Sunday, December 12, 2010

BRAC could bring heavy traffic for Howard County

The first of 10,000 additional federal workers expected next year at and around Fort Meade begin arriving next month, but the roads both inside and outside the World War I-era facility aren't ready, according to local officials monitoring the situation.

"The first people are coming up Jan. 8," Jean Friedberg, regional growth coordinator of the Fort Meade Regional Growth Management Committee told a small private group called Transportation Advocates in Columbia on Thursday morning. But of the roughly $1 billion to $2 billion in transportation infrastructure upgrades thought to be needed (including $600 million to widen Routes 175 and 198), only $50 million has been provided to widen one mile of Route 175 from the Baltimore- Washington Parkway to the base entrance, which also would be enlarged. Work on that project is to begin in the spring or summer.

"Twenty-eleven is going to be a difficult year. We're doing everything we can to get people out from behind the wheel," Friedberg said. The first arrivals work for the Defense Information Systems Agency, now based in Northern Virginia, whose new quarters on the military base are ready. Many of those workers are nearing retirement age and plan to commute, the officials said, and the difficult economy has encouraged older workers not to leave the agency to search for other jobs or to try to relocate to Maryland.

Although 750 DISA workers have already signed up for rider-financed charter buses or van pools, and more will work from home one or two days a week, the commuter challenge is only going to increase — especially on the Baltimore Washington Parkway and Route 32, already used by nearly 93 percent of Fort Meade commuters, the officials said. Longer term, employment on and around Fort Meade and the National Security Agency is expected to eventually double, bringing about 41,000 new jobs to the area in the next decade or two. But transportation improvements are expected to lag.

"We're not going to see any new road construction until 2020. It's just not going to happen" because there's no state or federal money for it, Friedberg said. In addition, he said the interior Fort Meade road system is still basically the one designed in 1917, when the base opened. That will be another challenge.

"It is a fact we have to deal with," Howard County's BRAC coordinator Kent Menser told the group of about 20 people meeting in the Florence Bain Senior Center in Columbia. "It's not there," he said about the transportation improvement money. "We have to get on."

Some fear major congestion, but Friedberg and Menser, who work with both Howard and Anne Arundel officials, said planners are working on ways to ease the crunch. They hope to get 27 percent of the new arrivals out of their cars using van pools, car pools, buses and telecommuting, which they hope will represent a third of that savings.

"I think it's going to be gridlock. It's frustrating to me," said Carol Filipczak, a 10-year member of the Howard County Transportation Board. All of Howard County's efforts to cut or prevent congestion could be overwhelmed, she said.

Others feel the problem presents an opportunity to show motorists caught in back-ups that there are other options to driving.

"I see this as a blessing in disguise," said Michael G. Riemer, a member of Transportation Advocates. "It could help get us out of our cars."

Menser said unusual solutions may be needed, like reserving one of the lanes on Route 32 for high-occupancy commuter traffic.

"If we had a bus lane with buses going 55 miles per hour right into the base and cars going 10 miles per hour. …" Menser said. "For people to ride buses, it has to be better than taking your car."

No one is suggesting things won't get dicey, however.

"There will be a time during the third quarter [of 2011] when there's going to be maximum employees and maximum construction and it will be messy. Is it a scary ride? Yeah. We're trying to do something no one's done before," Friedberg said.

From an economic growth perspective, the influx of mostly high-paying jobs will be a boon, Menser and Friedberg said.

The Fort Meade area development, which includes a 5.8-million-square-foot office complex for the new cyber command intended to battle computer hackers, should pump $18 billion a year into Maryland's economy, and Howard County can look forward to about a $2.5 billion-a-year impact. New housing and office projects are already starting along Howard's U.S. 1 commercial corridor, and more are coming.

