Guam Buildup plans on track

Pacific Daily News - Guam - An "unprecedented" amount of money will be spent on projects here in the first year of the buildup, industry representatives learned yesterday.

Mayor Gordon's meeting with Guam Governor Felix Camacho and NavFac and French Navy officers onboard a French Frigate held May 1, 2009 at US Naval Facilities, Guam

Capt. Louis Cariello, operations officer for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, gave a presentation on NAVFAC's execution plan as it prepares for the historic relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines and their 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to Guam within the next five years.

More than 1,300 industry representatives and community members are attending the forum.

The Defense Department is on track to have buildup-related construction projects starting next fiscal year, which begins in October, Cariello said. He said work will begin immediately once an official record of decision is issued.

"That's our plan and we're on track," he said. "The amount of money for the first year is absolutely unprecedented."

More information on projects will be available when the Defense budget is finalized, which is expected to happen next month, Cariello said.

He listed for the audience some of the projects expected for the first year of the buildup. Among them are:

Utilities and electrical infrastructure projects;
A medical clinic and work on Naval Hospital;
Access and perimeter fence roads; and
Seawall and wharf improvements.

Some projects, such as a central utilities plant and wastewater collection system, both with price tags of at least $25 million, will get under way before this fiscal year is over, Cariello said.

Cariello spent much of his presentation detailing how contractors will be selected for the projects.

"Whether you're a large contractor or a small contractor, there's certainly enough, with a $10 billion program, to carve off enough for each of you," he told the audience.

A least a billion dollars of that is set aside to be awarded to small businesses, Cariello said. He said that was determined as the maximum amount of capacity those businesses can sustain.

Part of that will be strictly for participants in the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program, which helps small disadvantaged businesses, and those in the HUBZone Program, which helps disadvantaged small businesses in designated zones. Guam is one of those zones, and 164 local businesses will qualify for HUBZone contracts, Cariello said.

American businesses will get a 20 percent advantage in competing for contracts funded by the United States, he said.

For those projects funded by the Japanese government, under an agreement between Japan and the United States to move the Marines from Okinawa, Japanese firms would be on equal footing with American companies, Cariello said. By Connor Murphy - Pacific Daily News - pls. follow link to comment

Sen. Eddie Calvo and Olongapo City Mayor James Gordon met Monday to discuss furthering trade and other sister-city ties between Guam and Olongapo City, which once hosted major U.S. military installations at Subic Bay. Gordon met with Calvo at the Hyatt Regency Guam ahead of the Guam Industry Forum. Dozens of other representatives from the Philippines are attending the military buildup forum, including 53 worker recruitment agencies, 15 contractors and several Philippine labor officials. More than 1,350 delegates from the U.S., Japan, the Philippines and other countries are attending the forum, which is being held at the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa and the Guam Marriott Resort.

Buildup-related construction projects scheduled for fiscal 2010:

Utilities project
Headquarters building
Medical clinic
Fire station
Bachelor enlisted quarters
Aviation utilities
Aviation parking
Dog kennel
Wharf improvements
Access roads
Training facilities
Exercise support building
Naval hospital
Perimeter fence road
Electrical infrastructure project
Vehicle maintenance facility
Operations facility
National Guard center
Seawall repairs