That’s what U.S. Military Academy Chief of Staff Col. Grant Smith told community members during the quarterly commercial activities briefing Tuesday.

USMA custodial workers competed against Occupations Inc. last year. Academy officials notified Congress of the government’s win March 19.

The words "it’s final" came as music to the ears of some custodial staff members.

"We’ve known for months what the outcome was, but it was great to hear him say it’s final," said custodial worker Kevin McMahon. "Now we should be able to fill our vacant slots and make everyone’s lives a little easier."

However, transitioning to the MEO will not be completely painless, said Michael Heller, USMA’s civilian personnel director. And, until the current workforce is settled, hiring is on the back burner.

"For one thing, reorganizing the custodial workforce under one agency and into work groups has reduced the need for supervisors and leaders," Heller explained.

"Many of the employees in the current workforce will be changing jobs, changing hours and changing work locations," he said. "This all needs to be worked out before we can deal with large numbers of new recruits, but we’re already starting to generate some interest.

"We have more than 20 applications already and are encouraged that we will be able to fill the requirements of the MEO," Heller said.

Lt. Col. Tom Buning, Directorate of Housing and Public Works engineer, said he expects the transition to be completed by July 28.