Photo By Tish Williamson | Brig. Gen. Freddy Adams, commanding general of the Mission and Installation...... read more read more
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (January 21, 2026)— Government and industry leaders concluded Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 2026 Industry Day event this week with a clear message: modernizing the Army’s installations requires faster, more flexible contracting approaches and deep partnerships with the commercial sector.
Hosted by the Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC) Theater Support Center from Jan. 20–23, the four-day engagement brought together Army senior leaders, contracting professionals and industry partners from across the country to discuss upcoming requirements tied to JBLM’s facilities modernization program, called FORGE, and the Army Transformation Initiative.
Over 70 participants from 46 companies, many of them small businesses, attended a windshield tour of project areas slated for improvement before attending networking sessions, receiving briefings from key-leader panelists, and participating in breakout sessions on the best practices for navigating federal contracting processes.
At the center of the community engagement was the JBLM FORGE program, a $250 million, Secretary of the Army–directed infrastructure effort aimed at enabling force power projection by rapidly and effectively upgrading facilities critical to operations in the Indo-Pacific region. Attendees learned about 19 projects spanning operational facilities, energy resilience, training and housing modernization, and airlift and infrastructure deployment supporting I Corps and the 62nd Airlift Wing.
Brig. Gen. Freddy Adams, commanding general of MICC, emphasized that the initiative represents a fundamental shift in how the Army approaches construction and sustainment.
“To overcome the limits of traditional acquisition, we plan to use Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) as the primary procurement method for JBLM FORGE,” Adams said. “The focus then shifts to outcomes over processes.”
Adams told attendees that OTAs are designed to accelerate delivery by inviting innovation from non-traditional industry partners and by accepting prudent, calculated risk in business processes to avoid greater risk to the American Soldier.
“The success of this program will do more than just modernize JBLM,” Adams said. “It will create a blueprint for the future of Army contracting.”
Attending as a representative of MICC’s senior command, https://usg01.safelinks.protection.office365.us/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amc.army.mil%2FPortals%2F9%2FDocuments%2FBios%2FBios%2FBio-LTG-Lawrence-DCG-December25.pdf&data=05%7C02%7Cletitia.n.williamson.civ%40army.mil%7C8632e492c84d494ecdb808de5ab10839%7Cfae6d70f954b481192b60530d6f84c43%7C0%7C0%7C639047913543479833%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=yyBRUrB%2Bfs8O2eVzU9rDiiWjSk7rV3%2FcPRefwyZsX%2F8%3D&reserved=0, deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, said the big-picture impacts of Army transformation projects like FORGE at JBLM are already happening under AMC’s purview, ensuring warfighters have access to the latest technologies and facilities.
“A recent example is the Fort Bliss barracks project,” Lawrence said. “We 3D-printed three barracks, each building over 5,500 square feet in size. Byleveragingnew technology, we were able to construct the buildings quicker and at lower cost than conventional methods.”
Lt. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, commanding general of I Corps and JBLM, framed the group effort to modernize the force in terms of readiness and urgency, calling the JBLM America’s strategic pivot point to the Pacific. He noted that the pace of change in the Indo-Pacific security environment demands construction and modernization at the speed of relevance, something traditional processes have struggled to achieve.
“To maintain our edge, we must move at the speed of need. That is why we are here,” McFarlane said. “We cannot afford to wait years to break ground on the facilities our warfighters need today. We need a new model. And that new model is the JBLM FORGE pilot.”
Throughout the event, leaders and contracting professionals stressed the use of OTAs as a way contracting professionals can lower barriers to entry, reduce administrative burden and encourage early collaboration between customers and those meeting their requirements. Industry partners were urged to bring innovative ideas and best commercial practices, not just legacy bids. Besides the OTA process, briefs and discussions throughout the event included details on intellectual property protections, risk-sharing and assurances that base access for contractors and coordination with installation support offices would be addressed up front to improve project efficiencies.
Charley Jackson Jr., the MICC project and contract agreements officer supporting the effort, said he is honored and excited to be a part of the JBLM FORGE team and that the industry day engagement achieved their goals of expanding competition and transparency between the MICC, its mission partners and the community.
“This event was an opportunity for industry to understand the scale of what’s ahead in contracting at the base and allows the MICC to broaden our pool of capable contractors,” Jackson said. “We wanted to cast a wide net.”
For the JBLM community and the broader defense industrial base, the FORGE impact and desired improvements extend beyond efficiency in construction timelines. The modernization program is expected to improve quality of life for Soldiers and families, strengthen mission readiness, and create sustained opportunities for businesses of all sizes to support JBLM’s long-term needs.
“The direct engagement with Army leaders like Lt. Gen. Lawrence, Lt. Gen McFarlane and Brig. Gen. Adams was incredibly motivating and underscored the strategic importance of this effort,” Jackson said. “The dialogue with our industry partners, who offered their expert advice and posed challenging and insightful questions that will fortify our planning efforts, was equally inspiring.”
As the engagement concluded, leaders made clear that these strategic, early conversations with industry will continue, and that the partnerships formed through FORGE will directly shape how quickly and effectively Soldiers at JBLM, and beyond, can train, deploy and win.
Lawrence said, “We are committed to improving the way we do business. Our focus is simple: start earlier, go faster, be smart.”
For more information about contracting opportunities through the MICC, visit https://www.army.mil/micc or sam.gov.
About the MICC Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Commandconsists 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. A subordinate command of the Army Contracting Command and the https://armyeitaas.sharepoint-mil.us/sites/HQAMC, MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitate 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: | 01.26.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 01.26.2026 14:38 |
| Story ID: | 556801 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 16 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JBLM Industry Day highlights new contracting approach, accelerating base modernization, by Tish Williamson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
