Contracting squadron greases the mission wheels

USAF photo: Airman 1st Class James Bell Gerald Pelfrey, 27th Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron, points to areas in a laundry room that will be modernized by contracting firm D.W.G. & Associates.

Although it’s more of a behind-the-scenes career field, Air Force contracting airmen ultimately provide for the infrastructure, support and construction not only for Cannon, but the entire Air Force as well.

The 27th Special Operations Contracting Squadron provides the necessary contracting support for the 27th Special Operations Wing and associated tenants to assure timely and economical expenditure of the base’s dollars.

“You name it, we bought it,” said Maj. Rhonda Crawford, 27 SOCONS commander. “This year we’ve purchased everything from supplies and equipment to building facilities in support of the SOW bed down. SOCONS is where great ideas get executed.”

A total of $105 million worth of contracts went through 27 SOCONS during fiscal year 2009; next fiscal year it’s expected to be even more.

The 27th Special Operations Contracting Squadron is 46-person team that is split into three flights depending on their area. A Flight is a base operations support flight that supports large service contracts, utilities and supply, and equipment contracts; B Flight is an infrastructure support flight that deals primarily with construction and who’s only customer is 27th Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron; and then P Flight whose mission is plans and programs, contracting computer support, overseeing the Government Purchase Program and coordinating quality assurance.

With the amount of money Cannon’s contracting squadron deals with, attention to detail and the ability to perform their job well is key to the squadron’s successes. 27 SOCONS personnel have proven that they excel at what they do, and within the last year have won various awards for their efforts.

At the Air Force Special Operations Command level 27 SOCONS received the following honors:

• Outstanding Contracting Officer, Field Grade Officer, Maj. Daniel Dunn

• Special Recognition — Team Award, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Team

• Outstanding Contracting Support Award, Robyn Knight

• Outstanding Contracting Civilian (GS-12 and above), Brenda McPherson

•Both the Outstanding Contracting Officer — Field Grade Officer 64P and UAV Team Special Recognition were also won at Air Force level.

The UAV Team Special Recognition Award was for the $48.8 million renovation, standup and maintenance support of the Dragon Operations Center at Cannon; the Dragon Operations Center at Nellis AFB Nevada; and for Ground Control Station Maintenance to support the 3rd Special Operations Squadron and their associated unit’s MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper operations. This contract was valued at $40 million.

Also included in the 3 SOS bed-down of the DOCs and GCSs standup, were various acquisitions such as $2.9 million facility upgrade; $3.4 million DOC Cannon install, test, sustain and accreditation contract; $2.4 million DOC Cannon Build contract; $90 thousand furniture; and $133 for communication equipment.

“We continually get in contracts to enable the AFSOC mission,” said Bates Horce, 27 SOCONS director of business operations, “and we’re up to the challenge to awarding contracts to meet this demand.”

Contracting is open from 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. For questions and concerns Contracting is located on the first floor of Building 600.