Supply Contracts
Clamshell buildings, manufactured in Santa Barbara, California, were used for aviation maint-
ence. Here, two AH-64 helicopters await maintenance outside a clamshell structure at King Fahd
International Airport. Sand has eroded the blades from the Apache in the foreground costing
0,000 in repairs.
Despite the guidance, military officials found that they needed further
clarification of the policies and procedures for purchasing relocatable buildings
to support the operations in the Middle East. Since MEAPO(SWA) procured
the relocatable buildings to meet an overseas requirement and the need for the
buildings would continue indefinitely, a MEAPO attorney concluded that the
buildings should be classified as real property, rather than personal property,
and should be paid for from military construction or operation and
maintenance funds, not from the OPA (other procurement, Army) funds.11
A r g u i n g that the approval process was too lengthy and cumbersome,
Pagonis asked Assistant Secretary Susan Livingstone to waive the approval
r e q u i r e m e n t in the 1 8 December policy letter and give him authority to
p u r c h a s e relocatable buildings. He also asked her to seek authority for
A R C E N T to use operation and maintenance funds to purchase relocatable
buildings until it had enough other procurement funds or military construction
money available.
ARCENT needed many temporary, relocatable buildings to provide shelter,
latrine and shower, maintenance, recreational, and medical facilities throughout
t h e theater, he emphasized, but it was "almost impossible" to purchase
relocatable buildings fast enough using the guidance stated in the policy letter.
Leasing these units would be too expensive. ARCENT was competing with
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