O2 gets new housing in deployed location, mitigates threat

Published Aug. 11, 2008
By Tech. Sgt. Denise Johnson
380th AEW Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Air Force officials met with local contractors here today for the site survey of a new construction project intended to house liquid and gas oxygen.

Expeditionary constraints led to the tanks being stored in a hangar. The construction of a new facility alleviates the exposure of explosive hazards to Airmen and Air Force assets.

"We're committed to mitigating this hazard. Though the tanks are secure, the threat does exist," said Lt. Col. Frederick Thaden, 380th Expeditionary Mission Support Group deputy commander. "We'll take every possible step to guarantee the safety our Airmen and assets."

The building will house liquid and gas products according to safety regulations. The concrete masonry unit will have two bays totaling 20x40 feet divided by a concrete wall.

The cost of the construction is expected to be between $250,000 and $500,000.
Colonel Thaden joined representatives from the 380th Expeditionary Contracting Squadron, Civil Engineer Squadron and the U.S. government-contracted design team as they met with local contractors to go over last-minute questions or discrepancies. The group met at the site to allow possible bidders to get a visual of the location. Not all interested parties came to the site survey, some correspond electronically to get the information they require for a cost estimate of the project.

All the contractors will have about two weeks to submit their proposals after the site survey. The proposals will then be evaluated by the 380th ECES project officer and the design contractor. "The criterion for this project is: lowest price/technically acceptable," said Senior Airman Matthew Vilsack. Airman Vilsack is a contingency contracting officer for the 380th ECONS. "This means the lowest bid is not necessarily going to be chosen."

Each proposal will be evaluated on its own merit. The engineer project officers and the design team will make the final decision on who will be awarded the contract. "We want to make sure the plans meet the requirements and are feasible for the design," said Capt. Jorge Lopez, 380th ECES project manager. "We also look to make sure it's economically sound. Then we report our evaluation results to the contracting squadron - they'll take the required steps to notify the bidders."

The evaluating process could take about a week, according to Captain Lopez. Airman Vilsack sends out a "notice to proceed," which includes the start date, once the contract is awarded. The contractors have 120 days to complete the construction.

This project includes the building itself, utilities, a fire-suppression system, a pump with housing for the fire-suppression system, a back-up generator platform, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The contract will also include sunshades. "The bidders should already be aware of the scope of the project because we send them all the plans and data prior to this survey," Captain Lopez said. "But today we'll respond to any further questions or concerns."

To date the plans are moving along and the project could be completed within one deployment rotation. "If things go as planned, we could be breaking ground within a month and we could be looking at our new storage facility in December," Colonel Thaden said. "We'll do what we can to keep things moving smoothly."

Author's note: This is the first in a series of articles regarding construction of the oxygen-storage facilities.