Small business qualifier Gulf Sand and Gravel Inc. in Gulf Shores, AL received a delivery order amount of $6.1 million as part of a $10 million firm-fixed-price contract for restoration of shoreline and beach in Harrison, MS. Work is expected to be completed by Aug 28/08. There were 205 bids solicited on July 13/07, and 5 bids were received by The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Mobile, AL (W91278-07-D-0108).

Your tax dollars at work.

Djibouti & region
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DID is always happy to report stories from the front lines that demonstrate real creativity and address key problems or save money. Djibouti sits at the entrance to the Red Sea, astride the passage from the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal. It has become a key berthing base for western warships combating the rampant piracy off of the Somali coast, and also plays an important role in the Global War on Terror and intertwined efforts to stabilize the northwest Africa region. Both the US Marines and the French Foreign Legion base troops in and around Djibouti.

As that force grows and improvements are made to the facilities at Camp Lemonier, however, a need for power follows. This kind of imperative around the world has driven efforts to field containerized renewable power units, and at least one 5kw THEPS unit is scheduled to deploy in the Djibouti region soon. Meanwhile, more conventional approaches are being used to meet the required load. “Right now we can’t power all of the containerized living units we have,” said Camp Lemonier commanding officer Capt. John Heckmann Jr. Which is why the camp recently received 6 generators weighing 11,000 pounds each and producing 1 Mw each – enough power for approximately 1,000 American homes. The generators will primarily be used to support the camp’s $30 million berthing project.

The problem was, how to offload them without a crane? Renting one would be expensive and difficult, and take time. Seabees from Camp Lemonier Public Works, Mobile Utilities Support Equipment out of Port Hueneme, CA, and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 133 were assigned to the problem, and thought about the railway industry, which uses electric jacks to perform maintenance on their box cars. If they could lift a boxcar, how about a generator? On July 24-25, they discovered the answer was “yes,” executed the project ahead of schedule, and saved $300,000 in crane rental fees. US Navy Newsstand story.

The Price is right
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Allied Trades Section engineers display their creativity and inventiveness by making new tools to help warfighters in the field. Michael Price, shop supervisor with Allied Trades at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, and a retired Army mechanic, is no exception. His shop’s creation is an improved vehicle weapon mount for 5.56mm M249 SAW or 7.62mm M240B machine guns that has gone a long way to provide better small-arms fire protection in Afghanistan.

“It was heavy, and they wanted to know if we could do something different for them; we came up with an idea to make them out of steel, but lighter. There are not as many supports in it, but it’s all welded together instead of bolted together. So it’s a lot better piece of equipment.”

Price’s shop has produced about 400 of them, out of about 700 requests so far. The new design apparently enables better protection for service members in vehicles, and they were able to save about $1,100 per mount by producing it on site. US DoD story.

Price Waterhouse Coopers L.L.P. in Washington, DC received a delivery order amount of $7.5 million as part of a $16.8 million firm-fixed-price contract to conduct a financial statement audit of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works FY 2007 financial statements.

Work will be performed in Washington, DC and is expected to be complete by April 25, 2008. There were 5 bids solicited on March 20, 2006, and 5 bids were received by the Washington Headquarters Services in Arlington, VA (N00421-05-D-0025).

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F-22A over Ft. Monroe
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Small business qualifier Waterfront Marine Construction Inc. in Virginia Beach, VA won a $20 million firm-fixed-price contract for repair of a flood protection system and infrastructure at Fort Monroe, VA. Ft. Monroe has a history that dates back to the 1800s, and houses a number of tenants, including TRADOC – the US Army’s Training & Doctrine command. Work is expected to be completed by Jun. 20, 2009. There were 20 bids solicited on Dec. 22, 2006, and 6 bids were received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Norfolk, VA (W91236-07-C-0019).

Map of Ft. Monroe
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Highlights of the 2-year seawall repair and improvement project include the construction of a new seawall between the “Navy” pier located west of the Chamberlin and the fishing pier behind Battery Parrott on Fenwick. The new wall will be built in front of the existing structure and will be 24 inches higher, at an elevation of approximately 9.5 feet above the average water line. Contractors will also build additional erosion barriers and breakwaters to lessen the impact of large waves crashing toward the shoreline. This is expected reduce “wave overtopping” by 60% in a storm equivalent to 2003’s Hurricane Isabel, whose damage and flooding led to this project. It will also help prevent environmental problems such as “black water” (seawater + oil, raw sewage, etc.) from contaminating much of the installation and the surrounding Chesapeake Bay, and remedy safety concerns such as compromised or non-existent hand rails, aging utility infrastructure, and risks like standing water and basement flooding that promote mosquitoes, mold & disease.

