Army Announces Army Contracting Campaign Plan

US Army, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren announced Feb. 29 his Army Contracting Campaign Plan (ACCP) to address findings and recommendations from two previous independent reviews — the Gansler Commission and the Army Contracting Task Force. Under the leadership of Acting Under Secretary of the Army Nelson M. Ford, the ACCP will enable the Secretary of the Army to execute recommended improvements to Army contracting. 
 
The ACCP will continue ongoing efforts to identify and implement needed changes in doctrine, organization, training, leader development, materiel, personnel and facilities while coordinating efforts across the Army's force development process. 
 
The ACCP will also comply with Congressional reporting requirements outlined in Section 849 (b) (1) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Pub. L. 110-181). The ACCP will be used to integrate Army efforts with similar initiatives under the purview of Office of the Secretary of Defense. 
 
Further, Secretary Geren recently directed the establishment of the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) as a major subordinate command of the Army Materiel Command (AMC) and the realignment of the U.S. Army Contracting Agency (ACA) under the AMC. This decision immediately implements the Gansler Commission recommendation to restructure Army contracting efforts and assign responsibility to facilitate contracting and contract management in expeditionary and U.S.-based operations. 
 
The ACA presently provides contracting services for installation-level services and supplies, and common-use information technology hardware, software and services. The realignment of ACA to AMC places the majority of the Army's contracting resources into one Army command which will provide a full-range of contracting services. 
 
The ACC will be a two-star level command with two one-star level subordinate commands: an expeditionary contracting command and an installation contracting command. Specifics regarding the new command, its geographic locations, organizational structure and milestones for staffing these organizations with qualified persons are still being developed.