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Construction on the Armed Forces Reserve Center at Fort Sill is back on track now that setbacks caused during the bidding process have been resolved. The new Armed Forces Reserve Center is part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law. As reported in the Lawton Constitution, Senator Inhofe was pleased to announce that “the $6 million shortfall on a proposed Armed Forces Reserve Center at Fort Sill has been taken care of,” and “the project is scheduled to be completed by December 2010.” Read below for the full article.
By Mitch Meador, Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, January 27, 2009
WASHINGTON — The $6 million shortfall on a proposed Armed Forces Reserve Center at Fort Sill has been taken care of, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe announced Monday.
As part of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), the National Guard and Reserve are scheduled to replace all of their armories and maintenance facilities with Armed Forces Reserve Centers. Oklahoma has had one of these at Sand Springs for several years, and as part of the 2005 BRAC law it is supposed to get seven more, including Fort Sill’s.
A total of $39 million was authorized for the Fort Sill Armed Forces Reserve Center, but when bids were opened in September, all of them were too high.
“There was one glitch here. Our bids didn’t come in as low as anticipated by about $6 million,” Inhofe said. “This is something that is happening not just in Oklahoma, but all around.”
Inhofe said the additional expenditure was approved as a reallocation within the Army Budget Office, using funds previously authorized for BRAC. He said there was “not a real pushback” to the reallocation, just the normal opposition to anything that wasn’t previously authorized.
“We are pleased things went well,” Inhofe said. “The Army Budget Office is in the process of moving the money to the BRAC office as we speak, so good things are happening.”
The project is scheduled to be completed by December 2010, the senator said. The bids received by the Louisville District of the Army Corps of Engineers are good through the end of March, according to the district’s public affairs officer, Ron Elliott.
The proposed site of the Armed Forces Reserve Center is on the south side of Mowway Road, east of the new 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade Complex that’s now going up.
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