AFCEC right-sizes CE equipment inventory

  • Published
  • By John Burt
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Sometimes, less can mean more ... savings.

Equipment experts at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center's Tyndall Detachment are looking at ways to reduce the number of equipment sets Air Force civil engineers must store and maintain for contingency operations. This effort is expected to not only save the Air Force money, but reduce storage costs and workload on CEs as well.

Tools and equipment assembled and packaged for deployment are known by a five-character alphanumeric identification called a unit type code, or UTC. Each UTC can contain hundreds of individual items for a specific job like saws and concrete mixers for pavement repair, or robots and x-ray equipment for explosive ordnance disposal missions. UTCs are stored and maintained by CE units across the Air Force.

The National Military Strategy, issued by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, requires the Air Force to retain and maintain 2,105 UTCs to support civil engineer operations, fire emergency services, EOD and emergency management wartime missions. Currently the Air Force has 1,292 UTCs in inventory. Based on historical use, AFCEC equipment experts say that number could be even lower.

"Over the past 10 years, we have deployed less than 24 percent of our available UTCs," said Maj. Gregory Osbourne, expeditionary engineering programs branch chief. "By reducing our inventory from 1,292 to 871, we will lower unnecessary maintenance and storage costs. It will also mean approximately $195 million in cost avoidance savings for the Air Force by not having to increase the current equipment inventory to the 2,105 point."

Reducing UTCs would also level the Air Force inventory, transferring equipment from bases with excess and redistributing it to those with shortages. This effort would remove approximately $27 million in current civil engineer UTC shortfalls and release $19 million in equipment to fill deficits.

In order to meet National Military Strategy requirements, AFCEC is developing a "just-in-time" contract to provide a rapid-response solution to deliver contingency equipment.

"We mitigate risk by having this acquisition tool in place," said Lt. Col. George Petty, expeditionary engineering division chief. "This contract would allow us to surge to 2,105 UTCs during a wartime scenario and do so within an acceptable time frame."

"This is not a small contract by any means," said Osbourne. "We're working with the 772nd Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, here, to develop an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract. Installations, major commands or even AFCEC can have UTC items delivered to an installation, port of embarkation or down range should the need arise."

Through the contract development process, AFCEC established an interim just-in-time solution through its Air Force Contract Augmentation Program to meet any urgent equipment demands. AFCEC equipment experts are also developing a non-contingency purchase contract for day-to-day requirements. By fiscal 2015, AFCEC and the 772nd ESS expect to set up one contract capable of providing both contingency and non-contingency equipment as quickly as possible.

"We know when a commander needs that asset and capability, everything must be ready to go," said Osbourne. "We intend to make the transportation piece flexible enough so the contractor could send equipment straight to the (area of responsibility) by way of military transport or commercial transportation means."

Some current UTCs contain perishable items which must be tracked and managed at each location. The eventual acquisition contract would also help reduce waste and alleviate the CE unit's need to monitor shelf-life items.

"Units reported that stored UTC items like batteries and printer cartridges, for example, were going bad prior to deployment," said Osbourne. "As soon as it was time to deploy, those items had to be reacquired. We can save money and be more efficient by going to this just-in-time approach."

"We want to help relieve the workload on our CE units where it makes sense," said Petty. "Not having to do this type of inventory management allows more time for military members to train and prepare to go down range and perform their war-time contingency mission."

A phase of UTC optimization still in consideration is the consolidation or regionalization of equipment assets from bases across the Air Force to three or four sites world-wide. AFCEC is currently evaluating possible locations and associated costs and benefits for such an effort. A decision on regionalization or consolidation could be made early next year.