Case Studies
Department Of Homeland Security (DHS), Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), Facilities Operations Support Services (FOSS)
DHS’s evaluation of proposals for this solicitation and a subsequent agency review of a protest of the award delayed the start of this contract for more than a year after proposals were submitted. During the lengthy delay, Advanced Federal lost its proposed Project Manager (PM) and Deputy PM/Safety Manager to other employers. When award was finally announced, we were given only 7 days to phase in the contract. Faced with a leadership deficit, we installed our Vice President of Operations as the interim project manager to lead transition and start up the contract since he possesses extensive experience in starting up and managing similar federal contracts. The result was a brief but seamless transition that was applauded by the customer. Holding to our commitment to provide qualified management, our Vice President for Operations managed the contract to exceed the customer’s expectations for a period of over six months. During this period he mentored his management staff, recruited and hired a permanent replacement PM, and remained on board until such time as the customer was satisfied that there would be no degradation of program management continuity.
Within 90 days of contract start, the customer initiated a major phased construction project to bring out of mothball status 11 buildings encompassing about 160,000 square feet and covering 35 acres. The project involved the condition assessment, remediation and total renovation of dormant (since 1998) military facilities at the former Ft. McClellan that had been the subject of Base Realignment and Closure. These additional facilities were needed to expand the training capability of the Center. Because of time constraints and agency-specific funding and hiring constraint issues, CDP could not rapidly marshall the resources required to get this multi-million dollar effort off the ground. The Contracting Officer turned to Advanced Federal to support the planning and analysis for this project. We immediately identified and recruited both a highly effective Construction Project Manager and CAD designer; employed a temporary staff and various subcontractors to support de-mothballing, remediation and renovation; and within 2 weeks had begun to develop preliminary plans and schedules. We completed in excess of $1.5 million in construction and renovations projects in the first 17 months of the contract, to the complete satisfaction of the CDP senior staff.
Early in the contract we discovered inefficiencies in facilities O&M operations that were the result of legacy practices. Specifically, craftsmen were responding to service calls and scheduled maintenance tasks in pairs using a single vehicle, even though adequate GSA vehicles were available for the “one man, one truck” concept – which is much more efficient. We quickly reversed this practice, assigning each craftsman a vehicle and requiring that only one craftsman respond to a task unless additional personnel were absolutely needed. The result of this change was an increase in productivity of about 90% in the number of completed tasks.
We also discovered that in the past, material costs had not been accurately accounted for and not assigned to specific service orders or preventive maintenance (PM) tasks, thereby preventing accurate accountability of those costs. Advanced Federal’s on-site contracts administrator and project manager developed a procurement process for supplies and materials that included instant reconciliation and tracking, thus improving financial accountability and assignment of these costs to the proper pools. In addition, our contracts administrator began to review the pricing of each vendor of historical record, a process that had not been done at CDP for several years. The overall result was elimination of certain vendors in favor of better pricing and delivery history. This effort has been well received and favorably noted by the Contracting Office in terms of our ability to control and/or avoid costs.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Mail and Courier Services (MCS)
During a brief transition, three employees of the incumbent contractor who had been selected for employment with us were scheduled to train five new drivers. The incumbent employees passed our pre-employment drug tests, attended health insurance and employment orientations, and picked up their uniforms prior to the contract start date. However, without any advanced notice, they failed to report to work on day one. Thus, on the first day of the contract we found ourselves with three critical positions vacant and without the experienced personnel to train the new employees. We quickly notified and coordinated with the customer’s Project Officer, immediately trained the rest of the new employees and motivated all personnel to stay at work until all services were delivered on the first day of the contract. Our corporate staff pitched in wherever needed to drive trucks, answer the phones, and sort/deliver mail – whatever was needed to fulfill the contract requirements. Within two days we interviewed, hired, and trained qualified replacements. We also developed written Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to assist new employees in performance of their duties. By the third day of the contract, operations were relatively normal and performance requirements were being met. Since then, the contract has been operated in a stellar manner and the customer has consistently recognized our outstanding performance – including awarding us two follow-on contracts.
Department of Energy (DOE)/Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), Base Operations Support Services (BOSS)
Just prior to the start of this follow-on contract, the Government official responsible for technical oversight of the warehouse operations retired and was replaced. The retirement occurred during the middle of a Government-directed effort to reduce or eliminate stockage levels on numerous warehouse line items that had become obsolete (primarily small size items like bolts, nuts, washers and other high count items). The retiring official had directed Advanced Federal not to inventory those items, and she was in the process of excessing them and reclassifying them as “free issue” so as to avoid costly inventory. Once we had received that direction we ceased maintaining accurate bin labels, counts and reconciliations.
