WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 7, 2005) - With $1.7 billion slated for the construction of barracks and other stateside Army facilities next year, the Corps of Engineers completed the first of five forums April 6 with architects and construction firm representatives.

About 145 industry officials, including small business reps, attended the event to provide market research and insight into streamlining the military construction processes.

"We are going to change the way we do business," said Don Basham, chief, Engineering and Construction for the Corps. "We have to turn dirt the same year as our appropriations to meet the Army's upcoming construction demand."

The Corps is charged with developing a construction strategy in to decrease the time it takes to plan, program, design and build military facilities.

Coined the "perfect storm," a large construction demand is imminent as the Army moves units from Germany, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, while it restructures its forces into modular units, and simultaneously executes Base Realignment and Closure decisions, Corps officials said.

"We're going to provide quality facilities faster, at a reduced cost," Basham explained. "We know that this is going to be a minimum of a $2 billion project for several years."

In 2004, the command leveraged private industry to provide rapidly deployed relocatable barracks to house units of the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga. The Corps used this same approach to solve Soldier housing issues at Fort Hood, Texas.

The primary purpose of the April forums, however, is to gather information as to how to construct permanent facilities for brigade-size units, officials said, not temporary facilities.

The overall military construction program will involve installations in the contiguous U.S states, officials said, as well as Alaska and Hawaii over the next few years.

Military construction is about $3.4 billion of the estimated $12.1 billion fiscal year 2006 military programs budget. This consists of $1.7 billion for Army Military Construction (Army, Army Family Housing, Army Reserve), $1.3 billion for Air Force Military Construction (Air Force, Air Force Family Housing, Air Force Reserve) and $370 million for Department of Defense programs (medical, Defense Logistics Agency, Special Operations Forces, chemical demilitarization).

Additional meetings are April 12, at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, Atlanta; April 14 in Dallas at the Doubletree Dallas Hotel at Campbell Center; April 19 in Kansas City at the Clarion Hotel Sports Complex; and April 21, in Seattle at the Radisson Hotel Seattle Airport.

Industry and construction representatives and small business officials interested in registering for the four remaining forums can contact Michael R. Duffy at Michael.R.Duffy@usace.army.mil or 256-895-1793.

(Editor's note: Lt. Col. Stan Heath is the deputy public affairs officer for the Corps of Engineers.)