Acceptance to GSA schedule to hopefully assist in building back the workforce
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Employees of the Maine Military Authority received some disheartening news on Jan. 11; despite MMA’s proven track record of producing quality refurbished vehicles in a fraction of the time and often more than half the cost of other re-build operations, the company’s CEO Tim Corbett informed employees firsthand of an impending 152 layoffs effective next month due to budgetary constraints. At the time of the announcement, MMA employed 350 individuals at their Loring Commerce Centre facilities.
Officials with MMA have been working on the FY11 budget issues for months and came up with some creative ways for the company to keep the assembly line going strong; Corbett described a proposed Installation Management Plan to refurbish construction and maintenance machinery utilized by military bases — basically all the equipment with that quintessential yellow paint — to keep the equipment running smoothly for longer instead of replacing the equipment when it breaks.
The earmark which included the Installation Management Plan failed to pass this year despite MMA’s history of receiving earmarked funds in the past and its whole-hearted support from military and political officials.
Corbett remains positive that MMA will be able to push through the financial slump even without the earmark.
As the company continues to pursue work options through multiple avenues their efforts are met with a bit of hope; it was announced Jan. 14 that MMA has been included in the Government Services Administration’s Schedule for Humvee Repairs — a brand-new list that only MMA has made — which lists MMA as a reliable vendor for three different types of Humvee repairs and about a dozen Humvee components.
“It’s an expedited contracted option that we’ve never had before,” Corbett said. In a meeting last Wednesday with the Loring Development Board of Directors, he thanked representatives of Sen. Susan Collin’s office for working with MMA since about August to complete the GSA process.
It took roughly five months for MMA to be listed on the schedule to repair the same vehicles that first made the company famous, but just as MMA has diversified over the years so will the vehicle types offered through the GSA schedule.
MMA officials were busy developing pricing to repair all sorts of equipment from bulldozers to fire engines as they waited to be included in the GSA schedule for Humvee work; now that MMA’s been schedule approved, mending the schedule to include additional machinery will take a matter of weeks instead of another five months.
The GSA schedule listing is anticipated to help MMA in re-building the post-layoff workforce and grow the company, but benefits from the program won’t prevent present layoffs.
“This is disappointing news and I am very concerned about the impact of these job losses on workers and on northern Maine’s economy. MMA has always performed high-quality, dependable and cost-effective work for the Army and National Guard, saving taxpayers’ money,” said Sen. Susan Collins. “I have been working, and continue to work, with MMA officials to identify other opportunities for federal work for this important industrial facility as the Humvee requirements for the Army decrease as our troops leave Iraq.”
Aside from the silver lining of possible rehiring in the future, Corbett did assure MMA employees that the company held-off on layoffs as long as possible.
“All the depots that do the same work as we do started laying off [employees] 18 months ago,” he explained. “Hopefully the GSA will afford us to opportunity to build back our workforce.”
President and CEO of the Loring Commerce Center (out of which MMA operates) Carl Flora spoke with his board members and Corbett about the layoffs.
“This is obviously bad new for the people who work there, but hopefully MMA will be able to build their workforce back and even better than it was before,” Flora said.
