LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District was a busy place at the end of the fiscal year bringing total committed dollars to nearly $200 million for military real property Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization in the Southwest, according to the Military Programs Branch.
The contracts funding consisted of SRM being spread out across the military services, with the lion’s share of more than $92 million going to the Air Force Bases in the Southwest, the Army installations receiving nearly $72 million and the rest being spent on Navy and National Guard facilities the Corps is responsible to support.
SRM is vital in today’s fiscal environment.
Sustainment may contain maintenance and repair.
Restoration may contain repair or construction.
Modernization is mostly construction, but can contain repair if replacing components that normally last more than 50 years.
“The military construction dollars we’ve seen in the years gone by are not available to build new mission necessary facilities,” said the Corps' Los Angeles District Commander Col. Kim Colloton. “The necessity to wisely conduct SRM is how we sustain today’s military missions. It is an awesome year when we get to spend nearly $200 million in SRM money to keep the missions in our District viable so they can do their part in securing U.S. interests.”
The SRM funds are used to keep missions going.
“Installation Management Command provides sustainment funds for the upkeep and sustainment of facilities to conduct preventive maintenance to avoid emergencies,” said Fort Irwin Director of Public Works Muhammad Bari. “SRM funds help installations to properly plan and execute the Operations & Maintenance plans.”
Luke Air Force Base Civil Engineers agree SRM funding is a necessity.
“In today's fiscal environment, current mission military construction is not funded; therefore, without SRM funding, complete dormitory quality of life improvements would not be possible,“ said Luke ’s Deputy Base Civil Engineer Neil Wentz.
Some of the projects that were awarded are directly related to the mission of the various installations. Tracey Daggy, an L.A. District contracting specialist, awarded a contract to Nordic Construction & Design, a small business from San Diego, Calif., on Sept. 30 at the very end of the fiscal year for Luke Air Force Base’s more than $10 million project to renovate single Airmen dormitories.
“The renovation of dormitories 528 and 542 are part of the improvement strategy outlined in the Luke Air Force Base Dormitory Management Plan,” said Wentz. “Both buildings are out of compliance with current Air Force standards, and essential building components are past their useful life.”
The new dorm renovations will improve the quality of life for the Airmen, said Rob Crist, USACE engineer at Luke Air Force Base. The majority of the work will be replacing the walls and fixtures in the dormitories which were built in the 1980s. The end result will be Airmen having a single room with their own kitchen and bathroom, instead of sharing them.
“Dormitory 528 was built in 1987, and has not had any major renovations,” said Wentz. “Its remodeled spaces will provide 78 new, short-term living quarters with a total of 150 bed spaces. Dormitory 542 was built in 1959 and its last major renovation was in 1999. Its remodeled spaces will provide 24 new, permanent party living modules, which totals 52 dorm rooms. This improved standard provides a balance between privacy and social interaction, while increasing Airmen resiliency. “
The Army at Fort Irwin, Calif. is also conducting a large recovery project this year.
“The execution of flood recovery projects will help normalize the operations at National Training Center,” said Bari. “The Sustainment Repair and Maintenance funds were essential to sustain the infrastructure to support the NTC mission.”
The L.A. District was instrumental in the Fort Irwin improvements with the large amount of contract awards at the end of the year.
“Without help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it would have been impossible to plan, design and execute flood recovery projects,” said Bari. “Fort Irwin executed well over $40 million projects through the end of fiscal year 2014 that will pave the way to improve the operational and living conditions at Fort Irwin.”