JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Approximately 80 senior contracting officials, directors and planners across the Mission and Installation Contracting Command converged for its annual Senior Contracting Officials and Directors Acquisition Training event in San Antonio, Texas, from July 30 to Aug. 2.
SDAT 2024 was hosted by the MICC command team, led by Col. Freddy Adams, his deputy, Clay Cole, and Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Gusman, MICC command sergeant major. The theme, “Maintaining a Steadfast MICC Workforce for Tomorrow,” forecasted the event’s emphasis on people-focused programs and initiatives to recruit, retain and train the next generation of the MICC workforce.
The 3 1/2 day, in-person gathering was a collaborative and specialized training event to reaffirm the command’s mission, vision and priorities, while sharing best practices, lessons learned, innovations and initiatives, to ensure the MICC effectively delivers the power of Army contracting to its mission partners, both now and into the future.
The event included training-focused, leader-led open discussions, working groups and breakout sessions related to contracting solutions. Each day participants focused on important ideals like the command’s culture and operating practices, innovations and initiatives, and global operations.
Adams set his expectations for the SDAT up front. Though he is not a fan of change for the sake of change, he said, effective modernization sometimes requires change.
Adams said, "I ask you to be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. Be bold in your thinking."
The first day of the event was an opportunity for leaders of the MICC’s contracting brigades and field directorate offices to share their key leadership philosophies and visions for contracting solutions, empowering and sustaining the Army of today and tomorrow.
First, Adams, who assumed command of the organization in June, shared his philosophy and vision. While he had some very specific guidance on nonnegotiable requirements for MICC’s mission success, he stressed that the focus of the SDAT should not be about him.
“It’s not about me, but I understand, as the commander, it starts with me,” Adams said. The mission, the people accomplishing the mission and what the team can accomplish as an organization matters. “But it starts with me — it starts with the leader of any organization.”
Adams explained that leaders set the tone, help shape the command’s culture and must establish the vision for the organization so they may work towards a clear and shared goal.
Adams also reaffirmed his current priorities of people, readiness, execution and modernization. The people line of effort ensures that the right personnel are in the right position and have the skills, support and training they need to succeed in a safe, inclusive and positive work environment.
Enabling readiness begins with training, equipping and educating MICC Soldiers and civilians to ensure they are highly capable of supporting Army multi-domain operations within the continental U.S. Strategic Support Area. Effective execution of high-quality contracts that deliver the correct effects at the right time and place starts with well-written contracts and active oversight. MICC’s modernization effort will include making updates to its structure, processes, policy and tools so that they are postured to seamlessly support future Army multi-domain operations
Maria Allen, the MICC’s director of personnel, is lead for the people domain. On the second day of the SDAT, she, alongside her deputy, Dean Michalec, and her civilian recruitment lead, Patrick Hill, provided an overview brief on MICC civilian employee recruitment and onboarding new employees as it relates to the Army Recruiting Campaign. The purpose of their discussion was to provide the leaders with a collective understanding of the program’s best practices and the tools that make the MICC’s program successful.
“We may manage this program, but it’s everyone in this room that makes it successful,” Allen said. “We would not be where we are at these hiring and retention levels without your team’s assistance to my team.”
Gusman, who is also the command’s senior enlisted advisor, encouraged SDAT attendees to get out and talk to their personnel if they want to get a better idea of how their professional development, training and retention programs are doing.
“When I go out to the MICC locations, I sit and talk to the Soldiers,” Gusman said. “That is where you are going to get your information from — all of the employees and the Soldiers—and they are going to pretty much tell you the truth about what’s going on.”
Current data indicates the MICC’s people programs are working. During the last three years the organization, that is comprised of nearly 1,500 personnel, hired over 30% of their workforce, has less than 10% attrition, and boasts manning levels of over 94%.
Allen credits the fact that MICC is a direct hire organization with their recent hiring success. Direct hire is primarily used to bring individuals from outside of the federal government, into the Department of Defense. With direct hire authority, the MICC may hire directly from colleges, universities, military retirees, spouses and contractors, without the need for referral lists.
“DHA, the direct hire authority has been wonderful for us,” Allen said. “Not every career field has it. We have it because acquisition is a critical career field.”
