Battalion gets closer to ‘the money’

***image1***The 415th Base Support Battalion is a step closer to earning as much as $2 million for their KMC programs and services.

The Installation Management Activity – Europe announced Sept. 10 that the 415th BSB garnered third place in their 2005 Army Community of Excellence award program.

“Being selected as one of the top three communities in all of U.S. Army Europe is a great honor,” said the 415th BSB Commander Lt. Col. Erik O. Daiga. “It reflects on the hard work and dedication of the BSB staff and our customers. It’s a total team effort.”

The ACOE awards are presented annually to installations for exemplary efforts to provide support to their communities. The award recognizes continuous business process improvement, individual dedication to efficiency and customer care.

The 415th BSB was honored for its significant success with a number of improvement projects, including several that have been recognized as Best Practices.

A Best Practice is a superior method or innovative practice that contributes to improved performance of a process, which is better, faster and cheaper.

The 415th BSB had five Best Practices during the award period, which was 2003 and the beginning months of 2004. They are: A Web-based online household goods and personal property request form; Transportation Motor Pool Auto-mated Vehicle Dispatch Program; transportation vehicle car wash; Family Readiness Group Leader training; and Anti-Terrorism and Force Protection Plan.

The battalion also built several community projects during the award time period such as Pulaski Park, which has a playground, picnic area and running track.

The 415th BSB will now go forward to compete with other region winners at the Headquarters, IMA ACOE. If the 415th BSB wins this competition, they will earn $2 million for the KMC. Second place winners generate $1 million for their communities, and third place winners receive $750,000.

The top three IMA ACOE winners will automatically be submitted as candidates in the Army Performance Excellence Awards, which is a new Secretary of the Army award that recognizes high-performing Army organizations.

First place went to the 222nd BSB in Baumholder and the 417th in Kitzingen took second place.

Baumholder, Kitzingen and Kaiserslautern were selected from six finalists by a team of professional examiners who conducted on-site assessment visits to all six communities.

A ceremony in Europe to recognize the IMA-E winners will be announced in the future.