"We all realize we're very fortunate at this time in our national economy to see this overall Fort Meade growth," Menser said.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Aberdeen Proving Ground and BRAC

The last time Aberdeen Proving Ground ramped up in a big way, the military base was dotted with wooden barracks, temporary homes for soldiers testing artillery and learning how to handle bombs before shipping off to fight in World War II.
This time, the base's expansion involves glassy new office buildings that wouldn't be out of place in a business park, civilians with advanced degrees and thousands of new jobs in technical fields ranging from medical research to software development.
The national base realignment and closure effort, commonly known by the acronym BRAC, is doing more than just adding heft to Harford County's largest employer. It's accelerating APG's shift into a high-tech hub.
As degreed workers move in, many uniformed soldiers are heading out. The Ordnance Center and School, which trained the Army's mechanics and maintenance specialists for years at the proving ground, moved to Virginia last year.
Quite a change for the base dubbed the "Home of Ordnance."
"It's just a major transformation," said Gary Martin, executive deputy to the commanding general at the APG-based Research, Development and Engineering Command. "This place used to be crawling with ... students from the ordnance center. They've been sort of the mainstay of Aberdeen, [and] they're all gone. What's replacing them is an extremely technical and professional work force."
The base has always had a core of highly technical staff, people who used the world's first general-purpose electronic computer -- shipped there in 1947 -- and the country's first supersonic wind tunnel. But a key piece of the technical focus was testing: the "proving" in proving ground. What's really growing under the base realignment changes is research and development.
The base employed about 15,000 in 2005, when the Department of Defense announced that APG would lose its approximately 3,000-student ordnance school and gain large organizations specializing in high-tech work as part of changes to military installations nationwide. By next September, the base is slated to employ about 22,000. And state economic development officials expect thousands more will work as contractors nearby within a few years.
Many of the new employees are coming from Fort Monmouth, N.J., which is shutting its doors next year. Some are leaving bases in other states, while others are local hires. And most employees have security clearances.
Profound changes
Col. Andrew B. Nelson, deputy garrison commander for transformation at APG, said the new types of jobs will change the Harford County community more profoundly than the employment numbers alone would suggest.
Before, the soldiers who came to Aberdeen to attend the ordnance school, many of them fresh from basic training, were just passing through. They didn't spend much time in the region, Nelson said. They lived in barracks. They ate at the mess hall. When they went off base, they took a bus.
Today, the newcomers arriving in Maryland are buying homes, driving on local roads and enrolling their kids in school. State and local officials are grappling with how to make sure can they can handle the challenge.
"It's going to change the face of the community, and I think it's an exciting change," said Maj. Gen. Nick Justice, senior installation commander and commanding general of the Research, Development and Engineering Command.
On base, the buildup is dramatic.
The federal government is pouring $1 billion into new buildings, to be completed by next September, which is creating work for firms in the hard-hit construction sector. Recent additions include the snazzy headquarters for communications and information-technology organizations under an umbrella known as C4ISR -- short for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.
Its expansive complex of eight buildings, clustered around a courtyard with a reflecting pool, has cutting-edge features such as geothermal heating, dual-flush toilets and lights that automatically brighten or dim depending on the amount of sunlight filtering in.
"It's a mini-Pentagon," said Barney Michel, who works for Joint Research and Development, an APG contractor.
And it's light years away from what Michel found when he was transferred to the base as a government employee in 1983.
"The installation suffered from the overall lack of funding after the wind-down of the Vietnam War, and it showed throughout the entire installation," said Michel, president of the Army Alliance, a local group that works to support the base. "I don't want to be pejorative, but quite frankly when I came to Aberdeen Proving Ground ... it was a bit of a backwater."
Soldiers replaced cows
The proving ground sprang to life with a literal bang during World War I. The military came to Harford County to build munitions-testing facilities in an area close to industrial centers but not cheek-by-jowl with homes. (Munitions tests are boomingly loud.)
The farmers who owned the land, which is hugged by the Chesapeake Bay, didn't want to leave. Congress and President Woodrow Wilson insisted, however, and about 3,000 people and 12,000 animals were relocated by the time construction began in the fall of 1917.
Within a few months, it was the equivalent of a small city. Train tracks wound through the base. Barracks rose to house thousands of soldiers and civilians. Men tested artillery, trench mortars and other weapons around the clock. Soldiers at the nearby Edgewood Arsenal, which later merged with the Aberdeen installation, manufactured mustard agent and other chemical weapons.
Employment peaked during World War II with about 33,000 military and civilian workers at APG and 8,800 more at Edgewood Arsenal. Many stayed only briefly, so the total number of people passing through was even higher. More than 45,000 enlisted men graduated from the ordnance school during that war alone.
When the fighting ended, employment dropped. It rose again during subsequent conflicts but never to the level seen during World War II.
The base also struggled with challenges that left nearby residents anxious about their safety. Unexploded ordnance was buried everywhere. More than 1,600 tons of mustard agent -- debilitating and potentially lethal -- needed to be safely disposed of. A rocket-fuel ingredient that had been stowed underground polluted the nearby city of Aberdeen's wells.
In 1989, the federal government added Aberdeen to the Superfund's National Priorities List, an effort to clean up the most serious hazardous-waste sites in the country.
Since then, the Environmental Protection Agency says, contaminants have been brought under control in one part of the sprawling base while cleanup work continues elsewhere. The base announced in 2005 that the last of its mustard agent stockpile had been dissolved.
"The waters up here in the north are the cleanest waters of the Chesapeake," said Col. Orlando W. Ortiz, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison at the base, citing a University of Maryland analysis.
Call Mayflower
A new challenge: BRAC. It will take the equivalent of 1,200 moving vans to get everything in C4ISR's headquarters from New Jersey to Harford County, the Army says. One-tenth of the equipment and supplies have been moved so far.
Not all the Fort Monmouth staffers will be relocating along with their employer.
"We expect we will move about 50 percent of the work force," said Maj. Gen. Randolph P. Strong, commanding general of C4ISR's largest organization, the Communications-Electronics Command. "So we have a few thousand people we'll need to hire."
His organization -- filled with scientists, engineers, IT specialists and analysts -- is heavy with jobs requiring advanced degrees. And nearly 90 percent require security clearances.
Around 2,500 of C4ISR's early movers and new hires are already on base, including Stephanie M. White, 48, who transferred to APG in July from Fort Monmouth. The business development coordinator arrived before her department's new offices were ready, which meant a few months in cramped trailers.
The gleaming building she moved to in October is still fairly empty. But that's one of many things on post that will soon change.
"We're still just pioneers over here, waiting for the rest to come," White said.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Current Openings - Oct 25, 2010

