Contracting office awarded for community outreach

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT , NC, UNITED STATES

09.19.2013

Courtesy Story

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

Thirty civil service employees working at the contracting office here received two awards for their work with small disadvantaged businesses and small disadvantaged veteran-owned small business throughout the 2012 fiscal year.

The station contracting office is responsible for purchasing things such as raw materials and providing contractors and maintenance workers for the entire air station. They are also responsible for running the heat and water plants. The organization expended nearly $46 million for fiscal year 2012 in support of those requirements.

“We buy everything you could think of from A-Z for the station,” said John Stout, the contracting supervisor with the station-wing contracting office. “We keep the base running.”

One yearly goal of the contracting office is to support local small business by awarding contracts for work and supplies the air station requires. These contracts keep many small local businesses running and filters money into the local economy.

The Department of the Navy Office of Small Business Programs publishes a list of small business achievement goals among different socioeconomic small business groups for the contracting offices to focus on, said Stout. Each small business type is associated with a target percentage for the contracting office to hit. End-of-year awardees are selected based on their success in hitting or exceeding the target.

The different socioeconomic groups being targeting are small disadvantaged businesses, disabled veteran-owned small businesses, women-owned small businesses and businesses operating in historically underutilized business zones.

“At times it is extremely difficult to contract small businesses because they don’t always have the supplies or services the base is looking for,” said Chris Poulos, the chief of contracting with the Marine Corps Installations East satellite contracting office at Cherry Point.

However, Poulos and his team are diligent in their search for those small businesses that can meet or exceed the air station’s needs. Requests for supplies and services come to the contracting office from various assets aboard the air station, and civil service employees working there seek out small local businesses to take on the tasks.

“We work very hard to seek out small businesses for contracts on base because they put in the time and effort to get certified, so it’s only right that we work hard for them too,” said Poulos. “Also it is a win-win situation because many small businesses are qualified and certified in more than one area so we get credit more than once for their work.”

This system is mutually beneficial because it provides jobs, stimulates the local economy and ensures the air station receives adequate supplies and quality services.

• Date Taken: 09.19.2013
• Date Posted: 09.19.2013 09:42
• Story ID: 113898
• Location: MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT , NC, US