REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. –
The Aviation and Missile Command held the 2023 Advanced Planning Briefings to Industry at its headquarters March 21-23.
The annual event is an information exchange and discussion between industry, academia, and Team Redstone government partners. APBI focuses on Team Redstone’s core technical capabilities, acquisition needs and future opportunities. This year’s event was hybrid, held both in Bob Jones Auditorium as well as virtually – allowing participants options for attending.
“APBI is a forum in which we can share and partner with industry,” AMCOM Ombudsman Terri Schwierling said. “AMCOM hosts it, but it really is a Team Redstone event. It provides an opportunity to share information and transparency of our requirements and future opportunities, as well as what we are looking for in the future with upcoming contracts.”
The first day included overviews of many of the organizations on Redstone Arsenal and focused on supporting the warfighter. Day two featured small business forums and discussions, as well as a matchmaking opportunity that allowed small businesses to engage directly with large, prime contractors and government agencies. The final day focused on the contracting process, to include a panel discussion with Army Contracting Command-Redstone.
“The panel discussed and described the source selection process,” Schwierling said. “It’s very beneficial for both small and large businesses to understand that process.”
During his opening remarks, AMCOM Commander Maj. Gen. Tom O’Connor thanked industry partners, especially the defense industrial base, as they enable AMCOM to provide the best equipment to sustain and support Soldiers on the ground today and in the future.
He provided an overview of the different elements that compose AMCOM and the top initiatives he’s focused on, which include:
- Future capabilities – on-boarding new technology and systems, and incorporating that new technology into existing legacy systems, as well as using data analytics to drive decisions and anticipate requirements.
- Readiness – supply chain optimization, mitigating obsolescence with advanced manufacturing and modernizing the organic industrial base to ensure the facilities can sustain legacy systems, as well as future weapons systems.
“People are the top priority, and just as AMCOM is focused on Soldiers to win, the command is also focusing on enabling the workforce that supports them to be successful,” O’Connor said. “We are investing in training and management, and building systems, technologies and processes.”
O’Connor also highlighted AMCOM’s partnership with small businesses.
“Last year alone we had over 4,900 contracts awarded to small businesses, and we are really proud of that,” he said. “There’s no doubt that the small businesses enable us to sustain the industrial base.”
However, regardless of size, O’Connor said both small and large businesses partnerships allow AMCOM to sustain and support Soldiers on the ground today and in the future.
“What we do matters and what we do today will make a difference,” he said. “Why we exist and why we do what we do is all to support that Soldier out there on the battlefield today — that Soldier that’s out there defending freedom around the world and defending our way of life.”