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11/1 EMC SME - new

Siwel Consulting - Glen Burnie, MD
giant looking for an EMC storage SME to help out with a massive relocation (BRAC) effort. Please have at least an Interim Secret Clearance - 12 + month gig...
From Monster - 5 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Communications Engineer Lead Job - new

Aberdeen, MD
Red Bank capabilities and help in BRAC transition of... government programs br -5 years of experience with BRAC staffing requirements br -5 years of experience...
From USAJobZoo.com - 2 hours ago - save job - block - email - more...

ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN (BIOMEDICAL EQUIPMENT) - new

Navy, Naval Medical Command - Bethesda, MD
Engineer position is located at the Navy Medicine National Capital Area BRAC, Bethesda, Maryland. The purpose of this position is to evaluate, develop, maintain... $62,467 a year
From Federal Highway Administration - 6 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Army Property Accountability Specialist Job - new

Booz Allen - Aberdeen, MD
the planning, synchronization of schedules, and execution actions related to the BRAC relocation of the Army Team C4ISR organizations from Fort Monmouth, NJ to...
From Booz Allen Hamilton - 5 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Army Property Accountability Specialist Job - new

Aberdeen, MD
for the planning synchronization of schedules and execution actions related to the BRAC relocation of the Army Team C4ISR organizations from Fort Monmouth NJ to...
From USAJobZoo.com - 2 hours ago - save job - block - email - more...

Prj Mgt & Plng Opns Rep Stf - new

Lockheed Martin - Maryland
and as the mission dictates. This program is impacted by the Ft. Monmouth BRAC. As such, it will require frequent travel to the Ft. Monmouth area prior to...
From Lockheed Martin - 4 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Risk Manager - new

The ACI Group - Baltimore, MD
to join their team on a full-time, direct hire basis. Will be a part of a BRAC relocation move to the Ft. Meade area and will be looking at all risks...
From Dice - 3 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

ELECTRONICS ENGINEER - new

Army Research, Development & Engineering Command - Edgewood, MD
that is affected by BRAC. Click here for additional information. Other Advantages: Fort Monmouth has been identified as a BRAC closure installation and is... $74,872 - $141,726 a year
From usajobs.gov - 4 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Building Engineer - new

