Owner of the Year: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District

Since mid-2007, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District has awarded an astounding $2.2 billion in work under the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005. Faced with a massive workload, the Baltimore District reached out to the construction industry for answers and opened itself to new ways of delivering projects.

By Jim Parsons

With 210 years of military construction experience, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District has a storied history of meeting its missions in the Mid-Atlantic. But these days, the district may be best known for the ways it is breaking from tradition and redefining how projects are delivered.

Jim Jones, deputy district engineer and chief of the Programs and Project Management Division at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, stands at the site of the 1-million-sq-ft Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters being built at Fort Meade, Md.

With the deployment of the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005, the Baltimore District was handed a multibillion dollar design and construction program to organize, administer and complete by 2011.

The Corps’ Baltimore District had to do more than simply live up to the agency’s motto essayons, French for “Let us try.” It had to succeed. Now at the midway peak of implementing BRAC 2005, there’s little doubt that the Baltimore District is doing just that.

Since mid-2007, the district has issued a staggering $2.2 billion worth of BRAC-related design and construction contracts for a portfolio of projects as diverse as two new Armed Forces Reserve Centers in Pennsylvania and the massive $1.4 billion 2.4-million-sq-ft National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) East Campus at Fort Belvoir, Va.

But volume is not the only reason the Baltimore District earned Mid-Atlantic Construction’s 2008 Owner of the Year honors. Equally important are the steps it has taken to effectively manage this massive workload to the benefit of its customers and the region’s design and construction community.

The Baltimore District has adopted integrated design-bid-build and early contractor involvement to help expedite larger, more complex and time-sensitive assignments such as the $1.4 billion 2.4-million-sq-ft National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency East Campus at Fort Belvoir, Va.

“Each corps district has had its challenges with BRAC, but Baltimore was given the largest challenge of them all with volume of work it had to administer,” says John Barotti, senior vice president for Skanska USA Building of Rockville, Md. “They’ve done a great job.”

New Approaches, New Challenges As with any mission, good planning, good leadership and ample resources have proven keys to success.

Along with expanding its workforce by 400 people over the past three years, the district assured sufficient administrative capacity for BRAC “hot spots,” such as Fort Belvoir, and Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Detrick in Maryland, by establishing Integrated Program Offices staffed with project-management specialists, contracting officers and construction and design-support personnel.

“The goal was to stay close to our clients at installations and manage the workforce better,” says Jim Jones, deputy district engineer and chief of the Programs and Project Management Division “By providing an additional layer of supervision and resource control, we could fulfill our oversight function without becoming distracted by day-to-day issues.”

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To stay on track, the Baltimore District also reached out to its other regional partners. Several major projects in the area were outsourced to other corps districts, such as assigning the Washington Headquarters Services’ new 16-acre home at Alexandria’s Mark Center to the New York District, and having Philadelphia handle the $477-million, 1.6-million-sq-ft C4ISR Center of Excellence at Aberdeen, which is being constructed by the joint venture of Grunley Construction of Washington, Tompkins-Turner Government Services of Arlington, Va., and Kinsley Construction of Timonium, Md.

The Norfolk District, which specializes in medical facilities, is overseeing the a new 1.2-million-sq-ft Fort Belvoir hospital, which is being constructed by the team of Turner Construction Co. and Gilbane Building Co. of Laurel, Md.

Perhaps the district’s most far-reaching step was consulting the region’s construction industry for ideas on how to make the program work as smoothly as possible.

“We provided our insights and expectations, which helped the corps understand what would work and would not work with the general contracting community,” says Bill Calhoun, executive vice president of Clark Construction Group of Bethesda, Md., whose firm is involved in both the NGA and Mark Center projects.

At Fort Detrick, Manhattan Construction Co. of Falls Church, Va., and Torcon Inc., of Philadelphia have teamed up for the $511-million 835-million-sq-ft Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

A key outcome of those discussions was giving contractors advanced notice on the corps Web siter of impending project awards with contract limits, solicitation methods and submission dates.

“This is a great planning tool for the contracting community,” says Patrick  Burns, vice president of Mortenson Construction of Alexandria, Va. “You can match up your firm’s skills and resources with what’s being offered.”

