Air Force Commodity Council saves $5.8M for major commands Published Oct. 19, 2005 By Philip Berube Operations and Sustainment Systems Group Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE-GUNTER ANNEX, Ala. (AFMCNS) -- By leveraging the buying power of the Air Force, the Air Force Information Technology Commodity Council saved the service approximately $5.8 million in its latest quarterly enterprise buy, or QEB, of desktop and laptop computer and monitor configurations. The QEB process, executed by the IT Hardware Acquisition team at Headquarters Operations and Sustainment Systems Group at Gunter Annex, establishes standard configurations and consolidates requirements to leverage the buying power of the Air Force. This approach provides the Air Force the best overall value and makes it easier to support the service's business goals. To assist major commands with their end-of-fiscal-year requirements, the acquisition team has arranged to make these configurations and pricing available on the AFWay Web site (https://afway.af.mil) through Sept. 30, 2005. The QEB process is posted on the AFWay site, which must be used to take advantage of the lower prices. "Since August 2003, the Air Force has saved more than $34 million using the QEB process to buy more than 140,000 computers," said Lt. Col. Thomas Gaylord, deputy of the Air Force ITCC. "This latest QEB buy provides more than 18,400 computers and 13,900 monitors that meet the Air Force's approved buying standards. By using the QEB, organizations ensure that their computers are compatible with the Air Force network architecture and will reliably support Air Force net-centric operations for their expected lifetime of three to four years." Formed in June 2003, the Air Force ITCC includes representatives from each major command and the Air Staff. Its mission is to develop enterprise strategies for buying and managing IT products and services. Officials at OSSG lead the council. While Air Force ITCC sets enterprise strategies, it is the IT Hardware Acquisition team that executes the desktop and laptop strategies and establishes contractual vehicles with IT vendors for ongoing support. "In addition to the tremendous savings we are realizing through the QEB, our organization is also focused on providing the Department of Defense and other federal customers with commercially available, high-quality IT products and services," said Matthew Benavides, the director of the acquisition and commodities division at OSSG. "Our mission is focused on delivering and supporting secure, integrated and effective operational support systems providing capabilities to warfighters and commanders."