US Army explosives expert
defuses Russian landmine

Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. These landmines are not just from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighting US and coalition forces. Many are left over from the Soviet occupation of the country from 1979 to 1989.

There are an estimated 100,000 landmines in Afghanistan. They pose a risk not only to US and coalition forces, but civilian Afghanis as well. Several international organizations, such as the UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan, have been working to clear the mines for decades. A video by filmaker Oliver Englehart provides a compelling view of a landmine clearing team.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has been working to clear landmines from Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began. The USACE uses a combination of US soldiers and contractors to perform the work. The USACE’s Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, AL, recently awarded a contract worth up to $60 million to EOD Technology (EODT) in Lenoir City, TN, to clear mines and battlefield areas…

Michael Baker Jr., Inc., a Virginia Beach, VA-based engineering unit of Michael Baker Corp., won a $75 million maximum value, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for multimedia environmental compliance engineering support for the US Navy and other US Department of Defense installations in the Northeast, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic continental United States and some overseas locations. These locations are within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic’s areas of responsibility.

The maximum dollar value includes a base period and 4 option years.

Michael Baker Jr. will prepare studies, plans, specifications, design, reports, cost estimates and associated engineering services in support of the following environmental compliance programs:

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest in San Diego, CA awarded a maximum $20 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity architect/ engineering contract to RBF Consulting in San Diego, CA to provide civil engineering services in NAVFAC Southwest’s area of responsibility.

RBF will be perform the work at various US Navy and US Marine Corps facilities and other government facilities within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR, including California (87%), Arizona (5%), Nevada (5%), Colorado (1%), New Mexico (1%), and Utah (1%).

RBF will provide the following civil engineering services…

Houston-Galveston
Navigation Channel Map
(click to enlarge)

Weston Solutions in Houston, TX received a $23.2 million firm-fixed-price task order under a multiple award task order contract (W912BV-08-D-2012) to repair levees along the Houston-Galveston navigation channel.

The firm will perform levee repairs, shore protection, and channelization within placement areas and beneficial use sites along the channel…

Kuwait Air Force F-18C
(click to view larger)

On Nov 23/09, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced [PDF] Kuwait’s formal request for the design and construction of Kuwait Air Force facilities and infrastructure. The estimated cost of the project is $700 million.

The US Congress has 30 days to block the transaction; if no action is taken, the Kuwait government will enter into negotiations with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for the project. Should everything go smoothly, USACE will provide the Kuwait government with engineering, planning, design, acquisition, contract administration, construction management, and other technical services for construction of facilities and infrastructure at Al Mubarak Air Base and the Kuwait Air Force Headquarters Complex…

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) awarded a $51.5 million firm-fixed-price contract to KBE Ventures, a Farmington, CT-based joint venture of KBE Building Corporation and Derita Construction, to build an Armed Forces Reserve Center at Cucia Park in Middletown, CT.

The contract includes construction of a 164,000-square-foot training facility with administrative, educational, assembly, library, learning center, vault, weapons simulator, and physical fitness areas for 4 Army Reserve units and 6 Connecticut Army National Guard units…

Flooding in Chalmette, LA
from Hurricane Katrina
(click to view larger)

Odebrecht-Baker in Coral Gables, FL won a $278.8 million construction contract for levee improvements to the Chalmette Loop from Verret to Caernarvon in St. Bernard Parish, LA.

The Chalmette Loop contract is 1 of hundreds of contract being awarded by the US Army Corps of Engineers under the Hurricane Protection System (HPS). For a list of HPS contracts, including future contracts being awarded in the coming fiscal years, click here [PDF].

Under this contract, Odebrecht-Baker will build a floodwall along the Chalmette Loop.

CH2M Hill in Englewood, CO won a $95 million multiple award indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity with a resulting fixed firm price contract for architect-engineering services for the National Guard (Army and Air) nationwide (52 states and territories).

CH2M expects to complete the work by Sept 8/14. For the solicitation, 59 bids were received by the NGB-PARC-S (W90FYQ-09-D-0003).

Moffatt & Nichol in Long Beach, CA won a maximum $100 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity architect/ engineer (A/E) contract for design support services for various waterfront/ marine projects covered by the Defense Policy Review Initiative and other projects in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific area of responsibility (AOR).

The Defense Policy Review Initiative established [PDF] a framework for the relocation of American military units in Japan to other areas. “US Military Gearing up on Guam” has more on the US Marine Corps plan to shift 8,000 Marines from Japanese bases to Guam.

Moffatt & Nichol expects to perform the work in the NAVFAC Pacific AOR, and complete it by August 2014. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 4 proposals received by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific in Pearl Harbor, HI (N62742-09-D-0002). The company will provide a number of design support services to NAVFAC…

DTC Engineers & Constructions in Hamden, CT won a $19 million firm-fixed-price contract for the design and construction of an Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC) in Mayaguez, PR, with an estimated completion date of June 3/11. Bids were posted on the Web with 8 bids received by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Louisville District in Kentucky (W912QR-09-C-0067).

DTC will build a 75,000-sq-ft AFRC training building, a 21,000-sq-ft vehicle maintenance shop (VMS), an 1,800-sq-ft unheated storage facility, and provide 10,000 square yards for organizational parking, antiterrorism measures and building information systems. Buildings will be permanent construction with HVAC systems, plumbing, mechanical systems, security systems, and electrical systems. Supporting facilities include land clearing, paving, fencing, general site improvements, and extension of utilities. Physical security measures will be incorporated into the design, including maximum standoff distance from roads, parking areas, and vehicle unloading areas.

The USACE is also looking to build an AFRC at Fort Buchanan in San Juan…