DoD Salutes Acquisition Workforce at Pentagon Ceremony

The Defense Department honored 17 individuals and two organizations within the department’s acquisition community yesterday in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan, who hosted the 2017 Defense Acquisition Workforce awards ceremony, said the 165,000 acquisitions professionals within the Defense Department comprise a group that gets things done behind the scenes.

“In 2016, we did 269,000 contracts. That’s unbelievable,” Shanahan said. “All of you in the acquisition system… are simultaneously improving it.”

Congratulating the awardees, he said, “You’re an inspiration to those of us who are new to the Pentagon. You’re the people we’ll go to and listen to, and you’ll help [DoD] become even more competitive than we are today.”

Ellen M. Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics thanked the award winners and told them, “You’re making a difference both here in the Pentagon, to our nation, and to all of our allies and partners around the world.”

He said the immediate focus is 38 classes of objects that represent the kinds of things the department needs to detect, especially in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Winners in the individual achievement awards category are:

• Melissa Panarelli, Defense Contract Audit Agency, auditing;
• Gary Trimble, Navy, contracting and procurement;
• Wilson Rosa, Navy, cost estimating;
• Air Force Lt. Col. Andrew Vrabec, Air Force, earned value management;
• Daniel Carroll, U.S. Southern Command, engineering;
• Valerie Clinkenbeard, Army, facilities engineering;
• Jeffrey Martin, Air Force, financial management;
• Michael Cirillo, Marine Corps, information technology;
• George Graham Jr., U.S. Special Operations Command, life cycle logistics;
• Navy Capt. Charles Stuart, Navy, production, quality and manufacturing;
• Marine Corps Lt. Col. Thomas Atkinson, Socom, program management;
• Charles Bass Jr., Army, science and technology manager;
• Ulises Cartaya, Socom, services acquisition;
• Lee Rosenberg, Missile Defense Agency, small business
• Thomas Sachse, Navy, test and evaluation.

Winners in workforce development innovation awards are:

• Large organization: Defense Contract Management Agency, Fort Lee, Virginia; and
• Small organization: U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida

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