Army tracks repair contracts as maintenance workload increases

As the Army continues extensive operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, service leaders are closely monitoring depot repair work and might have to rely on contractors more than in the past.

Modell Plummer, director of sustainment for the Army, says the service is tracking how much work is contracted out at the Army's five in-house weapons repair depots. To contract out more than half of such work, the Army would need special permission from Congress.

"We're monitoring it and we are now in a better position than we were earlier [this year]" for avoiding a waiver, Plummer says. She said the Army has not asked for, nor is the service drawing up, a waiver request.

Earlier this year, Gen. Paul Kern, Army Materiel Command chief, said the service might need a waiver because of increased repair work.

The Army has never before applied for a waiver from the law requiring that half of all depot maintenance and repair work be performed by federal employees. All of the services have depots, but only the Air Force has requested a 50-50 waiver before. Its request came last year.

Lt. Gen. Claude Christianson, the Army's deputy chief of staff for logistics, told a group of defense reporters on Tuesday morning depots are getting more work as equipment, especially Army helicopters, is wearing out faster because of the wars.

Christianson says that after years of downsizing, "people are starting to understand that depots are a powerful capability for the military." The Army's repair centers include Corpus Christi Army Depot in Texas, Tobyhanna and Letterkenny Army Depots in Pennsylvania, Red River Army Depot in Texas, and Anniston Army Depot in Alabama.

The Army expects to increase spending and production at depots this year by 25 percent. Its total depot workforce will grow by 7 percent, from 13,526 to 14,517 uniformed, civilian and contractor personnel, according to the Army Materiel Command.

Debbie Witherspoon, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees at Letterkenny, says the increased workload helps bolster the depots' prospects in the next round of military base closings. "Right now, we are looking good because we are fully workloaded," she says. In the past, depots have been targeted for closure or consolidation because they did not have steady work in peacetime.

Bill Johnson, a staff member for Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., a member of the House Depot Caucus, says the increase in workload could be a "blessing" for the depots.

"During times like these," Johnson said, "you find out how important logistics are."