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BRUSSELS - Defense Logistics Agency Energy has established a new liaison officer position to support the NATO fuel mission in Afghanistan through the NATO Support Agency.
Navy Capt. Ed Bogdanowicz completed a six-month assignment as the first liaison officer at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, in September, while he was the DLA Energy strategic programs and initiatives director. As a liaison officer for the NATO Support Activity, his role was to help put together a contract solution for Afghanistan to take over the NATO basic order agreement for fuel services.
The NATO Support Agency is NATO’s integrated logistics and services provider agency, combining the former NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency, the Central Europe Pipeline Management Agency and the NATO Airlift Management Agency.
“NSPA is the logistics arm of NATO,” Bogdanowicz said. “It was important to have someone working closely with NSPA to ensure they were successful.”
DLA Energy’s expertise in multinational logistics was needed when U.S. Central Command and the Joint Staff decided to use NATO logistics services in certain locations rather than maintain a distinct U.S. national capability, Bogdanowicz said.
In Afghanistan, Kabul International Airport and Kandahar airfield are supported primarily through NATO contracts, while DLA Energy provides fuel to U.S. and coalition forces in Regional Command East and North.
“Support for multinational logistics continues only if the contracts and support services are successful in providing the goods and services required to support the operational mission,” Bogdanowicz said. “If NATO support services fail to provide what is required by the operational commander, the U.S. will revert to our national capabilities, which will make it very difficult for NATO to perform their multinational logistics missions.”
For more than six months, Bogdanowicz worked alongside NATO logisticians and military officers to develop a standard operating plan to support multinational logistics missions in Afghanistan.
The goal, Bogdanowicz said, was to develop a mutually beneficial arrangement where DLA Energy could tap into the capacity, routes, refineries, storage and products that NSPA can access.
Bogdanowicz, working in coordination with Deb VanKleef, the deputy director of the government fuel card program management office, and Liz Baines, AIR Card program manager, established a process to allow U.S. aircraft to use the AIR Card to pay for fuel. Leveraging her experience, VanKleef structured the transaction process to emulate the open market card process. The setup between NSPA and the AIR Card contractor was accomplished in a short time period and without complications.
"The AIR Card government team prides itself in coordinating and delivering exceptional support to the warfighter,” VanKleef said. “It was a pleasure working with NSPA logistics and financial professionals who had similar goals, and Captain Bogdanowicz did a great job at the helm.”
NATO’s operational fuel challenge is that many of the 28 NATO nations lack the financial and technical resources to support more than their own national fuel requirements, Bogdanowicz said. If each nation had to bring their own capabilities to theater, costs would increase for everyone and the smaller nations would have increased challenges operating in theater.
“It is a hard and complex mission in a multinational environment,” Bogdanowicz said. “Without a working capital fund, NSPA must have enough revenue from sales to pay their contractors promptly. The established payment processes in theater were too slow to support the NSPA business process.”
Bogdanowicz was also able to develop a standard operating procedure for mutual support between DLA Energy and NSPA in the event of critical fuel shortages by either party.
"One of the challenges working with NSPA is that it takes time to develop trust and to make promises that are achievable,” he said. “Doing what you say you will do and telling the truth, even when it is not what anyone wants to hear, was critical for success.”
Another challenge Bogdanowicz faced was keeping close communication with DLA Energy senior leadership.
“Everyone is so busy, and our leadership has to constantly address shifting priorities and operational requirements,” Bogdanowicz said. “There were times when I had to get creative to get the sustained attention required to get an important decision. After spending my first 18 months working in the headquarters building, I took it for granted that you can call a meeting and everyone will attend. It is much tougher when you are across the ocean and six time zones away.”
As a result of Bogdanowicz’s efforts, DLA Energy is working with NATO and NSPA on a memorandum of understanding agreement that will enable NATO to meet fuel requirements for troops in Afghanistan.
The NSPA liaison officer position will continue in six-month increments. Bogdanowicz, now serving as DLA Energy Business Process Support director, was replaced by Bruce Jones, the former liaison officer at International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, who will work with NATO until the end of 2014.
| Date Taken: | 12.05.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 12.05.2014 09:22 |
| Story ID: | 149480 |
| Location: | BRUSSELS, BE |
| Web Views: | 152 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, DLA Energy establishes liaison officer to support NATO fuel mission, by Irene Smith, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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