Academy procurement officials nominated for DOD, Air Force awards

  • Published
  • By Ray Bowden
  • Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Several Academy acquisition officials have been nominated to compete for high-level Defense Department and Air Force contracting awards.

James Anderson and Matthew McLean, contracting officers at the 10th Contracting Squadron, will compete for DOD-level individual awards; Jessica Niebuhr, also an Academy contracting officer, will compete for an Air Force-level individual award.

After winning the DOD Bronze award for Workforce Development last year, the10th CONS was again nominated by Air Force leadership to compete in this category.

"After earning the bronze last year we have our sights set a little higher in 2014," said 10th CONS director James Berns.

Also, a team of contracting and U.S. Air Force Academy Athletic Cooperative Agreement officials will compete at the Air Force-level for the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award recognizing best acquisition practices.
Anderson was nominated in the Contracting and Procurement Category for saving the Air Force $73 million while managing contract acquisitions for the Fix USAFA initiative designed to upgrade facilities here.

McLean was nominated in the Contracting in an Expeditionary Environment Category for managing security and logistic contracts during a year-long civilian deployment to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.

Niebuhr was nominated in the Business Category for improving 10th CONS support of Academy research projects and managing a wealth of cooperative agreements between the Academy and non-DOD agencies.

"Winning three of the four nominations in the individual categories is gratifying and a great reflection on the dedication and professionalism of our contracting staff," Berns said.

The 10th CONS and U.S. Air Force Academy Athletic Cooperative Agreement Team has been nominated for the DOD's David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award for its work leading to the award of the cooperative agreement resulting in the establishment of the AFAAC, a nonprofit organization owned by the secretary of the Air Force, Berns said.

The 16-member team was led by Shawna Bowshot, a 10th CONS contracting officer and John Coulahan, the Athletic Department's associate athletic director for finance program manager.