DESPITE its limited personnel resources, the Commonwealth Bureau of Military Affairs reported “significant accomplishments,” including the establishment of the CNMI’s first Procurement Technical Assistance Center or PTAC, according to the bureau’s citizen-centric report.
“Advancing its mandate to promote economic opportunities for CNMI residents through collaboration and partnership with the Department of Defense,” the bureau established PTAC, housed within the bureau through funding provided by DoD.
Since its launch in fiscal year 2021, PTAC registered 204 active clients who received 146 hours of counseling services, and were able to participate in the training events, with 29 PTAC clients garnering an aggregate of $35 million in federal contracts.
The bureau’s citizen-centric report said that despite adjustments and obstacles due to Covid-19 pandemic, the bureau, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and the CNMI Covid-19 Task Force “successfully coordinated the safe arrival of over 600 military personnel to the CNMI in the fiscal year.”
The citizen-centric report also mentioned the following “coordination highlights” in FY 2021:
• Industry Day (March 23-24, 2021). This event assembled federal contract officers from the U.S. Navy and Air Force to engage in conversations of needs and future plans with CNMI businesses and service providers. The two-day activity was attended by 134 CNMI participants and was conducted via videoconference due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
• CNMI Joint Military Training Technical Working Group (July 6-15, 2021). The bureau coordinated and hosted a weeklong working session with U.S. Marine planners and CNMI stakeholders to discuss in-person concerns related to the proposed training activities on the islands of Tinian and Pagan. “The meeting resulted in substantial progress toward better information sharing and mutual understanding of the range of concerns on military expansion in the region.”
• Section 106 Programmatic Agreement Working Session (February 2021). The bureau coordinated and hosted a weeklong working session with Joint Region Marianas & Pacific Fleet for Mariana Islands Testing and Training Programmatic Agreement alongside CNMI State Historic Preservation Officer.
• Military Training with Community Activities. Through the course of the year and three major training activities in the summer of 2021 the bureau supported community relations activities with U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion and the U.S. Marines 7th Engineer Support Battalion, such as the renovation of the Tinian Senior Center, the Hero Fun Run, and community cleanup activities at public school campuses and around the CNMI.
According to its citizen-centric report, the bureau coordinated a total of 55 meetings between DoD and the CNMI government, organized 23 community relations activities and made possible $2.74 million military spending in the Commonwealth in prime and sub-contract and grant awards from DoD in FY 2021.
