________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
A:
All of them are complicated. We took over two hospital projects. One was at Fort Campbell.
The design and construction had been completed by Mobile District. We really took over the
project at closeout and punch list time.
I felt that Mobile District should continue and finish the project, but the South Atlantic
Division said, "If you're going to take Campbell, you've got to take it all now." USACE
Military Programs backed them up, and so I guess we had little choice and said, "Okay.
We'll clean up your project and close it out."
In the case of WrightPatterson, that was key to the timing of the whole transfer process
because that project was about to start. It was a big project. There was consternation on the
part of WrightPatterson for the project. That had great visibility in the Air Force, all the way
to the Secretary of the Air Force's office. There was all kinds of detailed guidance coming
down as to how the project was to be accomplished.
The 6 million medical center project had been designed by Baltimore District, so we took
it over for construction. One key part of that project was the hyperbaric chamber. That
became an issue unto itself because this was a big, regional teaching hospital. It was an Air
Force medical center with a lot of instruction and teaching. They wanted a hyperbaric
chamber there so that they could do research and take advantage of having a center for
treatment under pressure. It's very helpful for burn cases, for one.
The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations and Construction took personal
interest in the hyperbaric chamber construction. He put out a directive that the Air Force
wanted the Navy's expertise, having to do with diving bells and submarines, to be involved
with and pass on (certify) construction of the hyperbaric chamber.
This issue came right out of the woodwork in the 11th hour. We had been dealing with the
AFRCE [Air Force Regional Civil Engineer] in Atlanta, headed by an individual who was
always carping at the Corps and how we needed to be sure to meet cost goals, meet
milestones. He wasn't going to tolerate any slips or any extra claims. Now we had a very late
decision that said the Navy is going to be involved in the approval and design of the
hyperbaric chamber, which had already been designed and we were now on the street for a
contract to build it.
The late decision presented us a dilemma in how to proceed rapidly and at the same time
recognize that we have a new player. How would we integrate that new player? With a lot of
assistance from the Chief's office, Military Programs, we got the Navy in quickly. There
were two different players from the Navy too. They had to choose which one was to be the
best expert on hyperbaric chambers.
We submitted our design and asked, "Don't design us one; approve this design quickly,
please." We promised to integrate their testing program and visitations so they could do what
the Air Force wanted, which was to certify that the hyperbaric chamber was okay.
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