$117.5M for Family Housing at Fort Wainwright, AK

Osborne Construction Co. in Kirkland, WA received a $117.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for design and construction of family housing replacements at Fort Wainwright, AK. Work is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2009. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Oct. 4, 2006, and 1 bid was received by the U.S. Army Engineer District, Elmendorf, Alaska (W911KB-07-C-0018).

Among other tenants, Fort Wainwright is home to the 172nd “Arctic Wolves” Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which earned he Valorous Unit Award (VUA) for service in Iraq from August 2005 – December 2006. Stories like PFC Stephen Sanford’s help to explain why. As for the housing, it was needed yesterday. This message greets visitors to the base’s home page:

“Soldiers reporting to Ft. Wainwright, Alaska, need to know that housing may not be immediately available and that they and their families might be required to live in an extended stay hotel for a lengthy period (several weeks/ months). Soldiers must also be advised that bringing pets is strongly discouraged because extended stay hotels do not allow pets and kennel space is extremely limited. If available, kennels will cost Soldiers approximately $15-$25 per day. It is suggested that Soldiers make arrangements to ship their pets only after permanent lodging is available and that they also check with the airlines to determine whether any travel restrictions exist.”