McConnell operator contract transferred to Travis

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Armando A. Schwier-Morales
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Ending more than eight years of service and thousands of transferred calls, the McConnell telephone call management contract was transferred to Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Aug. 25, 2010.

The McConnell base operators' contract was transferred due to an Air Mobility Command consolidation program. The program is scheduled to consolidate approximately 10 AMC bases at Travis; six other bases have already been moved with McConnell being the seventh.

"The six bases that have migrated are all receiving the same level of service they previously enjoyed, while the command is saving considerable money in contractor costs," said Maj. Robert Schroeter, 22nd Communications Squadron commander.

After the relocation, McConnell joined several other bases in improving service to its customers.

"Key benefits of the program will be the reduction of the command bill by half because of the central location," said Master Sgt. Bobby Jones, Headquarters AMC telecom systems manager. "Things will be easier to manage and standardize the service provided."

Travis's AMC Telephone Operator Consolidated Call Center is where the consolidation and the standardizing are now centralized, saving U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars.

McConnell's Hearts Apart program and other morale calls will not be affected by the change, said Major Schroeter.

"The numbers people called and the processes for morale calls will remain, except when a person dials the McConnell operator number, a device will automatically forward the call to an operator at Travis," said Major Schroeter.

Additionally, new equipment will be installed to help improve the service to McConnell.

"The equipment being installed will improve the service the 22 CS's communications focal point provides to the customers on base," said Major Schroeter. "The new equipment will provide us better call management, so that we do not drop our customers' calls and provide a better voice mail capability. This is especially beneficial during high peak traffic times, when our systems are put under high demand."

McConnell joined other AMC bases in reducing the financial cost through a command-wide migration that began in March.