Fort Leavenworth budget analyst receives Army-level financial management award

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas - Brittney Pemble, budget analyst for Army Corrections Command at Fort Leavenworth, has been recognized for her dedication, initiative and financial acumen with an Army-level financial management award.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) recently announced the recipients of the fiscal year 2025 Army FM&C Awards, celebrating premier achievements within the Army's financial workforce. (See related article on page A4.) Pemble won the Army FM&C Budget Category Award.

As a budget analyst, Pemble is responsible for managing and executing ACC's financial resources.

"The expected outcome of her duties is to ensure the timely and efficient allocation of funds through contracts and Military Interdepartmental Purchase Requests to support the ACC's multifaceted mission, including maintaining its professional accreditation and ensuring the operational readiness of its security systems," ACC G8 Director Caleb Curnutt explained in the award nomination.

Curnutt said Pemble has been working beyond the scope of her role as a budget analyst, including rectifying a $2 million accounting error.

"(When) she was doing her analysis, she came across a pretty big faux pas in terms of how Army Corrections Command was tracking civilian pay," he said. "Civilian pay had been mismanaged for a very long time in terms of estimated, what was going to be spent, compared to what actually got spent. So, it led to a lot of misleading and misguiding decisions from a command standpoint, because command always felt like, 'We're going to be over-executing by close to $2 million,' when really that wasn't accurate. And so, by going with (Pemble's) method, it led to alleviating that $2 million decrement, and really putting that $2 million back on the table to be spent elsewhere, because we weren't living in fear anymore."

Curnutt said Pemble is integral in making sure ACC's mission does not fail.

"She keeps up with the management and execution of government funds, taxpayer dollars," he said. "She was, during this time, a big proponent in managing the electronic security systems… so in terms of making sure that our prisoners stay behind the wall, she was a huge proponent in overseeing the management of that system and making sure that everything got funded that needed to be, where things needed fixed, things corrected, preventive maintenance - she was kind of the project manager for that for a good chunk of time during FY25."

Pemble said her job has her working on all kind of things, such as contracts, status of funds, briefing slides, the electronic security system and more for ACC locally, as well as ACC in Europe, Korea and at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

"Pemble expertly executed $3.9 million across 40 separate contracts and MIPRs," Curnutt wrote in the nomination. "This represents a remarkable 40 percent of all contracts within the ACC, a workload that significantly outpaced all other budget analysts in the command. Her meticulous management of these resources was instrumental in providing the necessary funding for mission-critical requirements."

Pemble said knowing what is appropriate and legal, as well as the order of a process, are important in her work.

"Overall, the ESS project would be managed by Army Corps of Engineers, but I would work directly with them more on the funding piece to make sure things are funded in the order that they need to be," she said. "It gets a little convoluted - OMA (Operations and Maintenance, Army) versus OPA (Other Procurement, Army) - that's just the different types of money we have to fund certain things. You have to know exactly what it is to know if it should be OMA, should it be OPA."

Curnutt said Pemble's work involves a lot of fiscal law.

"But then you have to also understand the system to a point to understand that it doesn't make sense to fund the maintenance until the project is done," Pemble added, "or there are certain aspects of the project that have to go in a certain order."

Curnutt described the process as a layered cake.

"You have to deal with not only decision support from command and what their priorities are, but then you have to go into the decision support of, 'Hey, we only have so much money, so what is it you want to fund? Now that we know what you want to fund, what can we fund legally?' And so, it's just that layered cake of decision support that eventually leads to the ultimate funding of certain items," he said.

Pemble volunteered to take on the electronic security system contract management duties upon the retirement of the ESS subject matter expert.

"This complex responsibility is not typically required of a budget analyst, but seeing a critical gap, she took on the task without hesitation to ensure the continued security and integrity of the command's facilities," Curnutt wrote in the nomination.

Curnutt also noted that Pemble stepped in as acting deputy G8 when the need arose while simultaneously executing her regular budget analyst duties. She also managed 32 American Corrections Association folders, part of ACC's accreditation process, and thus contributed to the ACC's most recent flawless audit.

"Pemble's initiative to take on leadership and technical responsibilities far outside her normal duties demonstrates a level of commitment and professionalism that is truly rare," he wrote in the nomination. "She has not only excelled in her own role but has also ensured the success of the wider mission through her selfless service. Her actions are a testament to her character and her unwavering dedication to the organization."

Pemble will be honored by Army FM&C July 16 in a virtual ceremony.

Fort Leavenworth budget analyst receives Army-level financial management award