Corps of Engineers Floats Plan for Template Designs
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is hosting four regional forums to poll the industry on a plan to develop template designs for 41 building facility types for the six major areas across the country as defined under BRAQ. Don Basham, chief engineer of the Corps, says the outreach is to gain feedback and build a list of interested contractors. "We want to know if we were to structure contracts like this and put them out, would contractors be interested? If not, what would it take to get them interested?"
The Corps is modifying its procurement strategy to meet demands of supporting the Army's ongoing transformation to a more modular, quick-response organization. Standard modules will be designed that can be replicated across the country, with adjustments to accommodate climate variations. Procurement will be doled out by eight "centers of standardization" (CoS) in Corps district headquarters across the country. "Each center will manage several of these facility types and will award design build contracts," Basham says.