Failsafe

Contractor installs power generation plant at Stennis Space Center

By Angelle Bergeron

When Katrina made landfall more than two years ago, the engineering failure of the hurricane protection system in New Orleans wasn’t the only inefficiency revealed.

A supercomputer that processes real-time information from around the world that is critical to national security also failed.

Situated beyond the reach of the storm surge, housed in the apparent safety of the Navy Oceanographic Office at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, the computer lacked redundancies and backup power to keep it working when Mississippi Power failed.

The Navy wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast is managing a $12.8 million NAVO project at Stennis to construct a new 13.8 KV uninterrupted power generation plant that will ensure the supercomputer and other sensitive machines maintain continuous operation regardless of future disasters.

“The existing facility, prior to Katrina, was reaching its shelf life,” says Lt. John Critch, NAVFAC construction manager. “When the building was originally built, its mission and power requirements grew. It had been supplemented over the years, resulting in seven independent, supporting systems.”

The seven different systems proved highly inefficient, requiring seven times the fuel and seven monitoring and repair crews. There were also seven sets of problems. The Navy previously realized the system should be upgraded, and in 2002 it hired Tourgee & Associates Inc. of Owings Mills, Md., to design a centralized station.

However, the upgrade exceeded the budget at that time.

“After Katrina, they took the TAI design off the shelf, made modifications and put it out on the street for bid,” Critch says. “We did some value engineering and got it in under the budget.”

After Katrina, the Navy set up OICC Katrina, a special construction task force/office in charge of rehabilitating and restoring hurricane-damaged military properties. OICC Katrina adds oversight that controls projects at Stennis, Gulfport, Keesler and New Orleans, allowing NAVFAC to manage the workload without additional permanent personnel, says Victor Swanier, NAVFAC contracting officer.

The Stennis project is one of 44 projects totaling $444.2 million at properties from Pascagoula to New Orleans, says Sue Brink, public affairs officer with NAVFAC Southeast. “The awards for these projects started in 2006 and it is estimated that construction will be complete in 2010, unless there are unforeseen delays.”

The joint venture contractor of Z Corp. of Norfolk, Va., and Lee Technologies of Fairfax, Va., won the best-value contract because of the combination of total evaluated price and technical proposal, Swanier says.

“Z Corp. is the part of the equation that is good at doing buildings,” Critch says. “They have joined forces with Lee Technologies, which does a lot of mission central infrastructure solutions.”

Speed of delivery is critical considering another failure is a continual possibility until the new system is in place.

Al Knight, project manager for Z Corp./Lee Technologies JV, says the firms got the job because “we took the government’s schedule that allowed for two full years and, based on relationships with industry, we got committed dates to reduce that schedule from 730 to 502 days. Now we’re set to deliver in 400 days, by June 1.”

To accelerate the schedule, the contractor will be erecting a pre-engineered, steel-frame building with insulated panels. “It’s like a kit,” Critch says. “All the pieces come in a box like a giant erector set. It goes up quickly.”

The contractor also planned ahead for materials and manpower.

“We have all of our suppliers nailed down to delivery before Christmas,” says Mike Moran, contractor superintendent. Although the project will require only a maximum of about 30 people, 90% of those will be electricians, says Ron Gringas, master electrician with Southside Electric Inc. of Portsmouth, Va. Gringas started recruiting local IBEW electricians for the project in early September.

Housed inside the 7,500-sq-ft, single-story building, which is resistant to winds of 140 mph, will be three generators, switch gear and five battery racks, enough juice to ensure sufficient uninterrupted power supply, Moran says.

“In the event that the normal source of power gets interrupted, automatic switches turn the diesel generators on,” Moran adds. “If the power goes off, batteries in UPS system support it until the generators come back up to speed. This is not a real special system. It’s just big.”

In early fall, the contractor was driving pilings for the building and trenching to install 700 ft of duct bank that will house the conduit that feeds the terminations for the supercomputer. Once the 150 timber piles are installed, the contractor will pour the slab foundation with special pads under each of the three generators.

“Each pad is 12 by 23 ft, 4-ft-6 thick and will require 46 cu yards of 4,000 psi concrete,” Moran says. “I-beams will be mounted in slabs, and I’ll put anchor bolts right into the meetings.”

Moran says he doesn’t foresee any problems, but he expects the tie-in to the new high-voltage switch (toward the end of the project) will be tricky.