ngineering E IN E U R O P E One environmental success after another Corps’ team lessens environmental impact at Camp Bondsteel, manages Europe’s largest “fuel farm” Digging oases in the Sahara American engineers to oversee the construction and renovation of AFRICOM-funded humanitar- ian assistance “oases” in the Sahara US Army Corps of Engineers Europe District Vol. 4 Winter 2009 Winter 2008 1 From the Commander Building strong in 2009! NAU geared for growth, ready for new challenges Happy New Year. 2009 is a year filled with promise, opportunities, and challenges for the Europe District. It is also a fitting time to reflect on our recent accomplishments and prepare ourselves for the future. More than ever before, the nation and our allies called upon the Europe District in 2008 to respond to new challenges on new frontiers. You all responded with the professionalism, teamwork, and sense of pride that are hallmarks of this district. We remain an organization of choice for our strategic partners. Our overall program exceeded our 2007 efforts across the board, with Installation Support in particular growing by over 50 percent. Most illustrative of our collective work was our construction placement, with the District turning over 31 major facilities and 100 small- to medium-sized renovation projects in 2008, totaling about $521 million. These projects included control towers, munitions maintenance facilities, inspection stations, schools, child development centers, a host nation base camp, 155 renovated Army and Air Force family housing units, and numerous other key renovations for garrisons across Europe. 2008 was also a record-breaking year for work in Eastern Europe, where we worked on 75 new projects in nine countries totaling more than $150 million. The lion’s share of this work took place in Romania, where District employees like Armando Solis and Charles Bulla managed the construction of barracks, company and battalion headquarters, and community support facilities built to sustain up to 2,500 troops on six-month rotations in support of the USAREUR-led Joint Task Force-East initiative. And at the District headquarters we made progress as well, adopting a new VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone system, migrating to Office 2007 and SharePoint 2007, and starting our first Leadership Development Program with a diverse set of six enthusiastic employees – Angel Acosta, Vanessa Bauders, Klaus Fiedler, Okan Nalbant, Charles Samuel, and Francisco Torres. We’re now well positioned to seize new opportunities. Our workload will increase in 2009 and 2010, so we must continue to refine our processes and teaming to achieve even more. We are just now standing up another JTF-E office to manage construction on the Novo Selo Training Area in eastern Bulgaria. Later this year, we will also establish new resident offices in Poland and the Czech Republic, where we’ll support the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s ballistic defense system. We’re still on solid footing in Western Europe, where we continue to expand our portfolio to accept our customers’ biggest challenges, like preparing Wiesbaden for the arrival of 7th Army and creating the blueprints for the new $405 million hospital at Landstuhl. And we’re geared for growth in Africa, too, starting to ramp up partnership efforts with the U.S. Africa Command to support exercise-related construction projects, humanitarian assistance projects, and multilateral military-to-military projects. It certainly is a great time to be part of a diverse and growing district team! For over 50 years in over 50 countries, our engineers have proven their technical excellence, reliability, and internationality. We’ve continued to build on our strengths, focus on customer requirements, expand our portfolio, and stay committed to our values. Our District is strong. And it grows stronger every year. I am exceptionally proud of your performance in 2008 and am confident that this diverse, vibrant, adaptable, and engaged workforce will prove itself once again in the year ahead. Happy New Year, Europe District! Essayons! 2 Engineering in Europe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers C o n t e n t s The Flux Capacity 4 USACE’s Europe District attempts to ease the market’s unpredictable effects by using an old method in a new place 4 6 6 Solving problems Europe District smoothly hands over a building retrofitted for one customer to another on Stuttgart’s Kelley Barracks One environmental success 8 after another Corps’ team mingles old and 8 new technologies to lessen environmental impact at Camp Bondsteel 12 Digging oases in the Sahara American engineers to oversee the construction and renovation of AFRICOM-funded humanitarian assistance “oases” in the southern Sahara Desert 15 Fixing up for FLINTLOCK Despite challenges, USACE finishes 12 