39th CONS gets what you need

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Chase Hedrick
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  When the Air Force doesn't have needed skills, equipment or supplies it turns to the local or global economy to keep the mission going. To ensure the Air Force gets the best value and that all transactions are conducted ethically, contracting specialists step in to make the deals.

Here at Incirlik AB, the 39th Contracting Squadron works throughout the year to make sure each part of the 39th Air Base Wing and nearby geographically separated units get what they need.

"I have been on the opposite side of contracting," said Tech. Sgt. David Wright, 39th CONS contract administrator. "I never knew where stuff came from or where this magical, invisible money was from. I just knew that we needed something, our master sergeants wheeled and dealed a little bit, and the next thing you know we have our supply item or the pool's open and there's life guards working there. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, and that's where 39th CONS comes in."

A peek behind the curtain and a few locked doors that protect the sensitive business information inside reveals the hard work that goes on within the 39th CONS building. In fiscal year 2013 alone, the squadron facilitated more than 2,951 contract actions worth $19.2 million in support of missions here in the Turkey region, said Master Sgt. Ranell Oyola, 39th CONS NCO in charge of plans and programs.

"For a contracting squadron, and for finance as well, that last month or two of the fiscal year is when we really work our hardest," he said. "That's our world series, that's our super bowl. Because of how government appropriations are divvied out, we finalize about 80 percent of our work in the last two months of the year."

Day to day, outside of the end-of-year rush, the squadron has a hand in projects ranging from major construction to smaller unit requests for equipment such as vehicles, said Oyola, who also works as the government purchase card program manager. For each contract action, Airmen must follow more than 600 federal acquisition regulations, with additional Department of Defense, Air Force, and local regulations pertaining to purchases, he said.

"We're not only contracting specialists, contracting officers, and stewards of the taxpayer's money, but we're also business advisors," said Oyola. "We are the base's business advisors. A unit might know what they need and then we have to put our business hat on and get them on the path to their end result."

"Everybody has a super important job here at this air base, everybody has their mission, and everybody is ultimately responsible for getting the mission done in some way shape or form," said Wright. "However, for the 39th CONS, we are enablers of all of those different missions that correlate into the big picture. We're the driving force behind that. We make it happen. We get you what you need."