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HomeNewsGarrison, Community Leaders gather at Fort Campbell to discuss partnerships

Garrison, Community Leaders gather at Fort Campbell to discuss partnerships

Written by Maria McClure 
Fort Campbell Public Affairs Office

Fort Campbell KY - 101st Airborne DivisionFort Campbell, KY – U.S. Army Garrison-Fort Campbell recently hosted its first intergovernmental support agreement conference here with local mayors, officials and service representatives from cities and counties surrounding the installation. The two-day event was designed to identify opportunities to partner in the acquisition of mutually beneficial support service resources.

The use of IGSAs is considered one of the most cost effective ways for Installation Management Command to acquire goods and services, said Lt. Gen. Bradley A. Becker, IMCOM commanding general in a February 4th, 2019 video recording addressing the importance of implementing IGSAs. IMCOM spends millions of dollars annually on contracts, and IGSAs can significantly reduce this cost.

“More than anything, I want you to view partnering as a readiness imperative,” Becker said in his video. “The relationships we cultivate, develop and strengthen now will make us stronger and more resilient in the years ahead.”

Entrance sign near the incoming lane outside of Gate 4 at Fort Campbell, KY. Fort Campbell is home to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) "Screaming Eagles". (Sam Shore)
Entrance sign near the incoming lane outside of Gate 4 at Fort Campbell, KY. Fort Campbell is home to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) “Screaming Eagles”. (Sam Shore)

How IGSA Works

IMCOM’s Chief of Logistics and Sustainment Art Douglas opened the workshop with an in-depth discussion of the IGSA statute, setting the framework for Fort Campbell and its community partners to begin the IGSA process.

The IGSA statute grants all Department of Defense commands the ability to procure support services through partnership agreements with public entities to extend their already existing services on to military installations thus eliminating expensive base operations contracts.

“Through IGSAs IMCOM has achieved an average of 30 percent savings on the cost of goods and services,” Becker said in his video. “Our community partners have also realized significant benefits as a result of partnering with local installations.”

Savings the Army has already realized is being used for force modernization to ensure continued readiness, Douglas said. Additionally, IGSAs provide an additional revenue stream for the community partner. Those dollars are typically reinvested back into the community.

“The benefits of Montgomery County and Fort Campbell sharing services will greatly improve cost saving mechanisms for all taxpayers in the community,” said Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett. “Our partnership will not only enhance the quality of services, but will also have the potential to advance technological developments among government services and community infrastructure.”

Agreements like this also bolster already solid partnerships between installations and their surrounding communities.

“I think IGSA is a great idea,” said Troy Body, Hopkinsville city administrator. “It allows surrounding communities to feel involved with the post in a meaningful, supportive and beneficial manner.”

IGSAs provide installations and their public partners a way to optimize delivery and receipt of already existing support services thus capitalizing upon each party’s capabilities and creating efficiencies through economies of scale and cost sharing.

Economies of scale work on the principal of the more goods an entity purchases the greater the savings. Cost sharing is a process wherein a public entity and an installation work together to secure savings that either party could not realize alone.

At present the Army has 34 IGSAs in place, 33 of those are with IMCOM, Douglas said. There are 50 more IGSAs in various stages of review and development – all belong to IMCOM.

In addition to custodial services, other IGSAs include municipal services, stray animal control, solid waste management, computer-aided dispatch, maintenance services, pretrial confinement services, ecological forest monitoring, ambulance services, vegetation control, rail network repair and sustainment, and bulk purchase of road salt.

Fort Campbell’s Way Forward

During the workshop, local service representatives from Montgomery County, Christian County, Clarksville TN, Oak Grove KY and Hopkinsville KY, along with Fort Campbell officials broke into working groups to discuss potential partnerships in the areas emergency 911 services, custodial and janitorial services, environmental services, road striping, ground maintenance, and traffic signal maintenance.

[The IGSA workshop] “has opened the door to myriad opportunities between the installation and the surrounding municipalities. We are looking forward to the partnership,” Body said. “The sky is the limit. As long as we all keep an open mind and focus on mutually shared benefits, this is a complete win-win.”

The working groups made positive progress toward creating IGSA concepts and presented their findings at the end of the workshop.

Montgomery and Christian counties are determining the feasibility of one of the public entities bringing emergency 911 services to post.

  • The City of Clarksville is considering taking over the management, maintenance and operation of Fort Campbell’s traffic signal system.
  • Montgomery County expressed an interest in providing the custodial services for 2 million square feet of space at Fort Campbell. The work could potentially be divided among more than one service provider, which may be of interest to other local municipalities.
  • Clarksville, Montgomery County, Oak Grove and Hopkinsville expressed interest in taking on a portion of the post’s grounds maintenance work. The question now is how the 7,271 acres will be divided among the potential partners.
  • Savings to Fort Campbell’s $5 million environmental services budget could be realized through a partnership with Austin Peay State University in which the university would assist in meeting Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan requirements.

Area city and county officials who attended found the workshop informative and all saw viable opportunities in partnering with Fort Campbell.

“The IGSA workshop was a fantastic educational tool for Montgomery County government to collaborate with garrison command on comprehensive services for both the county and Fort Campbell,” Durrett said. “The opportunity promoted well-organized, candid conversations between all regional stakeholders and the community.”

Although Carter Hendricks, City of Hopkinsville mayor, was unable to attend the workshop, he said his team returned with positive feedback.

“We recognize how important Fort Campbell is to our region and our community, so we take serious any opportunity to benefit the installation,” Hendricks said. “Additionally, we continue to identify regional partnership opportunities and view the shared services model as a great example of regional partnerships. We are hopeful to work something out that benefits the installation and our community.”

The group is expected to meet again in mid-March to further the work on establishing partnerships through IGSA.

“I am confident the work we are doing today will continue over the next several months and will produce significant savings to all parties and improve services on Fort Campbell,” said Jonathan Hunter, deputy to the garrison commander.

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