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Manas AB holds construction forum

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tabitha Kuykendall
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, KYRGYZSTAN --  A half a dozen businessmen from local construction firms visited Manas Air Base April 7 to learn about base construction needs.

The visit was a follow-up to a construction forum the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing hosted at the Hyatt International Hotel in Bishkek April 1. More than 30 personnel, representing 17 companies, attended that event.

Stateside, base contract opportunities are largely publicized using Web-based means. Overseas these Web sites are lesser known and not as accessible. To expand their reach, the contracting office hosted the construction forum and subsequent base tour for prospective bidders.

"We held the events in hopes of increasing our vendor pool of local companies as well as to increase their awareness of us and the opportunities the base has to offer," said Capt. Francis Navarro, 376th Expeditionary Contracting Squadron commander. "We would like to contract all of our projects out to businesses in the local economy."

The goal, said Captain Navarro, is diversifying the contracts. The more companies they can have propose on projects, the better for the base and the better for the local economy.

The base was initially established at the end of 2001 as a tent city. As the base replaces those original tents with temporary but more durable structures, there is a continual need for construction.

Last year, $4 million worth of construction contracts were awarded to five companies. In the next six months, they are looking to start about $10 million worth of projects. The contracting office wanted to get the word out about those opportunities, and the forum did just that.

"I felt the forum was very successful--we had a great turn out and received a lot of positive feedback," said Tech. Sgt Eric Chase, 376th ECONS superintendent.

The contracting office targeted construction companies by advertising in professional publications. Interested parties were encouraged to attend a briefing about the base construction program. 

The briefing, conducted by Sergeant Chase and Senior Airman Amanda Hildreth, 376th ECONS, detailed upcoming projects, bidding, expectations of the contract, as well as other needed information, to include the upcoming site visit offered to interested bidders. 

"I was very impressed with the patience and quality of all involved-- working with the language barrier isn't always easy," said Col. Gene Odom, 376th Expeditionary Mission Support Group deputy commander.

With the help of translators, the two groups were able to communicate.

"I was very satisfied with the brief, and I feel I got all the information I need in order to go back and submit the projects to my company," said Valerii Orehor, a local businessman and potential bidder.

The pre-proposal site visit helped "cement" that understanding. Seeing the type of construction helped potential local bidders understand what they were going to be working with as well as some of the challenges they may face.

"I found the site visit very helpful because I was able to see the site we will be working on and I was able to ask more questions about the statement of work," said Rahmi Akbulut, another potential bidder.