Photo By Jose Rodriguez | Maj. Gen. Doug Lowery, commanding general U.S. Army Contracting Command, poses with...... read more read more
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (August 4, 2025) – The Mission and Installation Contracting Command completed a leader training and wargaming event Jul. 29 to Aug. 1 in San Antonio, Texas as a prequel to their large-scale annual event to ensure the contracting command’s alignment with the Army Transformation Initiative and higher command guidance.
The prequel to the 2025 MICC Senior Contracting Officer and Directors Acquisition Training, or SDAT event was hosted by the MICC command team led by Brig. Gen. Freddy Adams, Clay Cole and Command Sgt. Maj. JennyAnne Bright. During his opening remarks for the event, Adams urged the leaders to have open, honest and candid dialogue, sharing their insights and experiences to help dissect the problem set. “Resist the inclination to have a parochial mindset,” Adams challenged his leaders and staff. “Think about what is best, not just for your organization, but what is best for the enterprise.”
The nearly 20 primary staff and brigade-level key leaders in attendance included, Col. Doug Ralph the 419th Contracting Support Brigade commander, Col. Kizzy Danser the 418th CSB commander, Dana Harris the director of the Field Directorate Office-Fort Eustis, and Aundair Kinney the deputy director of FDO-Fort Sam Houston who filled in for the FDO-FSH director, Col. Randall Garcia while he was forward deployed in support of the Southern Border mission.
“Each of you are here because you provide something critical,” Adams said, noting the collective years of operational experience, contracting subject matter expertise, and leadership among those selected to participate in the prequel. “The reason we are doing this prequel with you leaders in mind is that we want you to help establish the groundwork for MICC transformation.”
Over the course of three and a half days, the leaders developed multiple MICC transformation courses of action. Though the specific problem set ultimately shifted by the end of the week due to the dynamic environment associated with times of significant change, the challenge to be resilient, adaptive and participative in pursuit of the best solution to whatever problem MICC may face in the future, remained constant. The original intent was that outcomes from the prequel SDAT would inform concept of support discussions the MICC command team expected to have at the 2025 Army Contracting Command Senior Contracting Officer Huddle, or SCUDDLE, hosted Aug. 18-22 by commanding general of the ACC, Maj. Gen. Doug Lowery, at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. By the end of the week, with real-time guidance received from the higher headquarters, MICC leaders shifted their focus to defining ways to transform processes and tools to enhance the performance, increase efficiencies and decrease inefficiencies of senior contracting officials and contracting officers.
“We are trying to do a lot of things concurrently, which is the right thing to do,” Adams said. “There is a lot going on and I do not think we can afford to wait for it to all settle before starting our planning process. I prefer to plan concurrently in real time and then we will have several plans with multiple branches that we just have to adjust based on any final guidance from Army senior leaders.”
During the leader event, the MICC command team also hosted their quarterly town hall. Several hundred employees and Soldiers tuned in virtually from across the MICC enterprise to hear staff and command responses to previously submitted questions sent in through the MICC commander’s anonymous virtual drop box. Town hall questions and answers were wide-ranging, and the event lasted just over an hour. Lowrey, who made the trip to San Antonio for face-to-face engagement with MICC leaders during the SDAT prequel, also took time to attend the town hall. He made it a point to share insights and guidance on MICC’s role in Army Acquisition transformation when addressing both forums.
“I will tell you, the best thing you can do, is to do what you have been doing—maintain transparency,” Lowrey advised the junior contracting command as a resiliency technique. “Keep trusting and believing in each other.”
On the last day of the SDAT prequel, leaders did as they were asked. They seamlessly changed discussion focus based on newly received guidance. They took care to capture a digital record of the group work that was already accomplished, before shifting their brainstorming sessions to address the new problem sets. Adams lauded the team’s resiliency and professionalism, encouraging them to remain flexible and agile even though the exact path to MICC transformation is not yet fully outlined.
“Everything we have done here this week helps us head in the general direction of where we think MICC is headed,” Adams said referencing known guidance on funding, personnel reductions and other constraints. He advised the group to take a tactical pause in refining courses of action for any future concept of support changes. The group will now concentrate their manpower towards a detailed look at how the MICC may best help Army acquisition and contracting transform, even in its current configuration.
“We have to press forward, though it [the final destination] may be unclear and uncertain because of all of the little factors that are going on simultaneously,” Adams said. “We are in the throes of change management, and we are going to have to lead our way through it. We have to be an agile organization with personnel who can thrive despite change.”
He reiterated the importance of getting together for group discussions and planning sessions as often as possible throughout the transformation process during forums like the prequel and the full SDAT. “I really do appreciate your leadership here and your continued leadership in your respective organizations through these dynamic times of change,” Adams said. “I appreciate you spending time here this week helping us work on these very difficult problem sets.”
Adams assured the group that the work they started at the prequel to conquer existing challenges will eventually prove to be time well spent. He expects to have more clarity on Army senior leader’s expectations for MICC transformation after the ACC SCUDDLE in the next couple of weeks, though he acknowledged that the road to transformation is likely to be long, winding and marked by a fair share of bumps.
“Though,” Adams concluded, “the direction that we are moving in has not changed.”
Staff and command teams from each of MICC’s 30 offices in locations across the continental U.S. will converge in San Antonio during the 2025 SDAT, planned for Sept. 2-4. The theme is “Build and Transform the MICC of the Future.”
About the MICC
Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon. As part of its mission, MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitating training in the preparation of more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.
| Date Taken: | 08.06.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.06.2025 13:44 |
| Story ID: | 544913 |
| Location: | FORT SAM HOUSTON, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 22 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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