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Young AFLCMC Contracting Officer helps fight pandemic

  • Published
  • By Allyson B. Crawford, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Public Affairs

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment established the Joint Acquisition Task Force (JATF) to synchronize acquisition execution of the Department of Defense support for resources and to maintain the strategic national stockpile of medical supplies. While the JATF has transitioned to the Defense Assisted Acquisition (DA2) Cell, the work of securing items for the stockpile continues for COVID-19 and future national emergencies.

The JATF was formed on March 25, 2020. To help, the Dept. of the Air Force created DAF-ACT, which is acquisition support for the task force. The day the DAF-ACT was formed, AFLCMC civilian Contracting Officer Tiffani Akers joined. Akers, along with several other Wright-Patterson AFB Airmen, found themselves thrust into the fight against a deadly disease. The task force is comprised of more than 500 individuals from across government and includes approximately 160 AFLCMC personnel across CONUS. 

[Related: read how the Digital PEO at Hanscom AFB is boosting US production of COVID-19 medical supplies]

As the pandemic became the focus of the world, Akers maintained some regular job duties but became a utility member of the task force. She interacts mostly with the testing and diagnostic team to process vendor responses, provide required letters and other materials to partner organizations and then works to transition the deals to the execution team once a requirement is assigned.

The urgency of the crisis means fast paced work and that also equates to learning opportunities. Akers points to hearing experienced perspectives and observing the expertise of the large task force as a military success. The task force is decentralized by design to keep pushing progress forward.

With an undergraduate degree in finance and an MBA, Akers is quick to admit she did not foresee a career in government contracts in her future. She certainly never thought she would be securing medical items to help frontline workers during a pandemic. This has been one of the most educational experiences of her seven year career at Wright-Patt.

“I really enjoy this career. It is very rewarding and empowering,” explains Akers. “As a Contracting Officer, I’m responsible for negotiating deals with vendors and I’m the only one with the authority to sign contracts on behalf of the government. It’s a unique responsibility that when we negotiate with companies that our counterparts don’t always have the same authority as we do. Often times they have to go to their leadership to get a decision but we are empowered to make those decisions within our units and authority.”

That empowerment helps move the contracting process swiftly when time matters. Akers recognizes her contribution in the life-and-death fight against COVID-19. Keeping the national stockpile full of items like swabs, ventilators, masks and other PPE is a main focus.