CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
The 437th Contracting Squadron here announced April 22 its first awarded contract funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for repair work to the base's water system.
The newly awarded contract will replace 23 fire hydrants, remove 25 and relocate two. There are also six hydrants currently underground that will be raised.
The act, commonly known as the stimulus plan, will allow for 21 additional civil engineering projects to begin as well, with many scheduled to start this spring through pre-negotiated contractors. As of April 21, the base has been granted approximately $7.08 million.
The base has a 90-day period to obligate all of its projected plans and all coordinating agencies are sure to be busy throughout the coming months, said Bob Hood, an acquisition flight chief with the 437 CONS.
Bill Dean, the engineering flight chief with the 437th Civil Engineer Squadron, said the base moved forward quickly with its use of the stimulus award. In anticipation of year-end funding, the civil engineering office had already prepared a number of projects that were suitable.
"At year end, we have always trumpeted the civil engineer, contracting, and comptroller relationship as the key to the success for the base, and that same relationship that we've been able to foster during those times played a huge role during the Recovery Act planning," said Maj. Michael Connor, 437th Comptroller Squadron acting commander. "The communication between the civil engineers, contracting and comptrollers is the key to not just your year end, and not just your Recovery Act, but it also plays a big key just in the day-to-day mission."
Mr. Dean said the type of projects being implemented involve things the base had planned before the stimulus plan was announced. The new funding has simply allowed for work to begin much sooner than expected, and enough contracts will be filled to keep a steady flow of projects through the summer, he said.
"Business is booming for us right now; we got two years in one, so to speak," said Mr. Dean.
It is somewhat unprecedented to see this level of activity at this stage of the year, Major Connor said, and Team Charleston should expect an increase in work zones around the installation as project work gets underway.
Major Connor said he is particularly excited about the number of heating, ventilating and air conditioning units the stimulus plan will provide on base. He said in addition to various projects on operating facilities, new HVAC units will be installed in both the military family housing and temporary lodging facilities.
"These are necessary items that we're being able to fund and improve the quality of life for our Airmen, now," Major Connor said.
"We're giving dollars for programs and projects that we were looking to complete, and we're doing it in a way that's going to have transparency so that the average American citizen's going to be able to track them," Major Connor said. "But for these funds, we're actually going a step further and using another identifier in the accounting system that's going to provide even greater transparency and be fed through Air Mobility Command to the Recovery.org link."
The guiding principle of transparency is essential in proposals throughout agencies receiving stimulus awards, he added.
Information on stimulus expenditures is available to the public via recovery Web sites at www.recovery.gov and www.recovery.org.