LOGCAP team conducts site visit to Kenya, provides contracting surveillance training

CAMP SIMBA, Kenya - Commanders call on the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program when all other options have been analyzed and determined inadequate. That's especially true on the continent of Africa, and one of the locations where LOGCAP services are currently being utilized by commanders there is Camp Simba in Manda Bay, Kenya.

Recently a small team of LOGCAP professionals conducted a site visit to Camp Simba to provide training and customer education on LOGCAP services. The U.S. Army Sustainment Command's LOGCAP program management office Africa branch chief, Robert McCauley, as well as Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Clark, LOGCAP contractor Scotte Jones, and Jacob Spitler, a LOGCAP planner with Army Field Support Battalion-Africa, visited Camp Simba Sept. 6-9.

While there, the team met with the camp's installation commander to discuss current and future operations. They also met with the LOGCAP contracting officer representative, the lead civil engineer and the contingency contracting officer to educate them on how to maximize the use of the LOGCAP program and how to better prepare the incoming unit with their contracting officer representative duties and surveillance.

"One of the big things we do is we try to meet with the requiring activity, the unit downrange, to make sure they understand the LOGCAP program and how to use it," Spitler said. "We want to ensure they are able to articulate their requirements so that we can meet the needs of the warfighter, forward."

Spitler said they do this by going to the sites and meeting with the leadership and the contracting officer representatives to ensure they have the proper training and education when it comes to LOGCAP.

"We're there to ensure the expectations of the customers and the services LOGCAP provides to those customers are being met. Customer satisfaction - whatever the customer needs - whether that's food service, laundry, potable water - LOGCAP is there," said McCauley.

Some of the locations the LOGCAP team visited while at Camp Simba were the two dining facilities, the fuel point, the bulk storage area, the power generation area, the bulk water production area with its water purification and treatment system, and other key service and support facilities.

The team noted several areas that needed more attention and improvement. For example, many of the latrines they checked were either missing inspection sheets or they were not properly filled out. In addition, multiple eyewash stations and fire extinguishers had not been inspected in the past 60 days, even though regulatory guidance requires inspections monthly. The team noted all deficiencies, relayed the information to the contracting officer representative and the contracted agency lead on the ground, and prepared a briefing to report their findings to the 405th AFSB and the LOGCAP program office at ASC headquarters.

Previously, the supported Air Force element at Camp Simba identified a potential power distribution issue on the east side of camp, and LOGCAP stepped in to assist. With over 600 U.S. military personnel working there, it was critical that LOGCAP quickly identified what was needed and submitted a letter of technical direction to the contractor to complete the work. In this case, LOGCAP quickly executed and helped correct the issue immediately.

LOGCAP is an Army strategic sourcing preferred source for base operations support and sustainment services. LOGCAP services can include everything from laundry and food service to recreation, maintenance, power generation, information technology, medical services, physical security, and more.

LOGCAP remains the contracted capability of choice for the Army and multiple joint partners for emergent and contingency operations. Currently, the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's LOGCAP program supports thousands of deployed U.S. forces in Europe and Africa with base life support and more.

The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The brigade provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. forces throughout Europe and Africa - providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging AMC's materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website and the official Facebook site.

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