Emphasis will be placed on the southern side of post where most of the historic properties are located, and the project is estimated to pay for itself via cost avoidance within 6 years. While no flood protection is ever perfect, an Army Engineer study estimates that the project improves flood protection for Fort Monroe from a 5-year level (20% chance of larger storm in any given year) to a 25-year level (4% chance). See full Fort Monroe release.

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Small business qualifier the Shavers-Whittle Construction in Covington, LA received the full delivery order amount of $13 million as part of a firm-fixed-price contract for Southeastern Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project bridge replacement in Jefferson Parish, LA.

Work is expected to be completed by Apr. 8, 2009. There were 8 bids solicited on Dec. 29, 2006, and 3 bids were received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, LA (W912P8-06-D-0092).

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Hawkins Construction Co. in Omaha, NB received a $6.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for the Antelope Creek Flood Protection Project. Work will be performed in Lincoln, NB and is expected to be complete by Jan. 31, 2008. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Dec. 4, 2006, and 3 bids were received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, NB (W9128F-07-C-0001). The project was a Presidential earmark.

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The Walsh Group, dba Archer Western Contractors in Chicago, IL received $13.3 million for firm-fixed-price Task Order 0006 for renovation of administrative buildings for use by the Military Sealift Command at Naval Station Norfolk. Work to be performed provides for repairs to Buildings SP-47, SP-48 and SP-64, including the gutting of three buildings and the replacement of all doors and windows. It also provides for the repair and replacement of roofs, exterior brick, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, and steam connections. New construction includes upgrading the parking area, installing lighting, and moving load-bearing interior walls.

Work will be performed in Norfolk, VA under a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity multiple award construction contract (N62470-01-D-1138), and is expected to be completed by August 2008 – but contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic in Norfolk, VA issued the contract.

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Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. in Oak Brook, IL was awarded on Jan. 11, 2007, a $9.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging of Wilmington Harbor., NC. Work is expected to be complete by April 30, 2007. There were 14 bids solicited on Nov. 8, 2006, and 3 bids were received. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Savannah, GA issued the contract (W912HN-07-C-0014).

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AEV-3 Geniepanzer/ Kodiak
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In its 2006 armaments programme, the Swiss parliament approved the procurement of 12 “Geniepanzer” armoured engineer and mine-clearing vehicles for the country’s Armed Forces, using the chassis of surplus Pz87 (Leopard 2) tanks. A CHF 95 million (currently around $76 million) procurement contract has now been signed by the procurement agency Armasuisse and Thun-based RUAG Land Systems, covering 12 carrier vehicles, plus 12 AEV modules and 6 mine-clearing modules. The vehicles will be multifunctional, and it will be possible to set them up for AEV or mine clearance missions within a very short time. Ruag is partnering with Germany’s Leopard tank co-producer Rheinmetall AG, and the vehicles will be delivered to the Swiss armed forces in 2010-2011.

Mine-clearance options
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The Geniepanzer, also known as the Kodiak for international sales, will be equipped with a high-performance hinged arm excavator, a bulldozer system with innovative cutting and tilt angle settings, and a double-winch system consisting of two 9 tonne/10 ton capstan winches. When combined and deployed in multiple traction mode, these provide a pulling force of up to 62 tons. Thanks to a quick-release coupling, the excavator bucket can be exchanged for a number of other devices, including a hydraulic hammer and a universal-gripper. All of these tools are electro-hydraulically controlled and can be operated by the driver with two joysticks, gtiving the Kodiak a wide range of military and civilian/disaster related uses. As an alternative, the dozer blade can be swapped for a full-width mine plough, and the vehicle can be fitted with signature-duplicator and lane-marking units. This turns the Kodiak/Geniepanzer into a high performance minefield-breaching system. The Kodiak’s anti-landmine protection technology features correspond to those of the latest generation of Leopard 2 MBT, and it will also carry a 12.7mm/ .50 caliber machine gun and a smoke grenade launcher for protection.

RUAG and Rheinmetall have set up a consortium to develop, market and manufacture the “AEV-3 Kodiak” for use by other Leopard 2 customers across Europe and beyond. Thanks in part to the great DeutschePanzerSchlussverkauf, the Leopard 2 and its variants have been bought by Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Singapore, Switzerland, Sweden, and Turkey. See also RUAG release | Rheinmetall release.