When disaster strikes, Huntsville Center is ready
But what can’t be predicted is what will be left behind when the wind and rain stop.
When Typhoon Bavi ravaged the island in June of this year, like all forces of nature, it was an equal opportunity agent of destruction. Houses were leveled, power was cut, and America’s military facilities sustained damage due to the storm’s 110 mph winds and almost two feet of rain.
Thankfully, the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville's Operation Maintenance Engineering Enhancement Program was already positioned to help.
The storm caused water and wind damage and created an immediate need for corrective maintenance at a facility responsible for caring for patients, U.S. Air Force Clinic Guam.
Huntsville personnel anticipated the severe weather and were prepared to respond when facility officials called. Once the extent of the damage could be assessed, Huntsville Center began working with the Defense Health Agency and its internal contracting and resource management professionals to move the funding needed to begin repairs.
For Vincent Fails, an Operation and Maintenance Engineering Enhancement project manager with Huntsville Center, that ability to respond quickly is one of the program's greatest strengths.
"We were able to get them the support they needed right away to get things moving," Fails said.
The OMEE program supports the operations and maintenance of military medical facilities. Its contractors help keep critical infrastructure and equipment functioning, whether that means generators, kitchen equipment, mechanical systems or other systems necessary for a hospital or clinic to continue its mission.
The value of that relationship can be difficult to measure when everything is working as intended, but It becomes much easier to see when something suddenly is not. Unlike insurance that you buy and hope you never need, Huntsville Center’s OMEE program offers assurance that when you need vital assistance in the face of adversity, they’ve got your back.
Instead of a medical facility beginning from scratch after an emergency… identifying contracting options, finding funding pathways and determining how to move a repair requirement through the acquisition process… an OMEE customer already has a support structure in place.
Fails described Huntsville Center as the link connecting facility managers, contractors, DHA, contracting professionals and other organizations needed to keep the facilities operating. He communicates directly with facility managers at his assigned sites to help coordinate requirements and keep work moving.
That established relationship proved particularly important after the Guam typhoon.
Once the facility reported its damage, Huntsville Center worked with DHA to address the requirement as an emergency. Resource management personnel helped receive the funding, while project management and contracting professionals worked to place the requirement on contract so cleanup and corrective maintenance could begin.
Under normal circumstances, Fails said an operations and maintenance funding request can take two to three weeks or longer before funding reaches Huntsville Center. From there, the requirement must move through additional resource management, project management and contracting actions, with a contract modification normally requiring additional processing time.
But when the rubber meets the road, Huntsville’s partners don’t always have time for things to move at the speed of government. That’s why Fails and the OMEE Team have more than a few aces up their collective sleeves.
"Because of the emergency, we were able to turn this thing around in probably like three to five days," Fails said.
For a medical facility, those saved days can carry consequences beyond a project schedule.
Hospitals and clinics cannot simply put their missions on hold while repairs work their way through a process. Patients continue to need care. Medical personnel continue to need functioning buildings and equipment. Critical infrastructure still has to work.
That reality is one reason OMEE's mission does not begin with the repair itself. The program provides customers with an existing network of people who understand their facilities, contracts and requirements before something goes wrong.
The response in Guam was not about bypassing established processes. It was about having the right relationships and mechanisms already in place, so those processes can be fast-tracked when circumstances demand it.
The reassurance OMEE provides comes from knowing the response does not have to be invented after the problem occurs.
Personnel are already familiar with the customer. Contracting channels already exist. Facility managers know who to call. Project managers know the sites they support. DHA, resource management specialists, contracting officers and contract specialists can work together to turn a requirement into action.
For organizations responsible for facilities that cannot afford extended downtime, that preparation offers a different way to think about maintenance support.
And Guam is only one part of OMEE's footprint.
Fails estimated the program supports nearly 80 medical facilities worldwide, with project managers responsible for multiple locations. His own portfolio includes eight sites.
That reach gives Huntsville Center experience supporting facilities with different missions, environments and operational challenges while maintaining the same fundamental objective: keeping medical facilities operating so medical professionals can focus on caring for patients.
For prospective customers, the process begins by examining the facility's requirements and determining which Huntsville Center medical program best fits the need. OMEE focuses on the continuing operation and maintenance of hospitals and clinics, and Huntsville Center works closely with DHA when determining whether the program can support a facility's requirements.
The program can also send personnel to facilities to better understand conditions on the ground, inspect spaces and evaluate equipment and mechanical systems when needed.
That combination of planning, technical familiarity, contracting capability and customer relationships is what allows OMEE to be useful on ordinary days, and invaluable on extraordinary ones.
During an emergency, U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville's Operations and Maintenance Engineering Enhancement Program is more than just a resource for their customers; they’re a dependable friend who does them right and sees the mission through to the end.
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