The widest scope of Chenega Techincal Innovations’ (CTI) work for the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Integrated Logistics Division (ILD) Support Contract takes place in Lorton, VA. The Lorton Operations Group is responsible for Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) and Radiation Detection Equipment (RDE) Maintenance, Logistics Analysis, the Maintenance Dispatch Center (MDC), and Warehouse Operations, all managed by Martha Andrews.
The Lorton Maintenance technicians repair inoperative handheld non-intrusive inspection (NII) equipment sent in by the field offices, Ports of Entry, or they arrange for it to be repaired through a third party vendor. When equipment is non-repairable they remove usable parts from equipment and capture serial numbers for tracking purposes. Additionally, the Maintenance team handles the on-demand requests for services that come through administrative channels for Fixed or Mobile NII equipment. They acquire vendor quotes, schedule maintenance services at CBP field locations, and coordinate with the outside vendor preparation of off-site equipment for relocation and/or disposal. Additionally, they maintain a relationship with vendor contractors. Maintenance also assists ILD asset management by handling on-site equipment processing tasks, such as barcoding new assets.
The Lorton warehouse is a primary distribution center for ILD materials. The warehouse function controls the intake, preparation, and distribution of equipment and related consumable supplies to the CBP ports and field offices. The warehouse is also in charge of facilitating efficient stock management methods and assisting the annual inventory. When necessary or more cost-efficient, they look for alternative resources to ensure no mission-critical equipment remains unrepaired for an extended period of time. Oftentimes, materials are shipped from the Office of Field Operations (OFO) to Lorton where they are, separated, re-palletized, and shipped to other front line CBP operation locations. The Lorton warehouse is also responsible for the removal of hazardous goods.
During the ongoing pandemic, the maintenance and warehouse staff remain on-site, assuring critical equipment continues to be repaired and shipped in the usual manner with no interruption of service to ILD. They are also responsible for sanitizing their on-site work area and all incoming shipments. The maintenance staff that cannot remain on-site, due to government guidelines, assist ILD in managing equipment records in Maximo for over 1000 Personal Radiation Detection devices.
The Lorton Logistics Analysts code work orders to produce trend analyses of equipment performance. They create a myriad of deliverable reports, metrics, and ad hoc mission support status reports. They maintain daily equipment outage information and are developing a map-based, interactive equipment outage status, and tracking tool. They manage the preventive maintenance and calibration programs on both NII and Radiation Detection Equipment (RDE) for CBP OFO and the Office of Border Patrol (OBP) equipment. These programs are vital for prosecution purposes. After all, CBP is a law enforcement agency.
The MDC is a morning-to-night (from 6:30 am – 11:30 pm) call center for receiving maintenance calls from land, air, and seaports, and mail sorting facilities. If there is an issue with a mission-critical asset or function, the MDC gets a call. The MDC handles issues vital to CBP operations and mission and ensures that repairs are handled in a timely manner. They are the first point of contact between field locations and the maintenance vendors. They are not only the face of ILD but the face of CTI also.
During the pandemic, they also track for ILD any equipment repairs that are delayed by COVID-19 related travel restrictions and part availability limitations.
Although each functional area has distinct tasks, the Lorton Operations team acts as just that, a team. Their efforts are tightly coordinated, and the individual function staffs back each other up when needed to ensure continued mission success when the schedule gets tight.