Att_33_-_Scenario_1,_Field_Support.pdf

DOS Request for Proposals No. SAQMMA17R0168, Attachment 33

SCENARIO

FOR

FIELD TECHNICIAN OPERATIONS

Introduction

• DOS technical staff is responsible for maintaining and installing technical security systems at embassies and consulates worldwide.

• The staff at an overseas engineering services center (ESC) typically consists of three engineers and three to six technicians. This group is responsible for an embassy facility, as well as ten to twelve other regional locations.

• Currently products are ordered via the Department’s implementation of CMMS. Field technical security personnel typically place 2 types of orders: the first is specific to a particular repair or installation effort; the second is for restocking the storeroom.

Applicable Conditions

• Usual approval time is 3 – 4 weeks. High priority (Level 4) items can be approved within a few hours. This is typically accomplished by telephone calls and emails outside of the system.

• Shipments via diplomatic pouch can add two or more weeks, depending on the location.

• CMMS displays a menu of transportation options, but does not provide information on the expected delivery timeframes or the associated costs.

• There is no permanent professional cadre of logisticians that support ST activities overseas:

o Logistician positions are generally filled by eligible family members with variable levels of logistics experience. Eligible family members rotate out of post every two to three years with the employee – this means that vacancies in logistician positions are routine and variable in duration. The majority of positions overseas are vacant at this time.

o 20% of global field offices do not have a logistician position at all (as distinct from a vacancy).

• As a result, technicians are often responsible for logistics, in addition to their installation and maintenance responsibilities. This is not an area they are trained in, and the system they must use is not intuitive.

• It is time consuming to match incoming inventory to work orders. For instance, over a six to eight week period a lock could have been ordered for stock, or it could have been ordered for an installation project. The current system requires the technician to go through multiple screens in an attempt to match the PO to a specific work order.

• If/when items from one PO are used to satisfy a different work order (which has a different PO number with the same items) both POs remain open until the first one is closed.

• Failure rates of equipment are not tracked either at the local or global level.

Outcomes (from the PWS)

• Improvements in logistics processes, tools, and/or services enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of DS technical personnel in the field.

• Timely, accurate inventory and order status information enables DS technical personnel to schedule and perform maintenance and installation activities efficiently.

• Improvements in receiving and inventory processes and/or tools reduce the logistics

DOS Request for Proposals No. SAQMMA17R0168, Attachment 33

SCENARIO

FOR

FIELD TECHNICIAN OPERATIONS

burden on DS technical personnel and the need for dedicated logisticians in the field.

• DS technical personnel have easy access to deployment and maintenance guides, equipment performance trends and failure rates, technical bulletins and updates, and other information that enable them to install, troubleshoot, repair, and maintain deployed equipment and solutions effectively and efficiently.

Scenario Response

• Provide a detailed description of how the Outcomes from the PWS will be achieved, including a clear description of any and all efforts undertaken to ensure the Outcomes are achieved within the Performance Standards.

• Identify the resources to be employed; human resources and salient other-than-human resources.

• Identify the schedule for achieving the Outcomes.

• Separately identify the dependencies upon which the approach for achieving the Outcome is based.

• Describe, in detail, any assumptions and/or contingencies upon which the approach for fulfilling the scenario is based.