DLA leadership visits Tinker : Town hall meeting held to discuss Air Force civilian's future transition to DLA

Published May 2, 2008
By Marti D. Ribeiro
ICF International

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- Defense Logistics Agency officials conducted a town hall meeting April 18 at the 552nd Operations Group auditorium to discuss the transfer of function related to the procurement of new depot-level reparables in the coming months.
   As part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure legislation to consolidate depot-level reparable procurement for new DLRs in a single DoD agency, the Depot-Level Reparable Support Branch, a part of the Air Force Global Logistics Support Center at Tinker Air Force Base, will transfer to DLA June 22.
   "I am excited about this transition and working with areas across DoD in support of the warfighter," said Michael Yort, who has been selected as the chief of the contracting office for the DLR detachment at Tinker.
   Yvette Burke, acquisition executive at Defense Supply Center Richmond, visited Tinker to conduct the town hall and answer questions transferring employees might have.
   Burke gave the audience an in-depth look at the organizational structure of DLA and the transformation that is part of the BRAC commission's decision to consolidate new DLR procurement activities across all military services into DLA. This consolidation is designed to help DoD leverage its new DLR buying power with suppliers.
   During the town hall, Burke stressed the importance of the mission and the DLA director's focus on warfighters.
   "Number one in Lt. Gen. (Robert) Dail's mind is always supporting the warfighter," she said. "We can never lose sight of that."
   After Burke finished, several DLA members from payroll and human resources informed the audience of possible changes to their pay and benefits.
   "It's important to remember that this is simply a transfer-in-place; there will be no change in title, series or grade for the employees transitioning," said Tom Barger, a human resource specialist from the DLA Human Resources Center.
   "Annual and sick leave balances will transfer, 'comp' time will pay out, but travel 'comp' time and time-off awards must be taken before the transfer," Barger said.
   Payroll officials assured the employees who are transferring that allotments and direct deposit information will transfer and they can still use MyPay to access their payroll information.
   Barger encouraged those transitioning to visit the DLA Human Resources Web site at www.hr.dla.mil.
   According to Burke, town halls give transitioning employees information about DLA and keep the lines of communication open.
   "I think you and people like you at these different DLR sites are going to bring a lot to DLA - we are going to learn a lot from you," she said.
   "It's going to be a new culture that is formed out of the different cultures of the Services and DLA," said Burke.