DLA Maritime shipyard contracting chiefs collaborate at offsite

Defense Logistics Agency naval shipyard contracting chiefs, their support personnel and DLA Land and Maritime Procurement Process Support Directorate and Maritime Customer Operations associates collaborated at DLA Maritime's Puget Sound location Nov. 13 and 14.

This session was a follow-on to an initial meeting held concurrently with the 2024 DLA Supply Chain Alliance Conference and Exhibition in Columbus earlier this year. The purpose of the Puget Sound event was to foster communication between contracting staff at the shipyard detachments, discuss the importance of the procurement analyst role and make progress towards standardizing processes. The group also focused on challenges each detachment faces due to their unique locations and alignment.

DLA personnel were embedded at the shipyards following recommendations from the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Their mission is to provide materiel support for Navy vessel overhauls and repairs. Contracting at the shipyards is unique for a variety of reasons, with teams onsite with the ordering customer rather than geographically separated. Other key differences include terminology and system language used by host sites versus the detachments and lack of automation in contract writing systems.

As a true experiential event, DLA Distribution personnel provided a tour of two warehouse spaces. The attendees then braved the weather to walk a short distance to the pier where the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) was moored. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Evan Kohl, acting Norfolk contracting chief for DLA Land and Maritime, provided details on the capabilities along with pointing out some key features of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. "Meeting the people from the yard [detachments] really enhanced my understanding of the struggles they face and support they provide to the customer at the pier," said Matt Royer, procurement systems supervisor for DLA Land and Maritime.

While each detachment is slightly different, active discussion and the give and take of compromise were evident for every topic discussed. The four detachments achieved solutions on cut off dates, submission deadline timelines and checklists for defining needs of a requirement for contracting to take action. The team set several goals for future action and plans to continue efforts virtually until they can reconvene in person."The participation was excellent and allowed us to stay on track to accomplish our ambitious agenda," said Mary Shearer, deputy director for Procurement Process Support at DLA Land and Maritime. "We plan to hold regular meets at rotating sites so that each [detachment] can see how the others are structured both in terms of space and personnel."