exercise facility in Mali on time 16 Mastering master planning Army architects and planners team to design the future footprint of the military in Europe 19 NAU up close Two mini-stories showcase Europe District’s compassion and passion during the holiday season On the Cover Engineering in Europe is an unofficial publication of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District, authorized One of 15 50,000-gallon under the provisions of AR 360-1. The editorial views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the U.S. ngineering Army Corps of Engineers or the Department of the Army. Engineering in Europe is a command information publication E IN E U R O P E bladders of fuel sits of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District. Circulation is 800 copies. Articles, photographs, and other ready to be drained contributions are welcome. The editor reserves the right to make changes to all material submitted. The submission deadline is the 1st of the month preceding quarterly publication. Send submissions to: Editor, Engineering in Europe, at Camp Bondsteel, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District, CMR 410, Box 1, APO AE 09096. Details may be obtained from the PAO at (011) 49-611-9744-2720 or DSN 570-2720. Material may be sent via e-mail to: [email protected] Kosovo, where the An electronic version of Engineering in Europe may be viewed on the Europe District Internet homepage at: U.S. Army Corps of www.nau.usace.army.mil Engineers has managed Commander: Deputy Commander: Col. John S. Kem Lt. Col. P. Anela Arcari a repeatedly successful environmental program Public Affairs Chief: Editor: Layout/Design: US Army Corps of Engineers Europe District Justin Ward Vacant Rebecca Lippman Vol. 4 Winter 2009 through the local DPW. Cover photo by Justin Ward Winter 2008 3 SUPPORTING OUR CUSTOMERS The ”FLUX” Capacity Milton Ricks Incirlik Air Base’s Phantom Hous- ing complex was one site where District engineers tried to let a con- tract in foreign currency recently. Story by Danielle Stephens, hen markets fluctuate, ex- which has climbed 11 percent in 2008 Special to Engineering in Europe change rates fluctuate. And alone. This combination left contractors Wwhen a foreign contractor is who won bids earlier in the year reeling awarded a contract in U.S. dollars but with costly out-of-pocket expenses. buys material and pays his employees Because of this, said Alex Tomosies- in a different currency, his profit is at ki, project manager, bids for a recent the whim of that fluctuating market. multi-year contract to renovate 515 In addition to the financial risk, the housing units on Incirlik Air Base all declining dollar also raises the issue of came in too high, as contractors were performance risk, borne when contrac- predicting similar trends in coming tors who suffer financial losses reduce years. staffing, reduce scope, or lower quality “The contractors gave up pretty standards to meet their targets. good bids for the near term,” said Pat- Because of these predicted risks, rick Daugherty, chief, Atlantic Regional foreign contractors often artificially in- Management Office, Air Force Center flate their bids, especially if the contract for Engineering and the Environment. exceeds one year. “However, they priced the work in the This has been especially noted in out-years very high.” Turkey, where the falling value of the By building risk into their bids for dollar was compounded by the rapidly the middle and latter time frames of inflating New Turkish Lira currency – the contract, explained Tomosieski, 4 Engineering in Europe Did you know? contractors overshoot the maximum al- From an average of 9 lira per U.S. dollar in the late 1960s, the lowed price of the contract. And when Turkish Lira came to trade at approximately 1.65 million lira this happens, he continued, the solicita- per U.S. dollar in late 2001, representing an average inflation of tion has to be canceled, prepared again, about 38 percent per year. and resubmitted. “It has to be on the street for thirty days, then goes in front of the tech re- awarded, the dollar value of the con- customer, and the current plan is to view board,” said Tomosieski, “Really tract will change according to exchange award this as a dollar or euro contract a lot of things have to take place.” rate fluctuations. However, this makes by July 2009. Worse yet, the project is usually “re- it nearly impossible for the District to But while the contract at Incirlik Air scoped or descoped,” ultimately mean- budget for the contracts, which can Base will no longer be awarded in lira, ing fewer products or services for the span over several years. The flux ac- the District will continue to consider same cost, a detriment to the taxpayer count is an account that uses a set rate the use of foreign currencies and the and, moreover, the warfighter.