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News | May 24, 2016

DCMA provides pricing support to C-130 Hercules aircraft

By DeVonn Fray DCMA Lockheed Martin Marietta

MARIETTA, Ga., May 24, 2016 — The Defense Contract Management Agency Lockheed Martin Marietta team recently provided pricing support to the C-130 Hercules Division Mobility Directorate located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, involving the negotiations of the Multi-Year Procurement II contract.

As a result of their efforts, the C-130J Program Office was able to announce an agreement with Lockheed Martin for the procurement of 78 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. The contract management office was also able to save the government $680 million on its $5.3 billion contract in the process.

Lockheed Martin officials initially asked DCMA for assistance in reviewing an unsolicited Multi-Year II proposal. Once the Air Force agreed that the proposal was needed and should be pursued, DCMA LM Marietta began making plans to participate in the process.

Marguerite Antoine, pricing team supervisor, said she was excited to work on the contract.

“Our agency played a pivotal role in expediting reviews and getting an award that was fair and reasonable,” she said. “In an effort to reach the fair and reasonable goal, I pursued a bill of material structured improvement action that implemented new measures. These measures were needed because at that time, review limitations with the Defense Contract Audit Agency had changed and DCMA’s pricing capabilities were in the early stages of revitalization. These new implemented processes reduced review times from over 300 review days to an average of 75 days or less.”

In addition to the bill of material improvement action, the team worked hard on subcontractor reviews. During the subcontractor review process, LaNorma Shelton-Thomas, a procurement technician, adjusted her work schedule to communicate with subcontractors around the world.

“After early morning and late-night calls to Australia and the United Kingdom, after facilitating the review of 200-plus subcontractors with approximately $2 billion worth of proposed cost, and after redacting hundreds of reports, the feeling in my right hand has finally returned, and just as important, our customer appeared to be very pleased,” said Shelton-Thomas.

DCMA LM Marietta team members said they take their jobs seriously when evaluating contracts.
 
Cost and price analyst Priscilla Driscoll said, “The role of cost and price analysts is crucial to major negotiations. Examining the data proposed by contractors is the foundation for determining a fair and reasonable price.”

Sarah Sullivan, also a cost and price analyst, said, “We are the detail-oriented stewards of taxpayer dollars. We want to ensure funds are not wasted because that money could be allocated to other projects helping service members in harm’s way. Participating in this contract review process gave me a sense of gratification, both personally and professionally. I truly felt I made a difference by supporting the warfighters and taxpayers.”

Antoine said her entire team worked hard to save the government money on the contract.

“Some of the people on the pricing team focused their attention on factor reviews in an effort to find potential savings for the government,” she said. “Additionally pricing team engineer members, such as Richard Bolden, conducted plant floor visits to determine if contractor work practices were necessary for the type of work being proposed under the Multi-Year Procurement II contract effort. Not only was his work meticulous and time consuming, it was necessary to deliver the great quality of service DCMA is known for worldwide.”

Rocky Miller, a divisional administrative contracting officer, said he was proud to be a part of a team that saved the government a lot of money.

“It was good to be a part of the team that was able to ensure the government received a fair and reasonable price for such a large effort,” said Miller.

Barry Lubrant, a cost and price analyst, said employees need to remember that DCMA’s mission is vital in saving its customers money.

“This project is an excellent example of what can be accomplished through the coordinated efforts of the Air Force and DCMA,” he said.

As a result of their hard work, Anthony Zompetti, the Air Force's director of Development & Production, C-130 Hercules Division, presented the staff with a letter of appreciation, which read, “Due to your team’s assistance, the C-130J Program Office was able to achieve their objective and complete negotiations with a CAPE (Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation) assessed savings of $680 million over the life of the [Multi-Year Procurement II contract] effort. This was in no small part due to the dedicated support from DCMA.”