At some point in your career at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), your boss may ask you to contract out a requirement. and you think to yourself, "Oh, no! Not a contract! What's a contract? Who do I call?"

Well, there is no need to worry. The Engineering Liaison Office (ELO) can help you significantly by properly assisting with your procurement and reduce the stress of navigating the contracting process.
Organizationally, the ELO is an office within the Contracts Department.

Head of ELO, Bill Sawyer, referred to his team of specialists as a bridge between two communities. All ELO scientists and engineers have taken some of the basic classes required for Contracting Officers.

"So although we're not technically Contracting Officers, we can speak their language as well as the technical workforce's," said Sawyer. "Because both communities speak two different and highly specialized languages, we're here to help translate the needs of each side, we are the interface between those two communities."

So, why is it important to consult with ELO well in advance of needing contractual supplies or services? For a large procurement, over $1 million, you really need to start the process 18 months prior to needing the supplies or services.

The following list is exemplary of how ELO can help you prepare:

ELO can identify existing contracts that might already meet your requirements without procuring a new contract.

ELO can help you conduct market research.

ELO can help you develop your statement of work (SOW)/performance work statement (PWS), key personnel qualifications, evaluation factors, etc.

ELO can help you develop your independent government cost estimate. ELO can advise on the best procurement strategy for your requirements in consult with the Contracting Officer.

ELO advises current customers with expiring Seaport requirements 18 months in advance that the requirement will be up for renewal. ELO can help you provide quality technical documents up front to reduce the number of rewrites.

According to Contract Specialist Tim Reed, it can be directly related to another common concern.

"People will often ask, 'Why does it take so long to award a contract,'" said Reed.

According to Reed, a direct correlation exists between the teaming efforts between the customer, ELO, and the contracting officer while preparing technical documentation (e.g. SOW/PWS, Key Personnel, Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) Report) and how long it takes to award the action. Better teaming relationships reduce the Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT) or the amount of time it takes to award a contract action.

"The ELO can help expedite PALT by assisting the customers prepare the required technical documentation," said Reed. "By engaging the ELO approximately 18 months before a contract award is needed, the Contract's Department will be more successful at meeting the warfighters' needs."

Since the office was established in 1987, it has been recognized as a best practice by several Procurement Surveillance Reviews and the Warfare Center Contracting Lean Event. According to Sawyer, continuous process improvement is an inherent part of his staff's objectives evident in the services practiced daily by ELO personnel.

Sawyer created a Procurement Requirements Desk Book that describes, step-by-step, how to develop a complete technical requirements package.

"The ELO has improved the quality of SOW, specifications, and other acquisition documentation that reduces the burden on Contract Specialists and technical personnel by providing proactive guidance-based services," said Sawyer. "Although NSWC PCD ELO and our Contracting Office have been recognized as having an expedient and efficient PALT, the ELO believes that continuous process improvement is as much a constant as is change. We still need to continue to improve practices associated with the contracting processes."

Sawyer said NSWC PCD's Contract's Department has ELO specialists available to assist anyone with questions relative to submitting technical documentation to the command's Contract Specialists.

"Not only will our ELO specialists help the command's technical community identify what documentation they are required to prepare, but we will also assist with how to submit their contract requirements packages," said Sawyer.

To consult with an ELO specialist, please call ELO Helpdesk-1 at (850) 235-5820; ELO Helpdesk-2 at (850) 234-4800; ELO Helpdesk-3 at (850) 234-4180; and ELO Helpdesk-4 at (850) 234-4313. Or check out ELO's website at: https://nserc.nswc.navy.mil/nswcpcd/Departments/g_dept/ELO/SitePages/Home.aspx.

For more news from Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, visit www.navy.mil/local/NSWC/.