The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers exemplifies a learning organization by sharing information and experiences, and applying lessons learned.
The Middle East District strives to improve processes, communication and other issues directly affecting contractors involved in USACE projects in the Middle East and Central Asia.
When the district, on behalf of the Transatlantic Division, awarded the $3.8 billion capacity Multiple Award Task Order Contract in June 2011, the team established an avenue for feedback and communication with the contractors and scheduled a post award conference for early 2012.
“The project delivery team wanted to give contractors a chance to propose on the first few task orders so they could let us know what was working and what we could do to improve the process, ” said Michelle Pearman, contract specialist.
The MATOC was awarded to 14 firms for design-build and construction projects throughout the 20 countries of U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, U.A.E., Uzbekistan and Yemen.
At the start of the conference and while encouraging maximum participation with attending USACE representatives, Middle East District Commander Col. Jon Christensen said, “ We could not perform our missions overseas without great partners like you. Thank you for helping us meet our engineering and construction needs overseas on behalf of our nation. Give us your feedback so that we can become even better partners throughout the life of these MATOCs.”
The MATOCs were competed using a full and open, unrestricted process in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, providing a fair and impartial evaluation of proposals received. The final selection was based on the government’s evaluation of all criteria established for this MATOC.
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Dredging Today Staff, March 22, 2012; Image: usace