4th Quarter Silver BEAR Awards Winners Excel at Anticipating and Exceeding Customer Needs

Barrios Technology employees are known for going above and beyond in everything they do, but the recipients of the 2023 4^th Quarter Silver BEAR Awards – David Bacon, Ben Booz, Tricia Cartee, Joseph (Chuck) Cashon, Galen Cloud, Jennifer Cobb, Shinichi Uno and Chris Vodney – have a knack for consistently offering extraordinary value by dedicating their efforts to anticipating and not only meeting, but exceeding, the needs of our customers.

David Bacon, Orion Configuration and Data Management (CDM)/Board Secretariat on our Human Space Flight Technical Integration Contract (HSFTIC), received the award for the outstanding support he has provided, specifically his timeliness and accuracy of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Program Control Board (MPCB) minutes, which were recognized by the Orion Program and Deputy Program Managers multiple times. The NASA customer commended David for his consistent high-quality products that have not only improved metrics, but also their confidence that the contract delivers consistently high value.

Ben Booz, Data Solutions Project Manager on HSFTIC, led the successful development and release of the ISS Integration Risk Insight System (ISS IRIS), which improves safety for NASA and commercial astronauts. In addition, he leads the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program (EHP) Verification Evidence (EVE) tool development team. Ben’s leadership is consistently of great value as he guides the team in meeting and exceeding customer needs.

As Project Coordinator on our Consolidated Program Support Services (CPSS) Project Coordination (PC) contract, Tricia Cartee (see group photo below) provides extensive coordination support for multiple teams, commercial partners, and NASA centers, which includes coordinating high-level visits between government and industry that are sometimes sensitive in nature. She has been often recognized for not only her teamwork and leadership, but also for going above and beyond to ensure success, no matter the task at hand.

One customer said, “Tricia has been knocking it out of the park even more than her standard great support. She has juggled her normal PC support for a team of 40+ individuals with several time-consuming deliverables – all of which had due dates within a short time of each other – while doing an outstanding job co-hosting site visits with NASA and other companies. Tricia managed to be on time with all her deliverables and provided above and beyond support to her customer during the visits.”

With his ability to anticipate the NASA ISS customer’s need for ongoing Windows Domain service operation to 2030, Joseph (Chuck) Cashon, System Administrator on HSFTIC, proactively accepted his own challenge to complete a major upgrade of the entire NASA Russian Services domain. Despite readjusted timelines and schedules, Chuck maintained his strong work ethic and high quality of work, with the end result being the most modern acceptable level of industry standard software, maintains a highly secure environment for NASA to operate within, and a stable environment for end users to complete their tasks and goals.

Galen Cloud, Export Control Analyst – Gateway on HSFTIC, has been recognized for being instrumental in above and beyond support to the Gateway program in developing Missile Technology export licenses as well as assisting the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) Project Office to troubleshoot complex export control issues that were inhibiting the expeditious delivery of critical ground support equipment to NASA’s International Partner, the European Space Agency, in support of hardware testing for HALO.

He worked across multiple Moon to Mars (M2M) programs to revise the matrix and associated license, which simplified and sped up the submission process significantly. “Galen is a model of NASA contractor support in his work ethic, work quality, and dedication to NASA mission success.”

In addition to her role as Project Coordinator on CPSS-PC, Jennifer Cobb is the main contact for export control at Test Lab, as well as being responsible for Foreign National Escort duties for the Engineering Test Lab at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

She has been recognized for going above and beyond in taking care of a Foreign National visitor during a medical emergency and was even acknowledged by MSFC Safety Mission Assurance. For her actions, she received the MSFC ‘Caring in Action’ award from the MSFC Center Director’s office. Jennifer is a key player on the CPSS-PC team, and her strong ethics and moral values are always reflected in her work.

Shinichi Uno, Data Solutions Developer on HSFTIC, is constantly at the forefront of transforming the contract’s data management processes as he leads the development and implementation of the Polaris Admin WebApp, which has streamlined data management processes and reduced reliance on outdated systems and manual interventions by employees.

His committed to customer satisfaction and product quality goes a long way to consistently enhance operational efficiency and team capability. These types of solutions, initiated by Data Solutions Lab (DSL) and carried out by Shinichi, have transformed the response time and the number of resources needed to turn projects around to the customer, which translate to a significant reduction in project completion time.

As Structural Loads and Dynamics Engineer on the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Engineering Technology and Sciences (JETS II) contract, Chris Vodney has brought innovation to his team by being pivotal in standardizing the analysis process for the NASA JSC in-space loads and dynamics team. His vision for a common library to run multiple analyses has reduced the number of hours spent reviewing individual codes and the number of errors.

He was also recently named as a 2024 recipient of the RNASA Early Career Stellar Award for ‘continuous improvements in standardizing analysis processes for the in-space loads and dynamics team for the Gateway and Human Lander system to Orion’.

The BEAR Awards Program recognizes superior performance and outstanding support of customer and company goals. Each quarter, outstanding employees are selected to receive the Silver Award. Silver award winners automatically qualify for the annual Gold BEAR award.