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Expanding Military Options
Changes in the Armed Forces Creating
Opportunities for Contractors
By Debra Wood
A restructuring of the Army and a commitment by the military
to improve the living conditions of servicepeople means that
construction on bases remains strong.
And recent recommendations of the Base Closure and Realignment
Commission on base closings and consolidations should add
opportunities.
"The Department of Defense work is steady and, if anything,
it will increase with a combination of BRAC repositioning
and the new modularity concept of the Army," said Frank
Tanahey, design services manager for general contractor B.L.
Harbert International of Birmingham, Ala.
Tanahey said that when a base shuts down and personnel are
shifted to other locations, the military must build facilities
to accommodate the soldiers.
BRAC has recommended closing Army bases Fort Gillem and Fort
McPherson, both in Georgia, and the Naval Air Station in Atlanta.
Major realignments would take place at the Naval Air Station
in Pensacola, Fla., and at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina.
President Bush accepted the commission's report in September
and sent it to Congress, which has 45 days to review it and
approve the recommendations without changes or reject it.
"We see BRAC as providing a further boost to construction,"
said Steve Turner, acting chief of military programs for the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District, which covers
Georgia and the Carolinas.
Turner said the BRAC recommendations could add $200 million
to $500 million annually in corps construction projects, which
now average between $400 million to $500 million per year.
In addition, the Army Modular Force Unit Stationing Transformation
Initiatives will add to the corps' work list. The initiative
aims to make forces more quickly deployable by creating self-sufficient
brigades to replace current divisions.
"The Army is transforming into a different type of fighting
force, and to support that we're doing lots and lots of construction,"
Turner said. He added that the Army will move units from all
over the world back to the United States.
Initially the corps will use modular facilities to house
and provide support structures for 1,000 to 3,000 soldiers
at each receiving base. The modular units ultimately will
be replaced with permanent construction.
The Army also plans to add more huge complexes that give
soldiers a place to drill with live weapons and tanks.
For the past few years, the Army has focused on improving
barracks and updating living facilities. That will wind down
during the next five years as the Army concentrates on improving
quality of life by building gymnasiums, swimming pools and
child-development centers on bases, Turner said.
Housing
"There seem to be opportunities everywhere, and there
is a mandate to upgrade barracks and operations facilities,"
said Terry Willis, marketing director for Caddell Construction
Co. of Montgomery, Ala.
At Fort Benning, Ga., Caddell has begun a $41 million project
that includes two barracks structures and headquarters, dining
hall and support buildings. Caddell also is busy at Fort Bragg,
N.C., constructing a $68 million 1st Corps Support Command
barracks and company operations complex. Both living facilities
provide private rooms for the soldiers attached to a common
kitchen and living area.
B.L. Harbert has completed 85 percent of the design-build
16th MP Brigade Complex at Fort Bragg, which includes a four-story
residential building and support structures.
The company has begun foundation work on a design-build barracks
project at Fort Stewart, Ga. The seven three-story concrete
buildings will have metal-stud walls and exterior brick cladding.
The military also has made a large commitment to renovating
and revitalizing its family housing program, said Joe Zukowski,
lead estimator for military projects for general contractor
Dick Corp. of Pittsburgh.
"Military housing is extremely strong," agreed
Jim Taylor, executive vice president of Centex Construction
of Atlanta, crediting the Department of Defense's housing
privatization program.
Centex began work in November 2004 on a multiyear, privatized
housing project at Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield for GMH
Military Housing of Newtown Square, Pa. When complete, it
will consist of 1,770 new town houses and 98 single-family
homes and renovation of 1,597 existing units. Centex is gearing
up to start a similar project at Fort Gordon, near Augusta,
Ga., in 2006, again with GMH, which received a 50-year ground
lease to develop and manage family housing at that base.
Other Projects
At Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Fla., B.L. Harbert
is in the third year of a $33.9 million, 157,222-sq.-ft. hospital
renovation project, which includes a 71,878-sq.-ft., reinforced
concrete addition to house outpatient facilities.
And the company is in the midst of a $17 million project,
adding administrative and training facilities at Hurlburt
Field, Fla.
Dick Corp. received a $79 million design-build contract for
a 35,000-sq.-ft. precast concrete Aviation Rescue Swimmer
School, a 54,000-sq.-ft. precast fitness center and two masonry
visitor quarters totaling 196,000 sq. ft. at the Aviation
Enlisted Aircrew Training School in Pensacola, Fla. Construction
will begin in 2006, with completion scheduled for one year
later.
Danis Construction of Jacksonville, Fla., began work in June
2004 on its first military job - a 100,000-sq.-ft., combined
support maintenance shop at the Florida National Guard's Camp
Blanding Training Site near Starke, Fla.
The $21 million project includes six pre-engineered masonry
and steel buildings with metal roofs, which will house administrative
personnel, vehicle refurbishing, a missile vault, firing range,
electronics repair facility and automotive service shop.
Danis also paved 20 acres with a resin-topped asphalt that
hardens the concrete so tanks can drive on it. In its final
weeks at the training center, Danis received a second contract
to build a 60,000-sq.-ft. regional training institute at Camp
Blanding.
The $13 million project entails construction of a single-story,
metal-stud frame educational facility and a two-story, concrete-block
billeting building.
Hightower Construction Co. of North Charleston, S.C., is
building a 60,000-sq.-ft., masonry and structural-steel medical-dental
clinic at Parris Island, S.C., for the Navy. The $21 million
project was coming out of the ground with pile caps and grade
beams in September and should be complete by the end of 2007.
At the Navy Hospital in Beaufort, S.C., Hightower is gearing
up to replace stair towers, a $1 million project, according
to Jack Ellison, Hightower onsite project manager.
Also at Parris Island, Centennial Contractors Enterprises
of Vienna, Va., holds a six-year Marine Corps indefinite delivery
indefinite quantity contract for miscellaneous repairs, renovations
and upgrades ranging from $10,000 to $750,000. It received
a similar 10-year contract for repairs and remodeling, ranging
from $200,000 to $2 million, at Tyndall Air Force Base in
Panama City, Fla.
John Martin, senior vice president of Centennial, said contracts
are better this year than last, but domestic military spending
may be trending down in response to ongoing expenses in Iraq.
Earning the Contract
Major military projects are highly competitive. It usually
begins with a qualification process, with interested firms
providing detailed information about past performance on similar
jobs and references.
Then the military invites a few companies to bid. A faster
schedule earns a bid more points from the Army Corps of Engineers.
In addition, many military jobs require more collaboration
with end users.
"There is almost a universal requirement for formal
teamwork or partnering," Caddell Construction's Willis
said. "There's more of a team effort than there ver was
in an effort to get things right before big mistakes are made."
Design-build is growing in popularity with government contracting.
Turner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the corps
uses design-build for 25 percent to 40 percent of it projects,
especially those similar to commercial work, such as barracks
and office buildings.
Turner also said the corps is using more commercial standards
rather than its unique, long-standing specifications for materials
and techniques.
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