Value Engineering at its Finest

In an era of budget-conscious federal military spending, the Congress-mandated Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) called for changes to two military installations in New Jersey. To combined these installations into a fully renovated joint-base required a new state-of-the-art consolidated logistics and training facility. The New Jersey Department of Military and Veteran Affairs spearheaded this operation.

Conti Federal constructed the new LEED Silver qualified joint logistics, maintenance and training facility for Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in full compliance with BRAC requirements. This 110,000-square-foot facility contains two multipurpose classrooms and 16 work bays for training and maintaining vehicles and equipment. Construction of the facility involved permanent masonry with a sloped standing seam roof, concrete floors, energy-efficient mechanical and electrical equipment and an emergency backup natural gas-driven power generator.

At project closeout, Conti Federal had paved 73,000 square yards of concrete and 26,000 square yards of asphalt, installed all facility utilities and owner-furnished equipment and constructed water treatment and water booster systems. In addition to self-performing these tasks, Conti Federal also managed 24 subcontractors, juggling overlapping schedules throughout the project.

Key features of the project included:

• Constructed 110,000 square foot training facility and heavy military vehicle maintenance shop
• Met LEED Silver qualification
• Installed force protection: structural/earthen berms, bollards, perimeter fencing
• Constructed two arm vaults
• Installed utilities (HVAC, industrial fluid piping, electrical, fire)
• Managed QA/QC third-party inspections
• Including paving 73,000 square yards of concrete and 26,000 square yards of asphalt (8-inch thick)

Conti provided over 60 value-engineering proposals early on, resulting in more than $1.5 million in total cost savings.