One outcome of that industry interaction was the potential use of integrated design-bid-build and its close cousin, early contractor involvement, to help expedite the larger, more complex and time-sensitive assignments such as the NGA and Fort Belvoir hospital projects.

Though essentially public-sector iterations of construction manager at-risk, IDBB/ECI represented both a cultural and contracting change for the district and its customers.

“It was essential that we get our A/Es and contractors working together with our customers as early as possible,” says Jones, adding that IDBB has worked well for the NGA complex, a project he calls the “crown jewel” of the district’s BRAC program to date.

“NGA is a large and intense project, yet it’s made miraculous progress because everyone involved is staying focused on avoiding risk and achieving our objectives,” Jones says. “Everyone who’s seen it, including several high-ranking officials from the defense and intelligence community, has been amazed.”

Even with large jobs, speed of delivery is critical on BRAC work, including the new 1.2-million-sq-ft Fort Belvoir hospital, which is being constructed by the team of Turner Construction Co. and Gilbane Building Co. of Laurel, Md. Pictured top is the site in March 2008 and above in March 2009.

That the district has realized such outstanding results from IDBB comes as no surprise to Calhoun.

“IDBB’s collaborative environment means that decisions are always made in the project’s best interest,” he says. “The corps has gotten the best practices from the contractor, owner and design team, resulting in creating a good project.”

Burns predicts that the district’s experience with IDBB will make it a “center of excellence” for future megaprojects.

“They will know how to be more efficient and effective on project management, regardless of the contracting method,” he says. “They have already picked up on design-build as it was intended to be used. They don’t try to run those projects as design-bid-build, stringing out submittals and review schedules.”

Jones credits both the evolution of design-build over the past 15 years and a workforce that has essentially grown up with a wider range of contracting methods.

“The important thing is that we have a larger contracting toolbox than ever before,” he says, noting that the district expects to use design-bid-build, indefinite quantity, multiple award task order and other contracting methods when appropriate.

Some recent BRAC design-build awards include three major Fort Meade projects. Skanska USA was selected for the $31.8-million 151,000-sq-ft Adjudication Co-Location Activities Facility, while Hensel Phelps Construction of Chantilly, Va., was tapped to build a 178,086-sq-ft headquarters and product facility for Defense Media Activity. Hensel Phelps is already at work on the $369-million, 1-million-sq-ft Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters at the installation.

At Fort Detrick, Manhattan Construction Co. of Falls Church, Va., and Torcon Inc., of Philadelphia have teamed up for the $511-million 835-million-sq-ft Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, while Foulger-Pratt Contracting of Rockville, Md., is working on the $49.5-million 142,525-sq-ft command headquarters for the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

The Ongoing Mission Although most of the Baltimore District’s big-ticket BRAC projects have been awarded, Jones says that more than $200 million worth of small and medium contracts remain to be issued through the end of FY 2011.

And while BRAC will remain the corps’ priority for the next two years, competition is coming in the form of a fresh influx of construction funding to military and non-Defense agencies under the federal government’s various economic stimulus programs. So far, most of the stimulus-funded projects at installations have been less than $100,000, small enough to be managed locally.

Hensel Phelps Construction of Chantilly, Va., was tapped to build a 178,086-sq-ft headquarters and product facility for Defense Media Activity at Fort Meade.

“I would have preferred that this had come at the end of BRAC, not at our peak,” Jones says. “It’s not the best timing, but we’ll still help them and the civilian and non-Defense agencies who need help with their new construction projects.”

The district is also looking ahead to life after BRAC, when the focus returns to a more routine workload of military construction projects. One of the first challenges will be reassigning a skilled workforce that Jones credits for making BRAC a success.

“I’ve been through a few of these staffing ramp-ups,” the 30-year corps veteran says. “There always seems to be another program that rises up as another winds down.”

Along with administrative experience, the district has accumulated a wealth of lessons learned that will aid future procurements.

“The Baltimore District is a great example of an organization that has sought the latest and greatest ways to get things done,” Barotti says. “They will be able to apply new solicitation and project-delivery methods more effectively, enabling them to better fulfill their mission of meeting their customers’ needs.”

Another dividend of BRAC is that the corps has a wider pool of large and small contractors to turn to.

“It’s like having a stable of horses and knowing which ones to ride,” Skanska USA Building’s Burns says. “These new relationships will help them more easily bring the right contractors into projects.”