Streamlined Acquisitions - 39th CONS meets Innovation Published Oct. 18, 2022 By Senior Airman Joshua Crossman 39th Air Base Wing INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX recently selected the 39th Contracting Squadron at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, to collaborate with a private company as part of the AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research program. Through the 2-year SBIR Phase II contract, the 39th CONS will be able to utilize artificial intelligence-powered commercial workflow automation software to make the Air Force contracting more efficient. “This partnership makes it easier for our mission-focused business leaders in the 39 CONS to get Airmen across the installation what they need when they need it,” said 1st Lt. Henry Camp, 39th CONS director of business operation. Camp added that the software will help streamline acquisitions across Incirlik AB by auto-generating all necessary pre-contract documents. “This will hopefully lead to a solution that will make it easier for leaders at all levels to communicate their needs quickly and clearly into an easily executable requirement.” Staff Sgt. John Cone, a contract administrator assigned to the 39th CONS Base Infrastructure Flight, said the program will also standardize the acquisition process at Incirlik AB. “Contracting is known to be administratively bureaucratic at times,” he said. “Anything we can do to eliminate this excessive bureaucracy will create better partnerships with industry and mission partners.” Cone added that the partnership between the U.S. government and private industry goes back to the founding of the country. “These relationships with small and large businesses are essential; our military runs on them,” he said. “The more we can leverage these relationships to improve our systems and arm us to make better decisions, the better we can accomplish the mission.” The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer process by accelerating proposal-to-award timelines and changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business. The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace force. AFWERX, a program office at the AFRL, connects innovators across government, industry and academia through collaboration with our nation’s top subject-matter experts.