Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southeast’s Regional Call Center (RCC) recently added Facilities Engineering Command (FEC) Washington to its growing list of installation maintenance and service requests responsibilities.
With the addition of FEC Washington, which includes seven installations, NAVFAC Southeast’s RCC will provide 24/7 maintenance support and services to 29 installations—from the Washington Navy Yard to Key West and as far west as Hawaii.
“Our RCC staff exceed expectations when delivering services to our customers,” said Brian Smith, RCC program manager. “The success of our program is only possible with the perseverance and dedication of every RCC member, and base Public Works Departments (PWD), to provide nonstop service to the installations entrusted to us. It truly takes a team effort to service our installations, and the Navy.”
Originally established in 2012, the RCC is a consolidated work reception desk for facilities management. Operated by approximately 30 civilian and contractor employees, it manages over 175,000 emergency, urgent, and routine service requests each year. Its mission focuses on facility sustainability and lifecycle management.
The RCC generates more than $3 million in annual labor savings, despite reducing staff from 44 to 19 in the Southeast region and from eight to six in Navy Region Hawaii. It can track the number of inducted work orders, error rates (both individually and collectively), adherence to standard operating procedures, actual incoming call volume, and request processing times.
“Our communication avenue of choice is through the Microsoft Teams application, as it allows real-time communication across the RCC Team, regardless of work location,” Smith said. “Services are requested and submitted in a four-step process: the RCC receives the service request (via email or phone); reviews the specific installation’s standard operating procedures (SOP); adjusts the work type per SOP which determines the urgency of the request; and lastly, it inducts the request per SOP.”
Prior to the establishment of the RCC, work reception required individual effort at each installation’s PWD, resulting in installation-specific work reception procedures — duplicating efforts across the Southeast area while increasing labor costs.
By implementing the RCC, the work center can standardize operating procedures across its area of responsibility, resulting in reduced error rates (pay codes, work centers, crews), improved data integrity, and accurate accounting of base operating support contractor workload for PWDs. Additionally, work center improvements include increased reach-back partnering with installations, installation PWD site visits, RCC customer satisfaction surveys, automated call routing, the ability to capture incoming call data, tracking of missed or abandoned calls and call volume, and monitoring of agent activities.
Since its establishment, RCC has improved efficiency and accuracy in work order induction to 98 percent through centralization. It only processes unplanned facility maintenance—one-time work needed to operate and maintain agreed-upon facility conditions daily. As it continues to evolve, more installations are expected to be added in the future. In the meantime, NAVFAC Southeast’s RCC aims to further enhance efficiency and quality assurance while ensuring customer satisfaction.
NAVFAC Southeast oversees the planning, designing, and construction of facility projects, and provides essential services in contracting, leasing, environmental management, maintenance, and contingency support. These services are vital for meeting the needs of the Navy and the Department of Defense within the Southeast region. Operating from its Jacksonville office, NAVFAC Southeast manages operations across Navy installations from Charleston, South Carolina, to Corpus Christi, Texas, and extends to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. NAVFAC professionals also handle the acquisition and disposition of real estate, facility management, and maintenance on all Navy bases in the Southeast region, while overseeing public-private venture (PPV) housing for military families.