JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas —
The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center closed out a challenging year in the last hours of FY22, executing more than $8.8 billion.
It’s the most funding AFIMSC has obligated in a year since the center declared full operational capability six years ago this month.
Members of the Resources Directorate faced several challenges in fiscal 2022 including the standup and funding of base operations support for the U.S. Space Force, skyrocketing utility costs and inflation, supply chain disruptions, continued natural disaster recovery and humanitarian efforts, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re committed to finding new and innovative ways to deliver integrated installation and mission support across the globe,” said AFIMSC Commander Maj. Gen. John Allen. “That can’t happen without the selfless dedication of the Resources Directorate team, our three other directorates, four primary subordinate units and 10 detachments that execute our worldwide operations. Our ability to increase the readiness and lethality of America’s Air and Space Forces while taking care of Airmen, Guardians and their families relies on us to produce and manage an effective budget with sound distribution and execution strategies.”
The AFIMSC team of 3,800 funds and supports major installation and mission support programs for every Air Force and Space Force installation and their major commands in the areas of chaplain corps, civil engineering, cyber support, logistics readiness, operational acquisition, security forces, and services.
“The team worked tirelessly to execute enterprise-wide priorities such as demolition and dorm projects and quality of life projects for our Airmen and Guardians,” said Jeff Schmidt, AFIMSC’s Financial Operations Branch chief. “We faced unique challenges with the transition to the first year of AFIMSC funding most civil engineering areas to the USSF, as well as a new congressional limitation that put a ceiling on the amount of Air Force funding we could execute against installation operations.”
AFIMSC’s partnership with Department of the Air Force Financial Management and Comptroller produced significant results for the installations and primary subordinate units. In September alone, AFIMSC was able to distribute an additional $313 million for crucial enterprise-wide unfunded requirements that included $135 million for wing and PSU commander priorities; $47.3 million for base operations support contracts; $32 million in additional construction tasking order projects; $25 million to buy down Food 2.0 requirements; $11 million for demolition projects across nine installations; and $10 million for dorm repairs.
These are the AFIMSC’s major FY22 funding accomplishments: $2.7 billion in must-pay requirements; $2.2 billion in other Level-1 installation and mission support requirements; $1.9 billion in Level-1 decentralized facilities, sustainment, restoration and modernization; $1.4 billion in installation CTO funding; $500 million for winter storm Uri and National Disaster rebuilding efforts at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Offutt AFB, Nebraska, and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; and $100 million in quality-of-life projects.
“With an additional $1.8 billion in FY22, there were still fiscal challenges,” Schmidt said. “Many of these additional dollars came with Congressional limitations and expectations.”
One contributing factor impacting the highest-ever obligation amount was AFIMSC receiving omnibus funding on Sept. 22, eight days earlier than in FY21. The Resources Directorate team was postured for that and distributed every penny within four hours of receipt of funding. This allowed the installations time to not only obligate, but also address their most critical requirements.
“Wing commanders know the pulse of their installations and their local comptrollers advocate for these requirements every year,” Schmidt said. “Whether it’s a dining facility or dorm project, cold weather gear for Defenders up north protecting missile silos, or funding for runway snow removal to keep pilots safe, their top priority is to take care of Airmen. We were able to get after these types of projects with the additional funding provided to us late in the fiscal year.”
He used a horse racing Triple Crown analogy to describe the successful year of execution: the AFIMSC team: 1. Met the congressional 80 percent obligation mandate by the end of July; 2. Finalized the FY23 operations and maintenance budget; and 3. Exceeded a 99.9 percent obligation rate by the time they closed the books on FY22.
“This year had its own set of challenges, but overall, this was one of the smoothest closeouts in my 24 years in financial management,” said AFIMSC Budget Director Col. Laurie Lanpher. “I truly appreciate the tireless hard work and professionalism of all the financial managers in our directorates, PSUs and detachments.”
