AETC housing privatization stays on track


 RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE,
Texas (AFPN) -- Despite delays
caused by Hurricane Katrina, Air Ed-
ucation and Training Command is still
on track to meet its goal of privatizing
100 percent of military family hous-
ing.
 The Housing Privatization Initiative
was approved by the Department of
Defense in 1996 as a more timely and
cost-effective way to provide military
families with quality housing than the
traditional military construction fund-
ing process.
 Lackland AFB, Texas, was the first
military installation to privatize a por-
tion of its housing. The first phase of
this project provided 420 homes for
military families in fall 2001.
 AETC is working to privatize the
remainder of Lackland's housing re-
quirement under a sole-source ini-
tiative with the existing privatized
owner; the real estate transaction for
Lackland's Phase II is expected to
close this summer.
 Little Rock AFB, Ark., was AETC's
second installation to implement a
housing privatization program. Initi-
ated in 2004, this project has already
delivered a new community center,
and three model homes are expected


to be completed this summer.
 Before Hurricane Katrina, AETC
intended to convey the rest of the
command's military family housing
to private developers by dividing the
remaining installations into two major
groups.
 Group I included Altus AFB, Okla.;
Luke AFB, Ariz.; Sheppard AFB,
Texas; and Tyndall AFB, Fla. Group
II included Columbus and Keesler
AFBs in Mississippi; Goodfellow,
Laughlin and Randolph AFBs in
Texas; Maxwell AFB, Ala., and Vance
AFB, Okla.
 However, due to the impacts Hurri-
cane Katrina had on the construction
industry, such as nationwide cost in-
creases generated by material short-
ages and limited labor resources, the
command encountered delays in both
groups, said Garrett Smith, AETC
Civil Engineering Housing Branch
project manager.
 "Because proposals were based on
pre-Katrina market conditions, we
have to take time to resolve the eco-
nomic disparities Katrina produced
in order to ensure the highest quality
housing is provided," Mr. Smith said.
 "Regional construction costs have
risen 15 to 20 percent, utility rates


increased 20 to 173 percent and fuel
costs are now extremely high," Mr.
Smith said. "All these factors have
driven project development costs
beyond normal contingency allow-
ances."
 The command and the Group I ap-
parent successful offeror are working
to resolve the financial gaps caused
by Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Smith
said. The transaction closure date for
Group I is now delayed until August,
approximately eight months from its
originally scheduled close date.
 But Katrina hit Keesler's privati-
zation plans the hardest, Mr. Smith
said.
 Originally one of the seven bases in
Group II, Keesler has been removed
from the housing privatization group,
and instead AETC is planning to re-
place all of its housing with a military
construction, or MILCON, project.
Mr. Smith said the use of MILCON
will enable a faster delivery of homes
to the base.
 The MILCON project scope is to
build 1,067 new homes. The request
for proposals (RFP) for the Kees-
ler MILCON project was released in
February, and the proposals received
are currently under evaluation. All of


Keesler's new homes are anticipated
to be complete in late summer 2008.
 The original RFP for Group II
housing was scheduled for release in
September 2005. That date coincided
with Hurricane Katrina's arrival on
the Gulf Coast. With Keesler removed
from the list, Group II's new RFP is
scheduled to be released this June,
with an estimated transaction closure
scheduled for June 2007.
 While Hurricane Katrina may have
altered the command's timeline, the
command remains constant in its ef-
forts to see the housing privatization
plans through to fruition.
 "The command has shown that
privatization is an efficient way to
provide our military families with
higher quality homes quicker than tra-
ditional military construction allows,"
said Col. Leonard Patrick, AETC Civ-
il Engineer.
 "Even though the timeline forAETC
housing privatization has changed,
our commitment to reaching our goal
of providing access to safe, quality,
well maintained housing remains the
same," he said.
 (Courtesy Air Education and Train-
ing Command News Service)


Energy conservation is everyone's job


 SEYNICUiR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BA SE.
N C (ANFPN) -- Simple practices call produce a
pCISItA i Imnpact o tll eelectrical ccimstlio:ln1
oin in\ baec A lIot cftfor at all Aii Foicc bascs.
both inI ftaiik hlioumL auI1d in dLit\ cctioiis .
pla> s all cilorifloS lsol' inI \\) hat thc basc !a3 s
toi clcct lIc It\ cach illolith
 Hcrc ac somc \\'as that \\i' ll Iic rduce
clcti~ical La scu. thlll. rccLicIIm! electrical dc-
inaiad and sa' mcmc ii \ nlIl
 Nl akc siurce cai i filter IIcr tn he

 K \ Adirt\ hiltci canl causec \ our
 air, C0 diti0ninIh_ unit to lose 3"i
 peiccnr of It cfticicIncl\ A cleaI
h ltcll \\ill IncCIasc air tflc\\ tlII'0I li0LIt \0OLII1


 lOii.C. thliu. co1 liII it luickIlcI
 Us e faiis to ino: aIii theL silpl
 iio% cnlcnt ofaii ca1l ina L 1loi m
 feel coolcr.

 drapcs. blinds.
oi sIiadcs to pIc\ cnlt sun I 1idIlt fr1omi ii
llccatillu1, oll l house ol offi~icec


- If possible.


 L \ ccp Ii,'hts lo\\ or off Electric
 II'xlhts cinclatc hcat
 lalc sL. ic' hcat-produlcinu
 c q uI i p in c ni t
such as compitcsl[ or coffee
makcris arc lnt located near
thlermostats Heat from these
appliances causes the air coIl-


 E ins icc coffi.c a Ipots 01c not
 le'ft oill aftcl l Ioills.
 -Use bathl-
 loomI1 fall, r~)
 to rcinc'itc
11101 tuIrc aI1d hica
 Us ~i5niicio%%axt: o~cnis in-
 s~tcadi of consl cnrlitollal o clls.
 I _____ thic% pi-oduLcIclss lc hat
 111 OI mostpar1ts of thc coLin-
 tri-. the c IcCt]iCal pCaI, IiOLuiS
 t 1 C
 SL1111111cr ale LIr94
ti oin nooit I1, 1) in If po~sibIlc
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that LIucs Iar~c apphaiicL. aid hud
%\atcr- sliould be pcitf'orcd bcftoc l IftctLI thleseL


(iffloionr to runl lonucr timic,-


Page 14 Gulf Defender


June 9, 2006


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