AFTAC facility wins national award

  • Published
  • By Jennifer Schneider
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  The Air Force Technical Applications Center at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., has won the National Award of Merit from the Design-Build Institute of America for significant achievement in the area of design, process and teaming.

The award specifically recognizes successful civic building construction projects that have achieved best value while meeting design and construction quality, cost and schedule goals.

"This year's competition was the most rigorous to date," said Lisa Washington, DBIA's executive director and chief executive officer. "As a result, the winners raised the industry's bar even higher and are shining examples of what can be accomplished."

AFTAC moved into its new headquarters building in March 2014. The building replaced AFTAC's original 1950s-era facility, which was unable to keep up with technology advances, costly to maintain and beset with safety, force protection and fire hazards, said Susan Romano, AFTAC public affairs director.

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center managed construction of the $158 million campus, which was completed by general contractor Hensel Phelps Construction Company and overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District. The campus was completed eight months ahead of schedule.

According to the nomination package, AFTAC's project achieved its goal of producing a world-class headquarters facility that exemplifies design excellence, while meeting the organization's high quality and security standards. The 276,000-square-foot facility includes office space, conference rooms, a 255-seat auditorium and a 40,000 square-foot radiological laboratory where AFTAC monitors nuclear treaty compliance around the globe.

Due to the sensitive nature of mission activities at AFTAC, the new facility includes specialized features developed for sensitive compartmented information facilities, or SCIFs, said Paul Womble, AFCEC project manager for the campus. SCIFs include special characteristics to prevent information leaking and surveillance, and also follow stringent physical security requirements.

Situated between the ocean and an intercostal waterway, the facility is also strong enough to handle Category 4 hurricane winds, Womble said.

"This was a remarkably diverse project, one we originally felt was not well-suited for design-build acquisition," said Jeff Barrows, AFTAC's military construction project manager. "When you consider the intricate components of the project -- a command and control facility, two different laboratories, a warehouse, a central utility plant and a five-story parking structure -- this was definitely a challenge. Once we put the final touches on all our facilities, this campus will serve AFTAC and the nation exceptionally well for a long time to come."

Earning the National Award of Merit qualifies AFTAC for DBIA's National Award of Excellence in the civic category. Winners of that award will be announced at the Design-Build Conference & Expo in Dallas, Texas, in October.