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As part of the transfer of the US Army Armor School from Fort Knox in Kentucky to Fort Benning in Georgia, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) awarded another contract to build vehicle maintenance instruction facilities.
USACE awarded a $15.8 million firm-fixed-price task order to Whiting-Turner Contracting in Baltimore, MD for the design and construction of a vehicle maintenance instruction facility (VMIF) at Fort Benning. The order was issued under a $500 million multiple award task order contract (W912HN-07-D-0055) awarded [pdf] to Whiting-Turning for military construction work in Georgia.
In August 2009, Carothers Construction in Oxford, MS received a $32.5 million contract to build a VMIF at the fort.
The Armor School is being relocated to Fort Benning because of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations.
According to Globalsecurity.org, BRAC recommended the relocation of the US Army Armor Center and School from Fort Knox to Fort Benning to accommodate the activation of an Infantry Brigade Combat Team at Fort Knox, as well as the relocation of the following to Fort Knox: engineer, military police, and combat service support units from Europe and Korea; the 84th Army Reserve Regional Training Center from Fort McCoy in Wisconsin; and the US Army Accessions Command and US Army Cadet Command from Fort Monroe in Virginia.
The Armor Center and School will be consolidated with the Infantry Center and School, which is currently located at Fort Benning. This would create a Maneuver Center of Excellence for ground forces training and doctrine development. It would consolidate both Infantry and Armor One Station Unit Training (OSUT), which would allow the Army to reduce the total number of Basic Combat Training locations from 5 to 4.
The total estimated one-time cost to implement this recommendation would be $773.1 million. The net of all costs and savings to Department of Defense (DoD) during the implementation period would be a cost of $244.1 million. Annual recurring savings to DoD after implementation would be $123.3 million with a payback expected in 5 years. The net present value of the costs and savings to the Department over 20 years would be a savings of $948.1 million.
Whiting-Turner expects to complete construction by March 31/11. For the contract, 4 bids were solicited with 3 bids received by US Army Engineer District Norfolk, VA.
