Army wants cheaper base buildings with shorter lifespans, memo shows

The Army is throwing its weight behind new and emerging construction methods to cut building costs by 30%, according to a recent memo obtained by Army Times. But it’s also halving building lifespans, with a plan that calls for new builds to last just 25 years instead of the traditional 50.

The memo, published July 31 and signed by W. Jordan Gillis, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, directs “the adoption of installation resilience through Industrialized Construction” through use of construction methods like 3D printing, rapidly deployed tent-like tension fabric structures, parts kits, and pre-engineered steel structures.

“The intent is to accelerate the delivery of critical infrastructure, reduce initial capital costs, and increase the flexibility of the Army’s real property portfolio to meet rapidly evolving warfighter requirements,” the memo states, adding that “traditional design-bid-build processes and on-site construction methods are too slow and costly to keep pace with modem operational requirements.”

The goal, the memo continues, is to reduce building costs by 30% while cutting construction time in half. But these new buildings aren’t intended to stand for half a century like their predecessors.

“Historically, Army facilities have been engineered for 50-year lifespans, often becoming functionally obsolete before structurally deficient,” the memo states. “Moving forward, facilities will be designed to optimize an approximately 25-year lifespan. This provides strategic agility to align with supported platforms and enables rapid recapitalization by allowing structures to be repurposed or relocated as missions change.”

Effective as of the memo’s signing, buildings including aircraft hangars, child development centers, maintenance facilities, barracks and kennels all must use the new construction method, according to the memo. Hangars are to use the tension fabric construction for “adequate environmental protection” and quick construction; maintenance facilities are to be made of pre-engineered metal or panelized steel for “heavy duty structural support” with simplified procurement and fast construction times; and barracks, kennels and CDCs are to employ kits, modular methods or 3D printing to “drastically reduce the time soldiers wait for new facilities.”

Builders who want to deviate from these methods must receive an exception personally approved by the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Housing and Partnerships. Security may drive some exceptions: Operation Epic Fury has reignited a conversation about the need to harden hangars and other on-base structures, particularly those outside the continental U.S. due to increased threats from Iran and other adversaries.

This aggressive shift to new building methods as primary construction forms has some scrambling to find contractors who can handle the workload. In late August, the Army Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division published a market survey asking companies to report on their own capabilities, maturity and bandwidth to deliver the building methods the Army is seeking.

There’s also the question of the target lifespan and whether the cheaper and faster building methods will last the desired 25 years.

The market survey asked builders: “With the Department of War’s stated objective of reducing the expected lifespan of these facilities to be constructed from 50 years to 25 years in order to achieve lower investment and maintenance costs, do you believe that the [industrialized construction] methodologies contemplated by this memorandum are viable delivery methods to meet the 25 year life span expectation?”

The Army Corps of Engineers’ Far East Division has issued a similar survey to gauge Korean companies’ experience and comfort with the new building methods.

An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. Orlandon Howard, described the pivot outlined in the new memo as “an active, ongoing transition to start realizing construction efficiencies and cost-savings right now,” and stressed that policy changes predate the memo.

He pointed to the Army’s “flagship proof of concept” for alternative construction methods: a 10-building 3D-printed barracks project for 560 troops at Fort Bliss, Texas. Officially opened in July, it went up in about six months and delivered a 9.3% cost savings, he said.

“This successful deployment is the blueprint we will use to scale these modern capabilities across the enterprise over the next 12 months,” he added.