NAVFAC Pacific Hosts Collaborative Industry Summit
16 October 2023
From Krista Cummins
Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific hosted a Pacific Contractor Summit Oct. 5-6 at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, California.
Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific hosted a Pacific Contractor Summit Oct. 5-6 at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, California.
More than 400 attendees representing various U.S. businesses gathered to learn about construction opportunities and address the increasing construction complexities within the Pacific area of operations.
“The current strategic environment in the Pacific region presents some unique challenges for NAVFAC and our industry partners,” said NAVFAC Commander Rear Adm. Dean VanderLey. “The strategic importance, complexity, and remote nature of many upcoming projects will require stronger partnerships, better collaboration, and innovative thinking from all of us. We need to think differently and communicate clearly to identify issues, propose solutions, and solve problems.”
NAVFAC Pacific’s overall goal was to work with industry partners in order to convey NAVFAC’s strategy for acquisition, discuss logistics, address location specific challenges, and capture contractor feedback for a more successful partnership.
“I would like to thank our construction industry partners for participating in this forum,” said NAVFAC Pacific Commander Rear Adm. Jeff Kilian. “Our two-day Pacific Contractor Summit served as a key forum to expand our network of industry partners while encouraging healthy competition for upcoming projects.”
The Pacific Contractor Forum kicked off with welcoming remarks and a Pacific perspective from VanderLey, followed by an Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Theater overview from its Engineering Division Chief Capt. Chris Coggins, a posture focused overview by the Joint Posture Management Office and an executive summary for contractor feedback.
Official presentations included NAVFAC Pacific legal real estate, environmental, planning, design, construction and acquisition strategy. The second day of the summit summarized an INDOPACOM perspective, followed by discussion on specific location challenges and ended with a question and answer session.