White House forum recognizes SPAWAR for savings of over $1 billion

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES

07.07.2011

Story by Kara McDermott 

Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR)

SAN DIEGO – The White House Forum on Accountability in Federal Contracting recognized Debbie Streufert, contracting officer at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, for developing an aggressive strategy that saved taxpayers in excess of $1 billion. Streufert was previously awarded the Chief Acquisition Officers Council Acquisition Excellence Award and was called a “hero” by Dan Gordon, administrator for Federal Procurement Policy for her work in Navy contracting services during a meeting of acquisition professionals July 7.

The forum was held as part of President Obama’s Campaign to Cut Waste, which calls on federal agencies to cut spending on contracts for management support services.

“We are targeting affordability and cost growth, we’re incentivizing productivity and innovation in industry and we’re promoting real competition and improving especially the way we buy services,” said Richard Ginman, Department of Defense director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy. “A shining example of how we’ve redoubled our efforts to drive a hard bargain and get a better deal for our taxpayers is the Navy’s Continuity of Services Contract.”

Streufert, one of SPAWAR’s lead procurement contracting officers, was responsible for the contracting effort to award the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet Continuity of Services contract. This effort will help NMCI, one of the world’s largest intranet services – a network with more than 700,000 users and 384,000 workstations – transition to the Next Generation Enterprise Network.

Streufert led an aggressive plan to inventory and evaluate more than 1.2 million individual assets of existing NMCI property in support of negotiations. During that time, Streufert simultaneously conducted an evaluation of the NMCI intellectual property and negotiated a Government Purpose Rights License, including 100,000 hours of support at no additional cost to the taxpayer. The signed contract represents the execution of the Navy-Marine Corps mission at a significantly reduced price.

“SPAWAR is dedication to making the Navy acquisition process as efficient and effective as possible and Ms. Streufert is a great example of how acquisition professionals can have maximum impact on the Navy and DoD,” said SPAWAR Commander Rear Adm. Patrick H. Brady. “As the Navy’s Information Dominance command we are keenly aware of our responsibility to lead not just in that mission, but also in the Department of Defense Better Buying Power Initiative. I’m very proud of SPAWAR and Ms. Streufert.”

• Date Taken: 07.07.2011
• Date Posted: 07.11.2011 18:50
• Story ID: 73556
• Location: SAN DIEGO, CA, US