TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Contracting Airmen from units across the Air Force have teamed up to move Tyndall Air Force Base forward in the Wake of Hurricane Michael. Since days after the storm hit, the 325th Contracting Squadron, 1st Special Operations Contracting Squadron, 772nd Enterprise Sourcing Squadron and members from the Air Force Installation Contracting Agency have been procuring contracts for everything from repair of perimeter fencing to food service and facilities preservation.
Contracting was integral in the early recovery period when there were many more unknowns than known’s and they will continue to be during the long-term rebuilding process. Contracting projects have helped lay the ground work for Tyndall to rebuild.
“It was extremely difficult with very little communications - our note pads were our computers the first week, andthings were happening very fast.” said Maj. Steven Fletcher, 325th CONS commander.“Now we are trying to get a more normalized operation, and more disciplined approaches for putting certain requirements to the proper contract vehicles for execution.”
Tech Sgt. Scott Thomas, 325th CONS contracting officer, shared a similar sentiment on how quickly the environment has changed on the installation and it’s shifting priorities for contracting.
“When I arrived here there was just over 125 people total on the base,it was very chaotic, very hectic, working 14-15 hours a day,” said Scott. “Our focus in the beginning was getting local contractors back on the base for things like janitorial services, grounds maintenance for removing debris and establishing the tent city.”
With the progress that was made around Tyndall in the last three weeks, they are shifting to a stabilizing posture.
“Now we have a thousand people and the operations have begun to normalize, the focus is to rebuild things that we can, as the priorities present themselves,” said Scott. “A new perimeter fence is one of our big projects right now because that was heavily damaged in the storm.”
The contracting environment is fast paced and involves brand new partnerships as well as maintaining relationships with contractors that were active prior to the storm. In all there are $38.9 million in active projects to date.
“We are tapping into our contracts that we had going pre-Hurricane Michael - our grounds maintenance contract is still going, our contracted Civil Engineering Operations Flight is also continuing to restore buildings around the installation,” said Fletcher. “We are utilizing those relationships which are beneficial for the local community and maintain work for companies and their employees.”
With all the activity happening around the installation, the contracting team is working together to accomplish the mission.
“We are one big family and we take care of each other and we are very mission focused,” said Fletcher. “I can tell you the personnel assigned to Tyndall, since they have come back from being evacuated, are not only performing as contingency contracting officers, they are also hurricane victims and have lost a lot. It’s amazing to see the sense of pride and compassion, and just humbleness in their ability to serve and help in the recovery efforts.”