District Wins USACE Excellence in Contracting Award

Published May 1, 2017
Stuart A. Hazlett (front row, center), director of contracting for USACE, visited the District’s contracting office in October 2016 to review their contracting efforts.

Stuart A. Hazlett (front row, center), director of contracting for USACE, visited the District’s contracting office in October 2016 to review their contracting efforts.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District’s contracting Division was awarded top honors by the USACE Excellence in Contracting Awards Program for fiscal year 2016.

The District competed against seven other Districts throughout the country and earned the District/Center of the Year Award for outstanding efforts in meeting contracting milestones and metrics requirements.

"A big accomplishment for us this year was our ability to meet all of our P2 milestones; where we were able to obligate funds to contracts by the deadline," said Scott Harris, District contracting chief. He added that the ability to obligate funds on time meant the contracts were not delayed.

The contracting department doesn’t just play an integral role in funding the contracts, it is also responsible for closing out the contract once the work is complete.

The District’s contracting team worked hard to ensure all contracting metrics were met on time, Harris said, and that dedication showed during their recent procurement management review, an audit performed by headquarters every three years to determine the performance level of the office.

"The procurement management review done by headquarters showed that we were in the green and effectively working as a team to get the contracts taken care of," Harris said. "We also learned that we were the only District to be in the green [top ratings] among the Districts they had already reviewed."

Harris credits the award not only to his immediate team, but the District’s employees as a whole.

"We have really hardworking people here and have a great support team outside of contracting," he said. "Everyone should share in this award and be proud of the work they do."

As for trying to win the top spot again next year, Harris said he and his team will keep working to be as efficient as possible as more contracts continue to come in.