The incoming official did not agree with his predecessor’s “free issue” concept and directed our warehouse personnel to perform detailed inventories, bin relabeling and full reconciliation. He indicated that we were to complete the process in a very short time frame. Because we had ceased maintaining records on this stock, it would have been impossible to comply with his instructions.
However, our Project Manager and our Logistics Lead developed a plan and began to conduct weekly meetings with our warehouse staff, wherein they would be provided a daily requirements list designed to complete the inventories and reconciliations in a reasonable amount of time while still providing daily routine services.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Centralized Receiving Warehouse and Transshipping and Intra-Campus Shuttle Services (CRWS)
As a show of complete confidence in our abilities, Advanced Federal waived a 15-day phase-in period on this contract, and assumed full responsibilities for performance on 1 September 2001. All contractor-provided vehicles and equipment, as well as personnel, were on site and ready to operate on that date.
We implemented a comprehensive Quality Control Plan that covered all areas of the Performance Work Statement, ensuring that all contract tasks were properly monitored to deliver superior performance in compliance with all contract provisions. We consistently met or exceeded all aspects of the contract requirements and received 98% of the Performance Incentive fee during the contract’s life.
Although requirements changed and workload significantly increased after the 11 September 2001 tragedy, we maintained a stable workforce and met or exceeded contract requirements in a timely manner. Customer satisfaction was always a priority, and we exceeded the customer’s expectations.
A significant source of customer satisfaction was Advanced Federal’s implementation of an electronic barcode system to track all items from receipt at the warehouse through delivery to the final mail code.
We collaborated with the CDC prior to the last year of the contract to downsize in the face of budget reductions. At their request, we conducted analyses and special assessments of processes and procedures with a view to reducing manpower while continuing to provide maximum levels of support. Our analyses resulted in a cooperative effort to reduce the workforce and the vehicle fleet. In addition, we realigned management resources so as to place the best skill sets at their most needed locations. While some activities were curtailed or suspended altogether, the customer continued to be pleased with the level of service we provided. When the contract expired, we were selected to continue providing services under the follow-on contract under a competitive procurement.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Logistics Support Services (LSS)
During the initial start-up visit our VP for Operations, who serves as our corporate Safety Officer, observed numerous safety hazards resident in the facilities assigned to us as well as in the processes performed by our workers. The VP conferred with each employee and the Project Manager, conducted a site safety inspection, developed a list of OSHA-required corrective measures, and presented recommendations to the COR. Most problems were legacy issues that had not been addressed by the predecessor. The customer was very impressed with our concern for Safety, accepted all recommendations, and issued service orders to the ERDC DPW to make corrections. We also discovered that there was a complete absence of MSDS sheets and no program for labeling and storing chemicals. We implemented these corrective measures immediately. We also assembled a list of required PPE and outfitted our workers, as applicable for their duties. This included chemical resistant gloves, splash aprons and face shields for fuel delivery, and protective gloves and rain gear for vehicle washers and delivery personnel.
Late in the first year, we experienced the typical surge of activity on federal installations in shipping and receiving associated with last minute purchases of equipment. This surge was significantly exacerbated by the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. With the receiving warehouse overflowing with shipments, one of our clerks failed to properly complete the processing of a pallet of laptop computers, resulting in the loss of three units valued at $7500. Advanced Federal immediately initiated an investigation in concert with the customer, and began reviewing our internal procedures to determine the cause of the loss. All efforts to locate the property failed. Our VP for Operations quickly arrived on site, implemented corrective actions in our QC inspection process to prevent recurrence, met with the customer and accepted liability, and arranged for payment to ERDC for the missing property. Several months later a similar event occurred on a lost item with a much lower dollar value. Our response was the same as above. In addition, we held the Project Manager responsible for failing to implement and enforce the corrective actions we initiated after the first event. We therefore replaced the Project Manager with a highly qualified individual whose management and attention to detail has resulted in superior performance. Our responses to these problems and the performance of the new Project Manager have been duly noted and appreciated by the COR.
The contract is Firm-Fixed-Price and changing requirements and workload surges sometimes present a challenge. We have averted potential problems by cross-training virtually the entire workforce, allowing us to shift resources as needed to meet contract requirements and workload surges. We have also developed a complete set of SOPs for every functional area so that cross-training as well as initial new hire training are facilitated with minimum “learning curve” time.