Page 12 - FCW, May/June 2020

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Navy speeds acquisition amid COVID-19 outbreak
The Navy has been awarding contracts faster since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and it has made some
of the biggest gains in systems
that identify supply chain weaknesses, said James Geurts, the Navy’s acquisition executive.
The Navy has spent the past
two years building systems that
can provide real-time visibility
into its supply chain, including
gaps for major programs. Officials have now overlapped
the capability with data that indicates where companies
have shut down or where
there has been an increase in coronavirus cases, Geurts said during the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space virtual conference in April.
That additional insight allows the Navy to “see what suppliers are at risk,”
he added. “When we understand that, we can start managing those potential
Like many organizations, the Navy is using 3D printers to fabricate parts for materials that are not readily available through existing supply chains. The Navy has networked all of its 3D printers so officials can understand where the need for such supplies is most pressing and ensure “that we’re not competing or conflicting with
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May/June 2020 FCW.COM
The federal government’s largest union is demanding more protection for workers under President Donald Trump’s plan to start requiring federal employees to return to their offices.
On April 20, the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget issued a joint memo with guidance for federal agencies to begin reopening government offices to workers. The plan would allow agencies to compel the healthiest employees to return once there have been no new coronavirus cases in a two-week period, among other conditions.
“I must strongly rebuke the administration for publishing a set of guidelines that is both premature and imprudent,” wrote Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a letter to the acting
leaders of OPM and OMB. “These guidelines would, if implemented too soon, worsen the crisis and unnecessarily expose millions of Americans to illness and potentially to death.”
AFGE has told the Trump administration that agencies must offer universal testing for the disease and develop scientific standards for workplace safety before compelling employees to return to government offices. Additionally, the union is demanding hand sanitizer, masks and other personal protective equipment for federal employees and mandatory paid leave or telework policies for those who show symptoms of COVID- 19 and must self-isolate for 14 days. In addition, agencies must comply with collective bargaining agreements.
In an April 22 memo, OPM said recent legislation that addresses
relief and response to the coronavirus pandemic adds two weeks of paid sick leave for COVID-19 recovery and quarantine. However, other provisions for paid leave in recent legislation do not apply to federal employees.
Other elected officials, meanwhile, are urging the administration to keep telework policies in place for federal workers, more than a fifth of whom live in the National Capital Region.
“While of course any essential employee should continue to report to work, we know that a continued federal telework policy will help save lives by allowing more of our region’s 360,000 federal employees to work from home,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote in a letter to acting OPM Director Michael Rigas.
— Lia Russell
Capt. Scott Nguyen, a resident physician at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, helps Staff Sgt. Jacklyn Smith adjust her face shield. Due to a shortage of disposable masks, the Air Force’s 15th Wing is using 3D printers to make face shields to donate across Hawaii to combat COVID-19.
delays into our supply system.” The enhanced capability helps the Navy manage continuing operations, move supplies if necessary and know when suppliers are back online.
Trump’s plan to reopen federal offices draws criticism
each other,” Geurts said.
With contracts going out more quickly than usual during the pandemic, the Navy has been examining its business practices and learning how to better collaborate, reduce backlogs and avoid duplicating functions, he said. Those improvements should help the Navy recover quickly after
the pandemic ends, he added.
— Lauren C. Williams
U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY AIRMAN 1ST CLASS ERIN BAXTER