The Air Force Sustainment Center (AFSC) and Boeing [BA] enter into an “over-arching” public-private partnership that Boeing says will streamline supply chain contracting, save money and speed up execution by as much as 10 months.
The Enterprise Partnering Agreement, which Boeing says is the first of its kind, allows three Air Force logistics complexes that are under the AFSC to immediately execute implementation agreements with Boeing, reducing administrative costs and increasing efficiency, according to a company statement. In the past, the Oklahoma City, Ogden and Warner Robins air logistics complexes would enter into individual partnering agreements with Boeing, a process that took 12 to 16 months to complete.
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| The Air Force’s legacy KC-135 aerial refueling tanker (left) could participate in a Boeing-Air Force partnership that could streamline supply chain contracting. Photo: Air Force. |
Boeing Vice President for Global Services and Support Supply Chain Management Ken Shaw said Friday in an email the agreement already identifies general terms, thus providing a vehicle to streamline the process when Boeing contracts with any of the three air logistics centers. Previously, Shaw said, developing an Air Force partnering agreement was a three-step process that involved developing a senior-level strategic partnering agreement followed by a formal partnering agreement that was specific to one requirement or program. The third step was the implementation agreement required for the actual contract, Shaw said, with the process averaging 18 months.
Shaw said now with the enterprise partnering agreement, the first two steps are eliminated and the parties go directly to the implementation agreement, shaving as much as eight to 10 months from the partnering process. Shaw said some programs currently anticipating use of this agreement are F-15, KC-135, Air Force landing gear, KC-46 and the A-10 wing replacement program.
This agreement, Shaw said, can support a cadre of requirements from small repairs or services to broad total program requirements for spares and repairs, or other services like software, commodities and new technologies. Shaw also said Boeing is open to partnering with other military services and agencies should the need arise and that it is always in discussion with the services to identify opportunities to leverage existing service capability. Shaw deferred questions about how much money would be saved through this partnership to the Air Force.