Peterson civilian wins Air Force contracting award Published March 11, 2008 By Corey Dahl 21st Space Wing Public Affairs PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Susan Bechtel's technical job title is "contracting specialist," but it should probably be changed to "contracting wonder woman." Recently named Outstanding Contracting Civilian of the year by the Air Force, Ms. Bechtel is an important member of the 21st Contracting Squadron here. Monte Pope, Ms. Bechtel's former supervisor, said she is an asset to the squadron's team. "Her leadership, determination and drive are commendable," he said. "And the results are indicative of a very competent contract specialist." Ms. Bechtel is one of several people on base in charge of handling the contracts for the hundreds of contractors hired to work on Peterson, in jobs ranging from customer service to high-tech satellite work. During fiscal year 2007, Ms. Bechtel was responsible for issuing and modifying 67 of those contract awards, making sure no breaks occurred in missions or services. The senior member on her eight-person team, Ms. Bechtel shouldered a lot of her team's workload and assisted her co-workers when they needed help. She also standardized training for the team and came up with new tools to track contract performance. "I had been there the longest, so I was kind of the go-to person," she said. Outside of work, Ms. Bechtel taught taekwondo for 21st Services here, trained deploying Airmen in Self Aid Buddy Care and helped collect supplies for a local youth homeless and runaway shelter. Asked how she could handle such a super human workload, Ms. Bechtel attributes it to her long Army career. Before coming to Peterson in 2006, she worked as an Army medic for 24 years until retiring while stationed at Fort Carson. "The Army embedded this work ethic in me," she said, laughing. Ms. Bechtel is now working on larger contracts for the 21st Civil Engineer Squadron here and studying for the warrant board, the next step necessary to becoming a contracting officer. She's proud of winning the Air Force award, but the best part of her job, she says, is really the people she gets to work with. "I really like the people, the leadership," she said. "It's a good job."