Marine Corps Food Service
Transcripción
Marine Corps Food Service
COMMANDER’S UPDATE Marine Corps Food Service Lt. Col. Carlos Sanabria, USMC, Director Marine Corps Foodservice Program Government Food Service: What changes to Marine Corps foodservice operations have you seen or helped to bring about since last year’s Commander’s Update? Lt. Col. Sanabria: I have been fortunate to have an extremely professional staff supporting the foodservice program. While it is too early to claim credit for specific changes, we have been extremely busy over the past year. Our efforts have included: the testing of the prototype Expeditionary Field Kitchen; planned fielding of the Enhanced-TRHS; participation in myriad discussions involving the Common Food Management System (CFMS); participation in the Joint Integrated Field Feeding (JIFF) working group; and, last, but certainly not least, the tremendous effort in preparation of documents necessary for our follow-on garrison foodservice contracts. Additionally, we worked with the U.S. Army Veterinary Command (VetCom) to conduct its first iteration of the Operational Rations Course specifically structured for Marines. The course was derived from the two-week course held annually at the Department of Veterinary Science at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The core audience was Marine Corps foodservice personnel, with other attendees including the supply community assigned to local rations warehouse and to geographically located Army food inspectors. Twenty-six participants were trained to familiarize Marines with identity and inspection procedures of rations in accordance with VETCOM inspection references and procedures. Government Food Service: For 2009, your answer focused on addressing skill-set and occupational specialty progression; please explain this and describe what lies ahead for 2010. Lt. Col. Sanabria: The needs of the operating forces have been voiced to the Director, Marine Corps Food Service Courses and addressed via several Course Content Review Boards (CCRB), Professional Military Education and symposiums. The CCRB procedure validated required skill sets and developed and incorporated changes to the foodservice curriculums at all levels. We will continue to coordinate efforts between formal schools and the training provided by our Food Management Teams to improve proficiency. 44 Government Food Service • March 2010 Government Food Service: Seems as though the Marines are being environmentally conscious, trying to reduce food waste and control plastic foam. Lt. Col. Sanabria: Following up on initiatives addressed last year, continued efforts have been implemented at installations with the procurement of additional compost machines that reduce the weight and volume of food scraps generated by the mess halls. The contract for a total oil-management system aboard Camp Lejeune was recently awarded with implementation ongoing. Additional actions are being taken to prepare the facilities to support this type of closed-loop system. Through our contracting partners, our CONUS mess halls have been employing innovative best-practices for sustainability that include the recycling of cardboard, plastic bottles, metal cans and paper. Mess Sodexo.qxd:Layout 1 2/25/09 2:14 PM Page 1 COMMANDER’S UPDATE halls aboard the Marine Corps Air Ground Task Force Twentynine Palms, Calif., have almost completely eliminated the use of Styrofoam. The Food Service Officer aboard Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, has a very aggressive plan to use almost exclusively biodegradable flatware for take-out service with a potential to include these products for inhouse feeding as well. In addition, our re-solicitation requires offerors to provide a Green Procurement Strategy plan. Government Food Service: Please discuss any new initiatives or concepts for Marine Corps foodservice operations for 2010 or beyond. Lt. Col. Sanabria: The Marine Corps has participated in several working group meetings with representatives from the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army PM-Force Sustainment Systems (PM-FSS) to discuss areas of potential commonality for field-feeding equipment and systems. The overall purpose is to bring the three services that use ground-based field-feeding systems together in a structured manner to work toward designing and engineering common systems that each service can use in its own respective operational situations. The group is specifically looking at developing standard interfaces, appliance configurations, design constraints, definitions of commerciality, and common maintenance standards and concepts. This Joint Integrated field-feeding working group has been hosted by representatives from the Office of the Director, Food Systems Equipment Team, and Systems Equipment and Engineering Team and Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC). In garrison, we await the initiatives that industry will propose with the RGFSC competitive bid and we look forward to implementing these upon contract award. Common Food Management System (CFMS). The services in coordination with