Goodfellow puts stimulus to use Published May 22, 2009 By Airman 1st Class Anne Gathua 17th Training Wing Public Affairs GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Goodfellow Air Force Base was awarded $35.9 million from the Economic Stimulus Package 2009 to fund different projects. $28 million will be used to build the new 400-person dormitory. "Fourteen other projects were funded by the stimulus package, and ten of those were SABER projects," said Bart Jennings, the Chief of Simplified Acquisition of Base Engineering Requirements. The projects that were funded by the economic stimulus package are: 1. Replacing water mains, hydrants and valves 2. Repairing interior rooms in Bldgs. 255 and 257 3. Replacing roof on Bldg. 501 4. Repairing interior rooms in Bldgs. 250 and 252 5. Renovating kitchen and showers in Bldg. 700 6. Replacing doors and jams in Bldg. 3311 7. Installing new 12-foot sewer line 8. Converting 72 to 36 suites 9. Renovating kitchens and showers in Bldgs. 700-711 10. Connecting building 3453 to EMCS 11. Repairing Apache Trail 12. Repairing parking lot at Kearney 13. Repairing Comanche Trail Phase II 14. Painting in Bldg 700 "A lot of times the Air Force and military has projects on the shelf ready to be executed," said Mr. Jennings. "This helped us benefit from the stimulus package. Some of the projects funded by the stimulus package were already in the books before the stimulus was ready to go. We had already negotiated with our contractors. All we had to do was make sure we executed quickly to make awards. Our contracting people worked really hard to make those awards and they did very well. We were ready and had hard numbers on the projects." The other two major projects funded by the stimulus package, awarded more than $1.4 million, are the repair of the interior rooms of Bldgs. 250, 252, 255 and 257. "We will renovate the 250-series dorms mostly occupied by the Army," said Mr. Jennings. "We will repair the latrines, paint, change the carpet, make a drop ceiling, replace rusted fixtures and replace the air conditioning." Mr. Jennings said the purpose of renovating the dorms was to extend the life expectancy of the buildings and to improve the quality of life for the occupants by changing a lot of little things to make it comfortable and pleasing. "Another project is the installation of a new 12-foot sewer line from building 530 to the new dorms that are about to be built," said Mr. Jennings. "We will also replace the roof on Bldg. 501, which has had a problem with drainage." Mr. Jennings said another significant project was connecting the fire training school to the Electronic Management Control System. "This will help save energy because a computer system will run the heating and air conditioning system so when there's no one in the building, it will all shut down," Mr Jennings said. "There will be no more accidentally leaving your thermostat on 78 degrees and taking off for the weekend. Our computer system will maintain that." Mr. Jennings said the projects were all awarded between April 23-29 and so far there were five projects under construction. The main contractor for the projects is All American Brothers, based in Houston, Texas. It's a small minority-owned business contract set up by the government and the Air Force as part of the economic stimulus package to help them start their business. "The economic stimulus package has really helped," said Mr. Jennings. "It was nice to get that money for the projects to improve the quality of life for Goodfellow Air Force Base. These projects will help everyone who comes through here, lives here and works here," Mr. Jennings said. "As far as Goodfellow is concerned we are getting really good quality projects we might not have been able to afford."