District sprints in at end-of-year dash

Norfolk District Public Affairs Office
Published Oct. 27, 2015
A tally board tracks how many contracting actions are left to go before the fiscal year ends at midnight on September 30. For the entire year, the district had 797 contract actions obligating $293.34 million on projects throughout the commonwealth. (U.S. Army photo/Patrick Bloodgood)

A tally board tracks how many contracting actions are left to go before the fiscal year ends at midnight on September 30. For the entire year, the district had 797 contract actions obligating $293.34 million on projects throughout the commonwealth. (U.S. Army photo/Patrick Bloodgood)

In sports terms, it’s the equivalent of being down by three points with less than two minutes on the clock.

For the Norfolk District contracting office, it means having less than a month to get more than 70 contracts awarded or modified by 11:59 pm on September 30.

The district’s final sprint capped off an active fiscal year, with 797 contract actions obligating $293.34 million on projects throughout the commonwealth – a 19.7 percent increase from the previous year.

This feat was marked by the added difficulty of being short by three contracting officers compared with the previous fiscal year. 

“I couldn’t be happier with the way the staff performed; it took a total team effort to close out the fiscal year and they all pulled it together to get it done,” said Paula Beck, Norfolk District chief of contracting.

Through the year, the district started work on large projects around the commonwealth of Virginia.

It broke ground at NASA’s Langley Research Center for a new 40,000-square-foot, $30 million Computational Data Facility.

The district inked partnership agreements with the city of Norfolk for Willoughby Spit’s coastal storm reduction project, and with the Virginia Port Authority to study potential deepening of the federal navigation channel to 55 feet.

The district initiated work on Fort Lee’s new battalion headquarters as well as several Arlington National Cemetery projects, which include a new queuing area, multiple road and storm drain renovations, and a salt and sand facility.

The team continued operating and maintaining the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, which supported over 1,500 commercial vessel trips and over 1 million tons of cargo.  In addition, the district’s hustle on other shallow draft projects supported 9,000 commercial vessel trips and over 2.5 million tons of cargo.

 

The district staff oversaw the continued maintenance dredging along the James and Elizabeth Rivers, which supports the Port of Virginia and allowed safe passage for vessels from the largest Naval Base in the world – one that logged more than 3,100 ship movements a year among 75 ships, including five nuclear aircraft carriers. 

 

“I'm very proud of the way we closed out the fiscal year. Based on current data calls, we increased our actions by roughly 20 percent from the previous year and had almost 40 percent more in obligations,” said Col. Jason Kelly, Norfolk District commander.

 

The district is moving into fiscal year 2016 with an additional $77 million projected work load, which could bring another major sprint to the finish come next September.