Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Introduction

Howdy Y’all!  Before coming out here Stu made me promise three things:

1. Not to go native
2. not to go ‘off grid’
3. Not to get arrested/shot.

Because of that, I thought I’d at least try and stick to promise #2 by entering the blogosphere to provide an update on my attachment to date.

In all, getting Helen and I settled into the USA took the better part of an entire month.  This was mostly spent running around trying to do things that we would otherwise take for granted in the UK but which are actually quite hard to do when you’re an alien in a foreign country.  In America, you can’t do much without a social security number and a credit rating and this can complicate the already large task of setting up bank accounts, transferring a large amount of money from the UK, renting a house, buying a car, signing up for utilities and getting a phone.  Most is solved by providing a very large security deposit for everything that you would normally pay by direct debit (which the US banking sector still don’t seem to have quite right…).  To give a few examples, we had to pay the gas and electric supplier $300 dollars as security, COMCAST got a $150 advance for our internet, and AT&T wanted $1,000 as a security deposit for Helen and I to take out a phone contract – it was more than the cost of the handset and bundled tablet so we cancelled that transaction, opting for pay and go with a phone bought outright!).  The arrivals process is also quite linear in so much as the outcome of one admin piece provides an additional proof of identity that gets you one rung higher on the ladder.  Unfortunately, this means that any delays caused by an incorrectly filled out form, an absent member of staff, or freak weather event and you’re stuck treading water until you can complete that activity.  Thankfully, most American institutions are surprisingly helpful and forward leaning.  The process isn’t seamless (I’ve been to the Maryland Vehicle Authority twice and still haven’t finished the application for my driving license – a requirement for owning a car).  Thankfully, the accent and a military ID gets you far; Helen was enrolled onto health care without a birth certificate despite it being an essential document… and I’ve only been able to get to work this last fortnight thanks to the MVA and car dealership allowing me to drive around with a set of trade plates.

…I am, however, less impressed by the embassy’s role in the arrival process who seem to hinder things more than they support…

But anyway; on to the engineering!!

The Project

Similar to earlier iterations, my attachment with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has placed me in the ‘East Campus’.  This is located in Fort Meade, Maryland, which is just under an hour north of Washington, DC, and half an hour south of Helen and I’s new home in Baltimore.  The East Campus “project” is actually a programme of smaller design and build projects, the focus of which currently sits with the Joint Operations Centre and its supporting infrastructure; the facility is essentially an attempt to create a “campus feel” and center of excellence attracting talent to an area that is already home to US Cyber Command, the NSA Headquarters, and a few other interesting organisations.

The main elements within the JOC project are:

1. A 24/7 operation centre with “battle bridge” – Think of something akin to the Bourne series or even NASA mission control… but bigger.
2. Collaboration areas / meeting rooms
3. Office space
4. Break rooms and canteen space
5. E&M services and systems. This is going to become critical national infrastructure and pretty much everything has backups to the backup.
6. IT and comms
7. Security systems including everything needed to prevent surveillance such as EM and acoustic shielding (required for the structure to serve as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility – SCIF)
8. Environmental and architectural features such as storm water management, replanted woodlands, and boulevards to create an “aesthetic open space” that earn the project LEED points (similar to BREEAM).

Where I fit in

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot I can write about yet…  I have now been in the office for an entire fortnight but I’m still only part way through the bureaucracy of getting un-escorted access to the site and government IT systems.  USACE is not the contractor for this project, but rather the client’s representative.  As the interface between Henson Phelps (the principle contractor)and the government, USACE conduct quality assurance,  investigate and respond to RFIs and administer contract changes on behalf of the clients (the ultimate owner of the site will be the NSA but different government departments are providing the funding for different elements of the project – current work is a mix of Air Force and Marine Corps).

There is also a project management element in terms of keeping an eye on the activity schedule and holding the contractor to account.  By providing a pragmatic and technically-capable buffer between client and the principle contractor, I also believe USACE helps control the budget and schedule .  In my two weeks here, I have already seen issues quickly resolved by USACE staff taking positions both in support of and against the principle contractor.  This demonstrates a professional working relationship and makes sense.  On issues where the contractor is more than likely ‘right’ or at least deserves the benefit of the doubt, USACE’s team can hasten a change in the contract and maintain momentum.  At the same time, when there is doubt, the added rigor of the USACE team encourages the principle contractor to admit fault quickly and preventing unjustifiable increases to the client’s costs.

Are people in the UK or AUS seeing similar relationships, maybe with independent auditors?

My tasks thus far:

1. Support to the QA team. After shadowing team members on site visits and observing their interaction with the contractors.  I’ve now supervised a handful of relatively small concrete  pours and a close-in inspection (prior to an internal wall having the plasterboard fitted, there is a detailed inspection of all the features inside to ensure it’s according to the specification – due to the nature of the site, this is taken very seriously).  There’s an interesting dynamic that sees construction supervisors from the NSA providing a QC/QA function over sub-contractors, the principle contractor, AND USACE.  It’s been interesting watching the resulting discussion when the NSA reps make demands that both the contractor and USACE disagree with… potentially a topic for a future blog post.
2. Oversight of the construction of 18 small concrete footings for columns that will support cables connecting two generator farms. This is a simple job complicated by one of those farms being active and inside a separate and very restricted area of this already secure site. The task is made even more difficult thanks to the following:

   – critical underground services (gas, electric and diesel) very close to the surface.
   – a large open excavation adjacent to the only route in.
   – the need for continued work in the generator yard (including testing and commissioning!)

   The contractor is avoiding the problem so USACE plan on presenting them a construction method to force them into action.

3. Oversight of the construction of large numbers of bio-swales (flood attenuation and contamination control features) across the site.
4. Investigation of cracked flanges in a series of “vaults”, underground chambers for electrical/mechanical works. There are a number of theories as to what might be happening ranging from subsidence of the pipes connecting them all, buoyancy of the vaults themselves, or simply damage caused by trafficking of overweight vehicles.

   Hopefully, I’ll have enough for a decent blog post on the above over the next couple of weeks.  I may also post some more detail on the arrivals process and the issues Helen and I have faced.  The US attachment has a tradition of updating and passing down an admin instruction to those preparing to come out, however, a quick summary might be useful to those at the start of phase one or in case anybody else is assigned here in the future.

In other news.

As I can’t really upload photos from the site, I thought I’d post a picture of the new car (or at least a picture from google of the same model and colour):

If you drive really carefully and turn the A/C off she almost manages 24mpg; compared to the 50mpg in the old estate, it pretty much counteracts any savings I make from fuel being half the price!  Now I just need to go out into the wilderness and justify the fact I own an SUV.

You also can’t take personal vehicles onto site so I’m also now driving these bad boys around (standby for the emergency CASEVAC to the UK once I get un-escorted access and decide to test out the off-road capabilities!):