NAS Transition hits the one-month mark

Published May 9, 2016
By Bob Pullen
NAS Transition Public Affairs

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. -- The transition of National Aerospace Solutions assuming responsibility of the operations at Arnold Engineering Development Complex hit the one-month mark last week, with an end date of July 1 when NAS officially becomes the Test Operations and Sustainment contractor.

"We have learned a lot about the people, the mission and the operations at AEDC this first month," said Cynthia Rivera, NAS general manager. "Our goal is to keep the workforce at AEDC informed as we move through this transition process, and to ensure the important work supporting the AEDC mission continues."

Rivera and members of the NAS management team travelled to the Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Md., and the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex at the Ames Research Center at Mountain View, Calif., to meet with employees, provide all hands briefings on the transition, and to better understand the work performed at those facilities.

In April, NAS held all-hands meetings at the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center and the Complex auditorium to introduce NAS to Team AEDC, and to inform people about the hiring process, benefits and how NAS will be structured. NAS established a website (www.nas-llc.us) where people can stay informed about the transition, view current job postings, sign up for updates and ask questions of the NAS transition team.

"We understand that change can be difficult," Rivera said, "but change is also necessary to keep AEDC a vital part of the aerospace landscape for years to come."
During the all-hands meetings attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions of Rivera and other members of the NAS management staff. The majority of the questions centered on hiring processes, pay and benefits. According to Rivera the NAS Human Resources team is working hard to make the hiring process as smooth as possible. NAS is also in negotiations with the same insurance and 401K providers that are currently in place at AEDC to keep these benefits as close as possible to what the workforce currently has.

The NAS transition team is working on mapping the current AEDC positions to the NAS organizational chart. As those positions are mapped over to NAS, the job postings will be added to the NAS website for a minimum of five days. Current Aerospace Testing Alliance employees will be given first consideration for posted positions. The majority of NAS jobs will be posted by a mid-May timeframe, with interviews scheduled to begin May 16 and run through June 1. Most of the interviews will take place at the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center.

NAS will also be conducting more all-hands meetings this week at the base auditorium to further explain the interview process and to discuss finalized benefits plans. The times for these meetings will be sent to all employees and posted around the Complex. Because the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center is unavailable during that time, the all-hands meetings will be held at the Complex main auditorium over a two or three-day period. Accommodations will be made for shift workers so everyone will have the opportunity to attend. For day-shift workers an alphabetical system will be used for attendance due to the smaller venue size.

With less than two months remaining in the transition, Rivera stressed the need to work together to accomplish the Air Force's mission and vision, and make the transition a smooth process.

"We are working to get to know the people at AEDC and what their roles are in accomplishing the mission," she said. "With all of these great facilities here, in Maryland and California, it's still the people who make AEDC the best ground test facilities in the world, and we are proud to be a part of that team."

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