Fact Sheet

July 12, 2011

 

BIG PICTURE

 

Mission Essential Personnel won the Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan (OEF-A) language contract as a small business in late 2007 and has expanded rapidly to meet the US Government’s sharply increased requirements during the military surge. The government has steadily increased MEP’s scope of work in Afghanistan because the company has performed well on tasks where other companies performed poorly. While any large enterprise involving more than 7,500 people in a remote warzone will face challenges, MEP’s record proves it performs in accordance with all contract requirements, has addressed problems successfully when they arise, and has improved service consistently. The big picture is clear: MEP is a good company that has grown because of its good work and commitment to supporting US troops.

 

 

VITAL FACTS

 

1) Since late 2007, MEP has increased the total number of deployed linguists on OEF-A language by more than 290% and the number of US-hire linguists by 1,100%.

2) To contextualize the challenging recruiting environment, MEP estimates about 3,300 US citizens speak fluent Pashto and can pass the government's security and health requirements. Currently, MEP employs about 1/3 of this available pool. Such recruiting success is possible in part because MEP has a positive reputation among the Afghan-American community.

 

Furthermore, because qualified Pashto speakers are such a finite but valuable resource, MEP created a language academy to hone the requisite language skills needed by the US Government.

 

3) Fill rates: 

 

A) Currently, MEP’s OEF-A linguist fill rate is 93.5%. Our fill rate for local nationals is 96%; for US-hires, it is 85%. As CEO Chris Taylor noted in his 2010 CWC testimony, MEP’s fill rate has reached as high as 97%, though this number is dynamic.

 

B) Since taking over the OEF-A language contract as a small business in 2007, MEP has raised the quality and quantity of trained, security-cleared linguists while meeting all the government’s hundreds of standards and regulations, including for language skills and health.

 

 

Presented is a chart of government requirements (blue line) and linguists provided (red line). While we are restricted from providing specific numbers, the pattern is clear: when MEP fill rates get high, the government increases its requirements, causing fill rates to drop temporarily. 

 

 

Here’s a chart of US-hire linguists (CAT I, II, III).

 

 

 

4) How does the Army assess MEP’s performance? 

A) To date, there have been 252 task orders under the OEF-A language contract since late 2007. The Army has given MEP the following performance reviews: 

• 207 Outstanding (highest)
• 40 Excellent
• 4 Very good
• 1 Unsatisfactory*

 

*Note: This Unsatisfactory was for a single position with very unusual requirements; the Army subsequently amended the requirements and MEP successfully filled the position.

 

 

 

In sum, the Army has rated MEP’s work on the OEF-A language contract either Outstanding or Excellent on 98% of task orders.

 

B) The Army has paid MEP in full for all services provided under the OEF-A language contract, including for January 2010 and the months immediately following. In 2010 and 2011, the Army increased voluntarily the monetary ceiling on MEP’s contract. And earlier this month, the Army selected MEP as one of six companies to prime the Defense Language Interpretation and Translation Enterprise (DLITE), which includes the successor to the OEF-A language contract.

 

C) In May 2011, MEP senior staff attended a theater-wide conference at Bagram Air Field (BAF) specifically focused on the OEF-A language contract. Besides MEP’s delegation, attendees included deployed military representatives consisting of personnel from all four services, ISAF, US Central Command, and US Special Operations Command, as well as the Theater Linguist Office and the INSCOM Assistant Contracting Officer Representative (ACOR) Team. Overall, MEP received very positive feedback from those assembled. Those areas raised for improvement were relatively minor and had little overlap with the issues AP raises.  

 

 

In sum, a fair look at the big picture reveals MEP to be a company that does its job well and is committed to serving its customer. MEP has adapted rapidly to the military’s changing needs in the Afghanistan surge, and has handled the challenges well.