President signs
$8.4 billion construction act
Released: 30 Aug 1999
by Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- President Bill
Clinton's signature Aug. 17 on the fiscal 2000 Military
Construction Appropriation Act green lights $8.4 billion in
new barracks, homes, medical facilities and other projects.
The act provides $643 million for military
housing and $151 million for hospital and medical facilities.
It also provides $771 million for new family housing units and
$2.8 billion for operations and maintenance of existing
housing units.
The act appropriates $1.19 for Air Force
family housing, $1.17 billion for Army family housing and
$1.23 billion for Navy and Marine Corps family housing.
The president requested $78 million for the
Department of Defense Family Housing Improvement Fund, which
is used to fund housing privatization projects. Congress
appropriated $2 million -- the other $76 million went into
family housing military construction projects.
In the privatization program, private
companies build or refurbish family housing units and then
manage them according to rules, rents and standards negotiated
with DOD. The department invests 20 percent to 25 percent of
the project cost; contractors borrow the rest from commercial
financial institutions.
"Congress intended DOD to test the
program first," said Mike Catanzaro, a congressional
spokesman. "It's Congress' position that we first have to
see if (privatization) works. Will it get housing for military
families? The money appropriated will allow the services to
continue pilot programs to test the initiative. You don't
build a tank and put it right in the field, you test it after
you develop it. This is the same thing."
Congress took the $76 million from the
privatization program and programmed it toward traditional
military family housing construction. Projects at Marine Corps
Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., are programmed for more than
$22 million and projects at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif.,
$20 million.
Fort Lewis, Wash., has about $9 million for
new housing and Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., $6 million.
Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Ill., and Marine Corps
Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., are slated to receive $14.4
million and almost $5 million, respectively, for construction
improvements.
Joseph Sikes, DOD's director of competitive
sourcing and privatization, said Congress' action works to the
department's favor. He said DOD has the authority to use
military construction money for traditional contracting or for
privatization efforts if it chooses.
DOD has no such flexibility with
privatization funds, Sikes said. For instance, if DOD decides
for whatever reason not to proceed with a privatization
project, that part of the fund cannot be transferred for use
in a military construction account, he said.
Randall Yim, deputy undersecretary of
defense for installations, said DOD is working with Congress
to find the "right mix of privatized housing and
traditional housing."
"There are certain areas not as
conducive to privatization," he said. "Congress told
us very clearly, they want the mix of housing. We are slowly
going forward."
Yim called privatization deals complicated.
He predicted future projects will go much faster and smoother
once DOD officials gain experience and have some completed
projects under their belt.
Air Force projects in the military
construction act include:
Alabama:
-- Maxwell Air Force Base: officer training
school dormitory.
-- Dannelly Field Air National Guard
Station: medical training and dining facility.
California:
-- Los Angeles AFB: medical/dental clinic
replacement.
Colorado:
-- Schriever AFB: child development center,
physical fitness center.
-- U.S. Air Force Academy: upgrade academic
facility.
Florida:
-- Eglin AFB: dining facility and dormitory.
-- MacDill AFB: physical fitness center.
Mississippi:
-- Keesler AFB: student dining facility,
student dormitory.
Missouri:
-- Whiteman AFB: B-2 low-observable
restoration facility, physical fitness center.
Montana:
-- Malmstrom AFB: dormitory.
Ohio:
-- Wright-Patterson AFB: physical fitness
center.
Oklahoma:
-- Tinker AFB: dormitory.
Texas:
-- Dyess AFB: child development center.
-- Lackland AFB: dormitory.
Virginia:
-- Langley AFB: dormitory.
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