PANAMA CITY, Fla. –
Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) Procurement branch successfully executed over 130 purchase card buys, 500 Military Standard Requisitioning and Issue Procedures orders, 177 contracts, and 158 outgoing funding document buys in September 2019 to end the fiscal year.
“We always see a spike in orders near the end of the fiscal year and it is a challenge to get them all in accurately before the cutoff date,” said DeAnna Pedersen, Procurement branch head. “Every year it takes a lot of effort to get the work done but this year was especially unique because our working conditions were less than ideal.”
In October 2018, a Category 5 hurricane ravaged the Gulf Coast and damaged 82 of NSWC PCD’s 88 buildings.
“Remediation repairs were made to our hurricane damaged buildings but unfortunately the repairs did not hold up and we had to relocate twice after our building flooded this past August,” said Pedersen. “August is when we start to see orders increasing and moving offices made it even more challenging but the team still got the job done.”
The Procurement branch supports the warfighter by procuring the resources, materials, and supplies needed for local day-to-day operations, the fleet and NSWC PCD projects.
“It is a challenge every year to get all of the orders in before the cutoff date,” said Jonathan Chapman, Procurement lead. “In addition to having to move offices, we were also challenged by a mandatory shutdown and continuous system outages of the Navy Enterprise Resource Planning system.”
In order to accomplish all of the required work, the Procurement staff worked alternate hours and weekends while tech screening and purchase creation would run three schedules -- early morning, daytime, and late evening.
“Our Procurement team at NSWC PCD is beyond incredible and they all work very hard to provide excellent customer service,” said Chapman. “They are highly dedicated and continuously looking for ways to improve the process.”
The Procurement team is gathering input from their customers and reaching out to other Warfare Center Procurement teams to leverage their best practices. All of their work helped them overcome their next challenge.
“Our most recent hurdle was the NAVSEA Warfare Center Property Audit in early November,” said Pedersen. “I believe we have made great progress since our last audit. My team poured their heart and soul into their jobs to support this Command. They anticipated challenges and overcame every obstacle in their way.”