U.S. Africa Command's Operations and Logistics (OPLOG) directorate held the first U.S. Africa Command Contracting Conference in Naples, Italy, July 21 - 31, 2009.

The conference was led by Operations and Logistics Engineering Chief, Captain Kiwus and Marion Rybarczyk, contracting team chief for OPLOG.

After introductory remarks and an update on U.S. Africa Command, participants received briefings from senior contracting leadership from various government organizations, including the Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense; Office of the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense; Joint Chief of Staff; Joint Contingency Acquisition Support Office; Naval Supply Systems Command; Naval Criminal Investigative Service; Naval Audit Service; and the Naval Acquisition Integrity Office.

Day two consisted of briefings from U.S. Africa Command components, as well as the Defense Logistics Agency, the Corps of Engineers and Department of State.

The morning of day three was set aside as a working session to determine procedures for tracking all the contracting capabilities, including interagency partners, identifying contracting resources, and determining the division of responsibilities.

Also discussed were humanitarian assistance issues and the Synchronized Predeployment and Operational Tracker (SPOT), a system providing a central source of contingency contractor information.