Housing privatization embraces Smart Operations 21 Published June 2, 2006 By Staff Sgt. Julie Weckerlein Air Force News Service WASHINGTON -- The Air Force housing privatization process is taking a leaner, more efficient approach to getting the job done by developing one central management center, Air Force officials said recently. “The secretary of the Air Force challenged us to find a better way to manage and broker deals and successful projects,” said Col. Michael Smietana, chief of Air Force housing. While the Department of Defense has set a strategic goal of eliminating inadequate military housing by 2007, the estimated $5.6 billion price tag needed for upgrades was too much for the Air Force’s construction budget. So, the Air Force is currently implementing a 50-year privatization program, leveraging private investment dollars by partnering with the residential development industry to provide new or renovated modern housing. After the secretary of the Air Force's challenge, two teams came together to review their privatization processes. Among the areas needing improvement, the organization had 123 approval processes that housing privatization managers had to navigate. “Many different actions needed to be accomplished in order to create the new, leaned organizational process,” said Maj. Bo Bloomer, Air Force housing manager here. “Many non-value steps were eliminated, like the duplicated design review of projects at higher headquarters. Steps like these were not needed, created waste through the system and impacted the organizations productivity.” With that in mind, a central management center is being put together to ease the process of developing and maintaining privatization deals around the Air Force. “The consolidated program office, under leadership of the Air Force Civil Engineer, will lead the privatization effort through very close coordinated working relationships with installation commanders and their housing offices,” Major Bloomer said. Colonel Smietana said that the center, along with other changes in the process, will bring consistency throughout Air Force housing. “We found that with the previous process, the end products were not the same,” he said. “While they were all good, some were better than others. Now, an Airman can go base to base with privatized housing, and know what to expect in size, quality and type of housing. By using Smart Ops in our process, we have smaller teams of people working for a bigger and better result.”