The Air Force has decided it will not proceed with a plan to create five regional installation contracting centers, and instead will stand up a new strategic sourcing organization under Air Force Materiel Command to focus on service-wide contracting needs while major commands and their base contracting units will handle their unique requirements, according to an Aug. 4 release. In a joint memo issued last month, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz explained that the service had considered “lessons learned from recent Air Force transformations” and key stakeholder concerns when it opted to scrap the 2007 plan that would have consolidated base contracting functions—moving personnel and creating new infrastructure requirements. The Installation Acquisition Transformation Governance Board recommended the new approach, which Donley and Schwartz said “is the most expeditious approach for the Air Force to mitigate the risks of operating within the constraints of reduced installation budgets.” The plan, according to an IAT Revised Path Forward Factsheet, would realign about 240 vacant contracting positions from around the service into the new AFMC-led strategic sourcing organization, which could begin operations by the end of this year.
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…