U.S. Military to Spend Billions on New Construction in the Coming Years

Billions to be Spent on BRAC

U.S. Military to Spend Billions on New Construction in the Coming Years

By Ted Wadsworth, Helmets to Hardhats Marketing Coordinator

While America continues to spend billions of dollars a month on combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pentagon is also spends billions more closing and realigning dozens of U.S. bases under Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) mandate. According to Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates, construction and infrastructure expenditures will add up to more than $4.3 billion in 2008 and more than $17 billion by 2012.

For nearly two decades, the Department of Defense (DoD) has saved money by eliminating unneeded facilities. Under BRAC, unneeded bases are closed, cleaned up and normally disposed of. Other bases are retooled and realigned, and either lose or gain assigned personnel or change mission focus. The bases scheduled for these  realignments and closures offer companies in the building and construction trades the greatest opportunity for new business.

This article will identify bases expected to see BRAC related mission and/or personnel increases in the coming years and provide insight on how companies can find and compete for building and construction contracts the will invariably follow.

The table to the right shows the U.S. military bases expected to see the greatest increase in troop strength in the next few years. In most cases, where there are troop increases, construction contracts will follow.

Take the No.1 base on the list, Fort Benning, Ga. The Army plans to move its vast tank training school from its historic home Fort Knox, Ky. to Fort Benning. To accommodate the hundreds of tanks and other vehicles, thousand of yards of concrete will have to be poured for motor pools. Barracks will have to be built to house Soldiers. Telecommunication and utilities infrastructure will have to be created. In essence, the Army will have to build the equivalent of a small town on Fort Benning by 2012 to support this realignment. Millions of dollars will be spent on new construction on Fort Benning. This is just one example of dozens of bases expected to see building and construction contracting opportunities in the coming years.

Each year the government spends more than $340 billion on goods and services. To do this, a vast force of contracting officers in thousands locations around the world manage millions of contracts. Before you start bidding on DoD contracts, you should learn about the contracting system. A great place to start is the Guide to DoD Contracting Opportunities: A Step By Step Approach To The DoD Marketplace. This guide describes how you can become registered to do business with the government, learn government contracting rules and regulations and find opportunities.

Another slightly more complicated, but still very useful guide is the Defense Acquisition Guidebook. The purpose of the guidebook is to provide members of the acquisition community and their industry partners with an interactive, online reference to policy and discretionary best practices. There is even a helpful Guidebook Tutorial that describes how to get the most out of the Defense Acquisition Guidebook. (Leave it to the government to have a guide to using a guide.) Nevertheless, these are still good resources.

To try to help simplify the process of finding existing contract opportunities, the government has created a website called www.FedBizOpps.gov . FedBizOpps.gov is the single government point-of-entry (GPE) for Federal government procurement opportunities that are more than $25,000. Government buyers publicize their business opportunities by posting information online directly to FedBizOpps. Through one portal — FedBizOpps (FBO)— commercial vendors seeking federal markets for their products and services can search, monitor and retrieve opportunities solicited by the entire federal contracting community. FedBizOpps.gov is definitely the first place you should go to find business opportunities.

The government has a congressionally mandated goal of allocating 23 percent of federal contract dollars to small, veteran owned and disadvantaged businesses. To help accomplish this mandate, there are many good websites that provide a wealth of information, such as the Small Business Administration.

The DoD has an office with the mission of helping small business. The Office of Small Business Programs website contains many great links that enable small businesses to find and bid on DoD business.

If you’ve never done business with the government before, your “first step” should be to learn as much as you can about government contracting. Government contracting is no easy endeavor. Experts recommend that before you event start looking for business, you go through the following predatory steps:

1. Identify your product or service — You must know your Federal Supply Class or Service (FSC/SVC) codes and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for your products or services.

2. Register your business — You must be registered in Central Contractor Registration (CCR) to be awarded a contract from the DoD.

3. Identify your target market within DoD — A helpful research is DoD Personnel & Procurement Statistics.

4. Identify current DoD procurement opportunities — Identify current procurement opportunities in your product or service area by checking the Federal Business Opportunities website, which can assist you in identifying DoD, as well as other Federal procurement opportunities.

5. Familiarize yourself with DoD contracting procedures — Be familiar with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS).

6. Investigate Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts — Many DoD purchases are, in fact, orders on Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts. Contact the General Services Administration (GSA) for information on how to obtain a FSS contract.

7. Seek additional assistance as needed — Electronic Business (eBusiness) provides assistance on getting started in the DoD electronic marketplace. Small businesses can get assistance through Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) are located in most states They provide training and counseling on marketing, financial, and contracting issues at minimal or no cost.

8. Explore sub-contracting opportunities — Regardless of your product or service it is important that you do not neglect our very large secondary market, Our guide “ Subcontracting Opportunities with DoD Prime Contractors.”

9. Market your firm well — After you have identified your customers, researched their requirements, and familiarized yourself with DoD procurement regulations and strategies, it is time to market your product or service. Present your capabilities directly to the DoD activities that buy your products or services. Realize that, like you, their time is valuable and if the match is a good one, you can provide them with a cost-effective, quality solution to their requirements. Additional helpful resources, posted on our website, include “ Government Contracting: The Basics” and “ Marketing to the Department of Defense: The Basics.”

Military base closure and realignment offers business large and small vast opportunities for new business. With the great number of troops and missions moving from one base to another, the building and constructions trades will see billions of dollars of opportunity ahead. Those business leaders who take the time to do their homework and are able to find and bid on these opportunities will likely gain great financial benefits for their companies and their workers.