Photo By Jose Rodriguez | An employee with LED Lighting Solutions, Department of Public Works contractor at Fort...... read more read more
FORT CARSON, CO- The 918th Contracting Battalion, U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command – Fort Carson utilized funding authorized in the passage of the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) for barracks lighting modernizations. The bill stipulated that the funds must be spent within a few months’ time, and it could not be awarded as a construction contract. The Fort Carson’s Department of Public Works (DPW) relied on the MICC Fort Carson office to complete this task.
The project identified was the replacement and installation of roughly 10,000 LED light fixtures across barracks buildings. Maj. Ryan Lee, Contract Specialist, and Mike Camacho, Contracting Officer at MICC Fort Carson worked to execute the contract within the specified time frame.
Lee and Camacho launched into a rigorous phase of pre-award analysis. Rather than simply converting the stated requirement into a solicitation posted on SAM.gov. the contracting team performed a deeper acquisition planning analysis which included extensive customer engagement sessions, historical data review, independent market research, and structured industry discussions. What emerged from that groundwork was a critical insight: the dominant cost driver in the project was not installation labor or construction management — it was the LED fixtures themselves. Based on this the contracting team identified Government Services Administration as the best approach for this requirement, also agreed to by the DPW leadership.
"Our job isn’t to process what’s handed to us," said Lee. "Our job is to understand what the customer actually needs and find the best path to deliver it. That sometimes means slowing down to ask better questions before we move forward."
After completing their market research and acquisition planning sessions, Lee and Camacho developed and documented an innovative acquisition strategy that reframed the entire procurement that included GSA multiple award schedule, GSA eBuy, supply acquisition with incidental installation services, competitive market research, and streamlined acquisition procedures. This approach eliminated the overhead structure associated with traditional contracting methodology and aligned the procurement vehicle directly with what the government was actually buying: products, with installation as a supporting element.
"We weren’t being creative for creativity’s sake," explained Camacho. "Every decision was grounded in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, supported by market research, and tied directly back to what would deliver the most value for soldiers and for the taxpayer. The strategy was sound because the analysis behind it was sound."
Throughout the acquisition lifecycle, Lee maintained daily coordination with the DPW, actively shaping the requirement package rather than passively waiting for completed documents to arrive. He engaged directly with potential vendors, conducted continuous market research, and kept all stakeholders informed and aligned throughout the process.
The outcome of this timely hard work yielded results. The contract was awarded to LED Lighting Solutions, a DPW contractor. It provided 25,337 LED fixtures projected for installation — a 150% increase over the 10,000 fixtures estimate under the original acquisition approach, using the same OBBB funding. Significant cost avoidance achieved through elimination of construction overhead, reduced administrative burden, and maximized buying power. Accelerated procurement timeline realized through the use of GSA MAS and eBuy, enabling faster obligation of OBBB funds.
For the soldiers living in the barracks the contract provided them with better quality of life while reducing energy use. All with a timely obligation of OBBB funding, meeting all program execution requirements.
The successful implementation of this contract led to MICC Fort Carson being recognized as the only MICC organization to successfully execute and obligate OBBB funds through a contract action within the required timeline.
"Market research is not a checkbox," Lee reflected. "It’s the foundation. If you do it right, everything else — the strategy, the competition, the award, the execution — gets better. You owe it to the soldier living in those barracks and to the taxpayer funding this work to find out what’s actually possible before you decide what’s acceptable."
For acquisition professionals across the Army, this case offers a clear and repeatable lesson: the greatest value provided does not come from processing procurement requests. It comes from partnering with customers to understand requirements in depth, conducting rigorous market research, analyzing alternatives honestly, and designing acquisition strategies built for results.
About the MICC TheMission and Installation Contracting Commandis a one-star subordinate command of theArmy Contracting Commandand theArmy Materiel Command. MICC Soldiers, Civilians and contractors take pride in their mission to support Soldiers and their families across the theater of operations by delivering decisive contracting solutions across the theater of operations, equipping America’s Soldiers with what they need to dominate on the battlefield, sustaining readiness at home and pioneering the capabilities for the Army of tomorrow. Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the MICC comprises nearly 1,500 Soldiers and Civilian employees assigned across the theater of operations. MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 260,000 Soldiers every day, providing daily base operations support services at installations, preparing more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, facilitating training for more than 100,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures. To learn more about the Mission and Installation Contracting Command, visit theMICC homepageor view theMICC Fact Sheet.
| Date Taken: | 07.16.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 07.16.2026 16:31 |
| Story ID: | 570120 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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