Part of MICC’s hiring success comes from partnering with over 1,000 colleges and universities and military commissioning sources to tap into their virtual databases and job fair resources for MICC career recruitment. With an aging workforce, the partnerships help MICC recruiters gain fresh talent to renew the MICC workforce. They also attend about two-dozen in-person recruitment opportunities per semester, to include career fairs and the U.S. Army Cadet Command’s Cadet Summer Training branch day orientation.
Hill said, “We target the universities near our 30 MICC locations around the United States and develop relationships with their career services and business departments to get more information about our positions and organization directly into the hands of their students, alumni and their spouses.”
From people attending colleges and job fairs, to veterans and spouses, the MICC targets a wide variety of applicants for their direct hire program. The MICC has helped countless military spouses who worked in different career fields, discover the flexibility that comes with choosing a career in acquisition.
“Military spouses are realizing that the MICC is a great option for seeking employment, not only because of our direct hire ability, but because of the large pool of jobs that are open to them, no matter what base they may transfer to with their spouse,” Allen said.
Allen thanked SDAT attendees for supporting and working to expand MICC’s recruitment and retention priorities so that they may hire, and then develop, the next generation of contract specialists.
“This collaboration to get the word out about hiring, our professional development initiatives and career advancement opportunities is vital,” Allen said. “Because the MICC really is a great place to work.”
After two-days of reaffirming the mission, priorities and overall organization, the last full day of briefs examined how well the MICC nests with the priorities and lines of effort in service to its mission partners and supported commands, the Army Contracting Command, the Army Materiel Command and Army senior leaders.
In fiscal 2023, the MICC executed more than 24,000 contracts valued at more than $5.5 billion. MICC contracts feed more than 200,000 Soldiers daily, provide countless daily base operations and installation support services, prepare more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, train more than 500,000 students each year and maintain more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.
Maj. Ena Baran, the contracting support operations planner for the Field Directorate Office-Fort Sam Houston, provided context for six complex problem sets the MICC has been wargaming in a continued effort to provide even greater support to its mission partners. Following her scene-setter brief, SDAT attendees dispersed into smaller groups for breakout sessions and working groups to wargame the top four strategic-level contracting planning problem sets.
Prior to the wargaming exercise, Adams told the leaders, “Our test is to treat any challenges the Army may face through 2030 as opportunities for the MICC to demonstrate the full power of Army contracting to ensure we win our nation’s wars, decisively, now and into the future.”
The last day of the event included a detailed after-action review with input from attendees on ways to improve future training events. The SDAT culminated with closing remarks from the MICC command team, who then presented time in service awards and commander coins for excellence to deserving personnel.
Adams said a way to measure the success for SDAT 2024 was whether or not attendees felt equipped and empowered to fully realize his vision for the command going into fiscal year 2025 and beyond.
For Col. Douglas Ralph, who assumed command of the 419th Contracting Support Brigade in August 2023, this was his second time attending the annual training event as a brigade commander and the fifth time attending when he served in other assignments at the MICC. From his perspective, the SDAT was a success.
“The most beneficial part of the week was understanding the new MICC commander’s vision and expectations going forward,” Ralph said. “My brigade will take what we discussed at SDAT 2024 to further, and perhaps more effectively, integrate with our mission partners.”
Cole, who has been the MICC’s deputy and senior civilian since 2016, reminded attendees of the breadth, depth, scope and the responsibility of their mission. He also thanked attendees for their professionalism and diligence during the SDAT, as well as offering comments to make any necessary improvements going forward.
“It has been great to have you all here, and I have enjoyed the feedback,” Cole said. “I think we learned a little bit about each other, our organization, and opportunities we have to improve and move forward.” Focusing on taking care of their people, ensuring they are trained and ready, has enabled the MICC to exceed contracting expectations for the Army, America’s oldest and largest fighting force. “This is a great organization, it truly is. It is the foundation of all that is right about the Army.”
In his closing remarks for SDAT 2024, Adams told the group that they surpassed his expectations for the event and the deliverables he set for this year’s SDAT.
“I leave here with great pride in the organization,” Adams said. “I am excited about what we are going to do over these next few years while I am in command. I feel the collaborative spirit here and I leave with a renewed sense of purpose.”
To learn more about the MICC and how to join us, visit https://www.army.mil/micc#org-join-us.