Ingenuity Spring 2018

10 Pond | Pondco.com I n early FY2015, the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) had an opportunity to take on the design of a new Noncommissioned Officer Academy Complex at Fort Drum, N.Y. From the start, the district was faced with a challenge of staffing this undertaking while still producing a quality product within the given timeline and schedule. From past experience with other complex projects, New York District immediately decided to scour neighboring USACE districts for talent, as well as supplementing the team with an industry architect-engineer (A-E) team. The group assembled was comprised of in-house staff from New York District and sister USACE district, the Fort Drum Directorate of Public Works, and the A-E firm. This hybrid design team was managed by New York District and was able to work together very well with few difficulties to produce a design-bid-build project. In the end, the team was able to meet the schedule, advertise, and successfully award the project. The project is currently under construction with expected completion in August 2019. ESTABLISHING THE TEAM As part of a commitment to improve NCOA facilities, the Army’s Institute for Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development and the Army Training and Doctrine Command established standard criteria that did not previously exist. The first NCOA to enter the programming cycle under the new standard facility design was at Fort Drum. The project was programmed by USACE Norfolk District, the district in which resides Training and Doctrine Command headquarters at Joint Base Langley- Eustis, Va. To initiate the project, New York District contracted with Pond & Company to conduct a design charrette. The charrette took place in October 2015 at Fort Drum with joint participation of the Norfolk and Fort Worth Districts. In the charrette, the three main components of the NCOA (classroom/training, administration, and barracks) were combined into a single facility. The charrette report and recommendations were prepared, reviewed, and accepted by all stakeholders before being taken on by New York District to execute the design. In evaluating the project requirements and schedule of the FY2019 Military Construction funding, the district determined several specific disciplines would be adequately staffed: project/ design management, architectural, electrical, structural, plumbing, and cost estimating. Due to timing and staffing availability, the remaining disciplines were augmented by other geographical districts. For instance, Baltimore District, which routinely supports New York on many projects and has developed a good working relationship, jumped onboard to provide design services for fire protection and HVAC. With New York District’s large Civil Works program underway at the time, the civil engineering design needed to be performed the A-E. Furthermore, interior design and other supporting services, such as field investigations, Value Engineering, and independent technical review were also needed by an A-E. The selection of an A-E to work with was not a difficult one (Pond had prepared the charrette documents); however, HYBRID DESIGN TEAM When the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faced a challenge to quickly get design underway for an already-programmed Non-Commissioned Officer Academy Complex at Fort Drum, it turned to an unconventional approach. THE BENEFITS OF A