Description
Organization: NAVFAC
Team Name: Aviano Runway Rapid Repair Planning and Execution Team
Related Acquisition Topic(s): Acquisition Practices Streamlining, Commercial Practices, Cycle Time Reduction (CTR), Financial Management, Partnering, Risk Management
Description:
Project Location: Aviano Air Base is located at the base of the Dolomites, one hour north of Venice and is the home of the 31st Fighter Wing. The wing is the only U. S. fighter unit permanently located in NATO’s Southern region. The mission of the wing is to conduct air combat and combat support as part of the U. S. Air Forces in Europe and NATO’s Southern region and to support U. S. installations throughout Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey.
Scope of the project: The $5.5M scope of work included replacing 580 foot long, 150 foot wide, 14 inch deep section of Portland Cement Concrete at the runway’s 05 approach, milling and replacing the top two inches of the 7500 foot long by 150 foot wide asphalt pavement surface, and replacing four arrestor gear sets (in a 30 day period). In-house staff located in Norfolk, VA accomplished the project design. A Stone Matrix Asphalt (used Stateside in the private sector, but not often utilized by the military) was chosen for its long life and resulting reduced life cycle cost.
Project Goal: Rapid contract award and completion, flexibility, quality work, reasonable cost
Tactical Considerations: Because of Aviano Air Base runway’s tactical significance to NATO, choosing a good time to complete the job was a challenge. The Air Force could only allow closure of the runway for a maximum of 30 days. Any delay would cause extreme hardship and substantial cost in the temporary relocation of the two fighter squadrons. After weighing all considerations, USAF staff (initially) chose to close the runway from 20 April through 20 May 1999. Because of the short timeframe and urgent need for repairs, an in-place contingency capabilities (CONCAP) contract was chosen. The ease of negotiations, quick mobilization and the contractor’s proven ability to plan, manage, and accomplish difficult efforts by coordinating multiple in-country subcontractors would be key as local in-country contractors are notorious for delays. At the same time, NATO was approached in an expedited manner for project funding and scope approval, as well as sole source approval to use the CONCAP. All three requests were approved.
The project team put together a milestone list to track the execution details through design, pre-construction preparations, construction award and significant construction activities (summary list attached). Weekly coordination meetings of the team, consisting of the designers, base facilities personnel, base operations, the Resident Officer in Charge of Construction (ROICC) and the Contractor were held to ensure everything was ready for the April-May closure period. These coordination sessions, as well as inspecting the contractor’s batch plant and placing test paving strips, were all deemed as necessary to insure that the construction would proceed smoothly.
Executing the work: In mid February, the prime contractor mobilized. Work was begun on the arrestor gear energy absorber foundations and electrical work, since this could be completed while the runway remained in operation. In addition to the arrestor gear work, a test strip of the Stone Matrix Asphalt was placed in early March. Because SMA is state of the art and had not been widely used in Italy, our joint services pavement experts wanted to see the contractor’s batching and placement techniques before we went to full-scale operations. Arrangements were made to utilize both of the contractor’s two batch plants in case there was a problem with one of them. Just about the time we were getting up to speed with the preliminary work, diplomatic negotiations with Yugoslavia broke down and the decision was made to begin operation Allied Force, the air campaign over Kosovo. Aviano Air Base was involved full scale, and the constructor was demobilized to wait for further direction. However, construction planning continued. Every stage of the work continued to be reviewed in detail, checked and double-checked to insure that any construction period delay/impact was anticipated and contingencies developed.
Restarting after the conflict: Our planning team continued to meet, as we wanted to be ready to mobilize as quickly as possible after Allied Force. When the air campaign was over in mid-June, U.S. Air Forces Europe (USAFE) directed the repairs take place during a closure period from 01-30 September. We quickly remobilized the CONCAP contractor and re-started the arrestor gear preliminary work. As the Aviano based squadrons were redeployed and stateside-based aircraft were sent home, the construction work began in earnest. The last flight left Aviano on August 29th, and the 31st Fighter Wing Operations Officer turned the runway over to us, two days ahead of schedule.
With milling machines operating four abreast, the KTR completed the 7,000 CY of asphalt removal in just three days. The concrete demolition was just as efficient, and by the end of day five, we had completely demolished and hauled off all 4,000 CY of concrete. With 2 paving machines operating side by side and a pair of rollers following each, a 28-foot wide swath the complete length of the runway was completed in 15 hours. The contractor continued to work the rest of the runway in the same manner, placing over 13 thousand tons of asphalt in just seven days. The secret of the subcontractor’s success was coordination of construction activities. Meanwhile, concrete placement was in progress at the end of the runway. Using a slip form paving machine, the contractor placed full 14-inch depth sections 25 foot wide, the full 580-foot length of the approach.
At this point, the two other major portions of work on the job had also begun. The first, the electrical work, continued through the entire runway shutdown period. We installed 6,600 ft of new wiring to support new lighting for the arrestor gear perimeter lights. The work was completed on time in 30 days. The last major item of work, the arrestor gear installation, proved to be the last major hurdle to completing the work in the closure period. We began the work with excavations for the fair lead beam foundations on day 2, and ended with arrestor gear certifications on day 31.
Summary: Overall, the project was a resounding success. The project came in on time and within budget. There were many factors that contributed to it. The Planning and Execution Team assembled included engineers, airfield operations and construction personnel. Preaward planning, communication and coordination using electronic data interchange were extensive. The latest commercially available technical solution (Stone Matrix Asphalt) was used, which will provide the client a 40% extended life of the runway surface. A contract vehicle (CONCAP) was selected which allowed for a quick start, flexibility, and maximum quality and schedule control. Delays, unforeseen conditions, and other risks were anticipated and managed to insure timely completion. Successful completion of the project has provided the war fighters with the best runway surface in the theater and maybe in the world.