the J6 and the J4 staff continue to advance the development of this program. The CFMS is a system that has been designed to replace the services’ five current food management systems, and is scheduled for Marine Corps pilot during 2011. The CFMS executive board, chaired by the director, DLA, and attended by senior leaders from the services and Joint Staff, meet frequently and are committed to a joint solution for common processes. Government Food Service: What effect, if any, will the consolidation under Joint Culinary Center of Excellence have for Marine Corps food service? Lt. Col. Sanabria: While the Marine Corps is satisfied with our current training at Fort Lee, we are looking forward to observing the Navy and Air Force foodservice programs, which will enhance our perspective and familiarity. It should be noted that the U.S. Army and 46 Government Food Service • March 2010 Marines have been in this joint environment for several years now, so the addition of the other services should have no immediate impact on our food service program. At this point, there are no imminent changes to the curriculum. Government Food Service: Is there anything else you would like to add about the evolution of Marine Corps foodservice operations? What are the most significant concerns facing Marine Corps food service? Have you attended any civilian conferences that presented interesting culinary strategies? Lt. Col. Sanabria: My primary concern is to maintain the essential ability to meet the requirement to provide foodservice operations to the expeditionary forces. Another concern is to ensure that our CONUSbased mess halls continue to deliver good food at a good value to the Marines and the Corps. Finally, I want to ensure that the decisions that are made today with regard to equipment and rations, support the needs of tomorrow’s warfighter. Government Food Service: The Regional Garrison Foodservice Contracts expired in September 2009, leaving one remaining option year, which expires in September 2010. Will the second phase cover the same number of facilities? How will the second set of contracts differ from the first? You suggested one difference is performance based instead of government procedures. Please explain any changes. How are the changes expected to affect the day-to-day menu options? Lt. Col. Sanabria: The Marine Corps exercised the final option year with Sodexo effective Oct. 1, 2009. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was advertised in Federal Business Opportunities on Oct. 30, 2009, highlighting our requirements for the follow-on solicitations. Additional solicitation revisions (amendments), including our response to over 200 questions from offerors, have also posted to FedBizOps. The government will award a single contract resulting from each solicitation, East and West Coast. Award of contract will be based on an inte- COMMANDER’S UPDATE grated assessment of each proposal, and award will be made to the offeror whose proposal is judged to provide the best overall value to the government on evaluation factors included in the RFP. The due date for proposals for each contract is February 24, 2010. The follow-on contracts will contain Incentive and Award Fee applications that include provisions for application of both Incentive Fee payments and Award Fee payments, based on information provided in an Incentive/Award Fee Plan, which is available in the solicitation. The number of facilities under the proposal is not significantly different from our present number. Our Installation Food Service Officers have been engaged in several Military Construction projects that will add, refurbish and/or consolidate current mess halls. We are in the process of opening new mess halls aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C., with additional projects scheduled for Camp Lejeune, and a future project aboard Marine Air Ground Task Force Twentynine Palms, Calif. Government Food Service: What changes have been made to the Marine Corps 21-day Master Menu over the past year, and what changes are in store for 2010? Do menus vary between the contract-managed food service at domestic bases and Marine Corps-operated facilities overseas? There seems to be an emphasis on diversifying the menu 48 Government Food Service • March 2010 with ethnic meals and Limited Time Offerings. Is this consistent worldwide or only at contract-managed facilities on the continental U.S.? Lt. Col. Sanabria: Last year’s menu refresh has been well received by our Marines and Sailors, and we are satisfied with that implementation. With this year’s emphasis on the recompete for the CONUS mess halls, we have yet to tackle that effort in earnest. Nevertheless, our general managers continue to provide innovative food offerings to customers, ensuring that healthy options as well as trendy food items are served. Additionally, we are pleased that our ethnic meals, recognizing the diverse population in the Marine Corps, are always well received. We are presently re-examining, with the support from Navy dietitians, the menus offered to recruits (both male and female) undergoing basic training. The initial results of that study are currently under review. We are engaged in a comprehensive nutritional study requested by our Special Operations Command with the support of the U.S. Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) to determine optimal nutrient requirements and feeding processes for Marine Special Operations Schools’ Individual Training Course (ITC) students. ITC is a unique, intensive, six-month long training course that is both physically and mentally demanding. COMMANDER’S UPDATE Government Food Service: We should also ask for an update on the Quad Container Refrigeration system, which went into first article testing almost two years ago, as well as on Enhanced Tray Ration Heating System (E-TRHS) and Expeditionary Field Kitchen (EFK). A higher-capacity Field Food Service System complements the equipment. Tell us how these are progressing and any changes resulting. What is the planned role of these units and which companies are working with the Marines? Lt. Col. Sanabria: The Quad Container Refrigeration system prototype was concluded and the system performed as planned. However, our engineer community had procured Small Field Refrigeration Systems (SFRS), meeting our requirements while minimizing the number of different systems to support with parts and maintenance. The SFRS currently being fielded will be an inherent part of the E-TRSH. The E-TRHS uses the kitchen-in-a-box concept. All of the required cooking appliances, utensils and serving wares are packed in an easily transportable container. The container also carries a military standard refrigeration system so that when a suitable cooking and service site is found, the box is opened, the equipment set up outside the container, and the container used to store semi-perishable or perishable food. The container is the SFRS and uses a Thermo King Refrigeration Unit. The E-TRHS is a USMC group field-feeding platform designed to feed 250 warfighters and will be the forward-feeding solution to the mid-level gap in field feeding between the current TRHS and the Field Food Service System. It provides a versatile, deployable and scalable support capability, saving time and resources while increasing the options to prepare other families of group rations. The E-TRHS program requires integration of separately procured parts. The Marine Corps Systems Command is acting as the fielding integrator with anticipated First Unit Equipped planned for March 2010. Components to support that integration will be offloaded from MPS ships to complete the systems. EFK Limited User Evaluation Testing: A LUE of the EFK was conducted aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., during November 2009. The Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center - DoD Combat Feeding Directorate (CFD), along with representatives of Marine Corps Systems Command and Marines from the II Marine Expeditionary Force, participated in this evolution. The EFK is a trailer-based portable kitchen housed in a two-way expandable 8-foot-by-8-foot-by-20-foot ISO container and towed by the MTVR series of prime movers. All appliances are heated by JP-8 fired heat source and the system operates on less than 10kw of power. The LUE precedes the final 50 Government Food Service • March 2010 system specification and is intended to provide final input from the users on the content, arrangement and human factors for the system. This information will be included with inputs received from the developmental testing. The LUE started with user training and supported preparation and service of three hot meals per day for 500 Marines throughout the five-day evaluation. The LUE incorporated the entire family of group rations during this week’s service. Foodservice Marines and supervisory personnel were debriefed after every meal in order to capture thoughts and observations about the layout and equipment performance. Initial feedback indicates high-acceptability ratings for the kitchen layout and cooking appliances. Recommendations for improvement were provided, and the data collected from the evaluation shall be used to improve the draft EFK system specification. The updated system specification shall be used as the basis for a firm fixed price, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to be awarded in fiscal 2010. Government Food Service: Are the Marines (W.P.T. Hill) and Air Force presenting awards at the National Restaurant Association show again this year? Are any changes planned to the program? Please tell us about plans for this year’s presentations. Lt. Col. Sanabria: The Marine Corps will be awarding the Maj. Gen W.P.T. Hill awards for food service excellence on May 22, 2010, in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force’s Hennessy Awards ceremony in Chicago, Ill. We do not anticipate any significant changes due to the ceremony’s rigid schedule supporting the National Restaurant Association’s board meeting, which immediately follows the awards program. The Marine Corps is proud to announce the annual award winners providing excellence in garrison and field food service programs. —GFS