US Navy outlines strategy for $1.7 billion in
Hurricane Florence recovery projects at NC bases
North Carolina Construction News staff writer
The US Navy has outlined what
is described as an “aggressive $1.7
billion military construction pro-
gram” to restore Marine Corps Base
(MCB) Camp Lejeune and Marine
Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry
Point, N.C. in the wake of Hurricane
Florence. Rear Adm. Dean VanderLey,
Commander, U.S. Naval Facilities
Engineering Command (NAVFAC)
Atlantic, set the tone for a day-long
industry day on Aug. 20, saying:
“Today, I’m going to challenge you.”
“We are facing a tremendous
challenge with the volume of work
we are trying to put into North Car-
olina,” VanderLey said as he ad-
dressed more than 400 industry
professionals representing 230
businesses attending NAVFAC Mid-
Atlantic’s forum.
“I don’t know if anyone has tried
to award over $2 billion worth of
work in two years, but it’s a tremen-
dous challenge. We, the govern-
ment, we, the Navy, and we,
NAVFAC, cannot do it by ourselves.
The only way we can do that is in
close partnership with you.”
Businesses of all size and de-
scription attended the event hosted
by the North Carolina Military Busi-
ness Center at the Harris Confer-
ence Center in Charlotte, to learn
NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic’s strategy for
the restoration and rebuilding of fa-
cilities at the two bases following
catastrophic damage caused by
Hurricane Florence in September
2018. Hurricane Florence, formerly a
category four hurricane, had de-
graded to a category one storm by
the time it slammed into the south-
eastern coast of North Carolina
dumping up to 36 inches of rain on
the region. Between MCB Camp
Lejeune and MCAS Cherry Point,
the storm damaged more than 800
Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Mid-Atlantic outlined the Navy’s strategy for the
rebuilding and reconstruction of facilities on Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Lejeune and Marine
Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, in the wake of Hurricane Florence. More than 400 indi-
viduals representing 230 construction-related businesses learned of the Navy’s plans to award
31 military construction projects valued at $1.7 billion during the meeting (US Navy photo)
6 — AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 — The North Carolina Construction News
facilities, washed out railroad tres-
tles and road culverts, eroded train-
ing beaches and damaged
approximately 800 miles of power
lines. NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic’s work in
support of Marine Corps Installa-
tions – East got underway immedi-
ately following the passage of
Hurricane Florence.
“I was going to refer to this
event as the ‘kick-off’ to the restora-
tion phase, said VanderLey in wel-
coming participants to the industry
day. “But I was reminded that Mid-
Atlantic had already awarded over
$700 million in projects this year.
This isn’t really a kick-off, because
Mid-Atlantic is already going full
steam.” The steps of recovery following
an event like Hurricane Florence
cover three phases: Respond, Re-
pair and Replace. Clean up opera-
tions immediately following the
storm was a primary objective of
Respond, followed by assessment
of the extent of storm damage and
the restoration of essential life,
health and safety services.
The recovery phase transitioned
into the repair phase as NAVFAC
contractors focused their efforts on
returning operations to a degree of
normalcy. This included repairs to
facilities and infrastructure that
were damaged by the storm, but
did not require complete replace-
ment. The industry day represents the
transition to replace, the final phase
of recovery. This phase involves Mil-
itary Construction (MILCON) pro-
jects to replace facilities and
infrastructure damaged beyond
economic repair, which may include
aircraft hangers, training and main-
tenance facilities, barracks and
headquarters facilities, and exten-
sive work on infrastructure support-
ing information technology and
transportation.
Scott Dorney, executive director of the North Carolina Military Busi-
ness Center (left) moderated a panel discussion of NAVFAC Mid-At-
lantic capital improvements and acquisition professionals led by
Capt. Richard Hayes, Commanding Officer (second from right). The
panel discussion outlined the Navy’s plans to restore Marine Corps
Base (MCB) Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS)
Cherry Point, in the wake of Hurricane Florence. The panel discus-
sion was part of NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic’s Hurricane Florence Recov-
ery industry day held in Charlotte, on Aug. 20. (US Navy photo)
The work required on the bases is complex and ex-
pensive, and creates special challenges for the Marine
Corps and Navy team tasked with the restoration, ac-
cording to Col. Nicholas Davis, Chief of Staff for Facili-
ties and Environment, Marine Corps Installations – East.
“You don’t want an infantryman’s answer (to this
problem), because I’ll tell you we can do it with blue
tarps and a shovel,” said Davis in his remarks. “That’s
how we live forward. But we shouldn’t make our fami-
lies live that way and we shouldn’t make our forces who
are training to go back into the fight live that way. This is
really important and we have to get it right. We don’t get
a second chance.”
The magnitude of the restoration work extends far
beyond the levels typically managed by NAVFAC Mid-At-
lantic, explained Capt. Richard Hayes, commanding offi-
cer, NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic.
“For rough scale, NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic, in 2017, the
year before Hurricane Florence, did $2.2 billion worth of
construction across the entire Mid-Atlantic area of oper-
ations,” said Hayes. “When one of your customers tells
you he’s going to go get $2.1 billion (to support the MIL-
CON projects), you tend to say ‘yeah, sure. I’m not
going to worry about that just yet.’ Then here comes the
email that says ‘we got it!’”
“Now I get with my team and say ‘let’s really sharpen
the pencil,’” said Hayes.
Hayes stated that NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic’s goal for the
industry day was to explain their strategy to carry out
the Replace phase, which includes the design and con-
struction of 31 different construction projects valued at
$1.7 billion.
Hayes pointed out that more than $700 million has al-
ready been committed to projects, primarily for build-
ings requiring maintenance, major repairs, and small or
minor construction, with another $200 million more by
the end of September 2019.
NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic Capital Improvements and
Contracting experts outlined the scope of work antici-
pated and took on board questions, setting the stage
for industry’s expertise to further refine and shape the
work ahead.
Many of the companies attending the industry day
have been involved in work at MCB Camp Lejeune and
MCAS Cherry Point since the early days of storm recov-
ery. Hayes made a direct appeal to industry attendees to
work closely with their military partners to provide rec-
ommendations for process improvements in support of
the ambitious construction program.
“We want your feedback on how we can execute the
MILCON program in FY20. This is a departure from our
typical way of doing business, but we are committed to
making it a success for our warfighter, the Marine Corps.”
The North Carolina Construction News — AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 — 7