By Marina Sanchez, NAVAIR Public Affairs

Vice Admiral Joseph W. Dyer recognized six teams during the NAVAIR Commander's Awards ceremony recently for their outstanding achievements and teamwork.

The teams earned their recognition for work in the areas of Supporting the Warfighter, Supporting Our People, Resources and Affordability Achievement, Process Improvement, Business Strategy Achievement and Special Achievement.

For Process Improvement, the Level of Confidence Assessment Rating Source Selection Process (LOCAR) team of nine people, who work at Patuxent River, was acknowledged for streamlining the standard source selection process. The team's efforts, tested in seven different competitive acquisitions, acquired an excess of $220 million in aggregate value and reduced the procurement action lead time from 12 to five months.

Patricia Cornett accepted the award on behalf of the team, extending thanks to those involved in the project including the team leads, lawyers and the engineers for their consistent confidence in the team.

LOCAR team members include procuring contracting officer Patricia Cornett; contract specialists David Price, Denice B. Cribb, Kelly D. Mabe, Melisha Y. Proctor, and Rachel Orosz; contract team leads Celeste Mills and Arlene Berts; and legal council Mitzi S. Phalen.

With LOCAR, the government has the potential to save roughly $61,500 per acquisition. Customers agreed that the evaluation time of the LOCAR process was much shorter than the time with the standard approach, and manpower savings were realized. Industry partners showed a preference for the new LOCAR process over the standard process.

Dyer thanked the team, commenting on the importance of process improvement. "The pride we take in the process and the fairness with which we do source selections," he said. The team's efforts demonstrate the reliability promised in the NAVAIR Credo.

"The team's willingness to be innovative reflects great credit upon themselves and contributed significantly to the effectiveness of NAVAIR," commented Cornett. That same innovation won this team a second award-SECNAV's Procurement Excellence and Competition Award. The team received the award at a Pentagon award ceremony July 17th.

Photo by Kurt Langfield

Photo Caption: Caption: Patricia Cornett accepts the Process Improvement Award from Vice Admiral Dyer on behalf of the LOCAR team.