the 2014 Airlift/Tanker Association and Air Mobility Command Symposium as part of AFIMSC's larger campaign to inform stakeholders about the stand-up of the provisional center and its mission in support of Air Force operations.
He provided attendees background on the establishment of AFIMSC(P), and explained the unit's Air Force support role as well as its alignment as the sixth center under Air Force Materiel Command. He also provided the timeline of when the unit would reach milestones as it moves toward declaring initial operating capability in early 2015.
"AFIMSC will serve as the single intermediate-level headquarters, providing installation and expeditionary support for 77 major installations, 10 MAJCOMs, and two direct reporting units," Duffy said.
The provisional headquarters stood up Aug. 8, and 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). Those units are the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Air Force Financial Services Center, Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Air Force Security Forces Center, Financial Management Center of Expertise and the AFMC Services Directorate.
The provisional AFIMSC headquarters team of 65 people at Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Facility Washington, Maryland, has been on the job since late August.
"This team's primary focus is on four main tasks: writing the program action directive; writing its associated program plan; standing up initial processes and procedures to allow us to operate as a center; and, looking forward, taking necessary action to bed-down the center's permanent headquarters at a location yet to be determined," Duffy said.
The Air Force is using its standard strategic basing process to evaluate candidate locations for AFIMSC headquarters and is scheduled to select a permanent location that best serves the mission of the center in early 2015. Eventually, 350 people will be assigned to the headquarters.
The unit will also include detachments at each major command location, chartered to provide "effective, responsive installation and expeditionary support to MAJCOMs and their installations," the colonel added.
"These detachments serve the purpose of providing capabilities deemed most appropriate to be done collocated with a MAJCOM, but not necessarily by a person wearing that MAJCOM's patch," Duffy said.
Early on in the formation of AFIMSC, provisional commander Maj. Gen. Theresa Carter visited MAJCOM leaders to get their perspective on how they would define centralized mission and installation support success.
"A responsive, mission-focused, transparent and trusted partner were key takeaways from those conversations," Duffy said. "This is all about supporting the many missions and people that train and operate from our installations, and we're committed to getting it right."
More than 1,400 total force Airmen and civilians, community leaders and industry experts attended the A/TA symposium to promote education, understanding and professional development in the mobility air force mission.
Several senior Air Force leaders spoke at the event, including Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Cody, U.S. Transportation Command commander Gen. Paul Selva, AMC commander Gen. Darren McDew, Chief of the Air Force Reserve Lt. Gen. James Jackson and Director of the Air National Guard Lt. Gen. Stanley Clarke III.