Edgesource - Fort Meade, MD
of a new facility being opened as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program. The Building Engineer is being tasked to ensure the smooth relocation...
From Monster - 5 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Communications Engineer, Lead Job - new

Booz Allen - Aberdeen, MD
Red Bank capabilities and help in BRAC transition of... government programs -5 years of experience with BRAC staffing requirements -5 years of experience with...
From Booz Allen Hamilton - 15 days ago - save job - block - email - more... 
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Sr Project Engineer; Project Engineer; Design Engineer - new

Frederick Ward Associates - Bel Air, MD
about the great potential BRAC initiatives may bring... they're doing to ensure their company rides the BRAC wave to greater success. If you or someone you know...
From CareerBuilder - 11 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Business Enterprise Architect - new

Silver Bullet Solutions, Inc. - Fort Meade, MD
is onsite, currently in Falls Church, VA until February 2011 when, as part of BRAC, DISA moves to Ft. Meade, MD, near Columbia, MD where the work will continue...
From ArmedServicesJobs.com - 4 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

COMPUTER SCIENTIST - new

Army Research, Development & Engineering Command - Edgewood, MD
Realignment and Closure (BRAC). The person selected... Advantages: Fort Monmouth has been identified as a BRAC closure installation and is anticipated to close... $74,872 - $141,726 a year
From usajobs.gov - 5 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Software Developer - new

TEKsystems - Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
Currently, our client is supporting the PEO-3CT effort in Ft. Monmouth. Due to BRAC, that customer will be shifting down to Aberdeen Proving Grounds, along with...
From TEKSystems - 6 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Family Readiness Support Assistant (OA) - new

Army Intelligence and Security Command - Anne Arundel County, MD
Maryland. As part of the Defense Department's 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, the number of tenant organizations on Fort Meade is expected to...
From usajobs.gov - 6 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Army Property Accountability Specialist Job with Security Cl... - new

Booz Allen - Aberdeen, MD
the planning, synchronization of schedules, and execution actions related to the BRAC relocation of the Army Team C4ISR organizations from Fort Monmouth, NJ to...
From ClearanceJobs.com - 11 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Electrician - new

URS Corporation - Columbia, MD
and provide the full range of services for Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) programs. The EG&G Division primarily serves U.S. federal government clients... $47,000 a year
From Trade Jobs Online - 3 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

BUDGET ANALYST - new

Army, Army Acquisition Support Center - Edgewood, MD
Proving Ground, MD About the Position: Fort Monmouth has been identified as a BRAC closure installation and is anticipated to close by September 2011. The... $77,585 a year
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Water Resource Engineer - new

URS Corporation - Linthicum, MD
and provide the full range of services for Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) programs. The EG&G Division primarily serves U.S. federal government clients...
From NukeJobs.com - 10 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Chief, Program and Budget Division - new

Defense, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency - Bethesda, MD
asp#TELE OTHER INFORMATION: BRAC Information : As a result of Department of Defense (DoD) Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative, all major NGA... $119,554 - $165,300 a year
From usajobs.gov - 9 days ago - save job - block - email - more... 
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Information Assurance Engineer with Security Clearance - new

SAIC - Fort Meade, MD
requires an active DoD Top Secret clearance. This position is slated for BRAC re-alignment and is scheduled to move from Falls Church, VA to Ft. Meade, MD in...
From ClearedConnections - 14 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Engineer IV - new

Alutiiq - Bethesda, MD
Engineer position is located at the Navy Medicine National Capital Area BRAC, M4, Bethesda, MD. The normal place of performance is in any assigned area of NNMC...
From Alutiiq - 13 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

INTELLIGENCE SPECIALIST - new

Department of the Air Force - Andrews AFB, MD
Collections Operations Nexus (ICON) Squadron, Andrews AFB, MD. Due to BRAC Commission determination, position is scheduled for relocation to Quantico , Virginia... $71,674 - $110,104 a year
From usajobs.gov - 5 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Information Assurance Engineer - new

SAIC - Fort Meade, MD
requires an active DoD Top Secret clearance. This position is slated for BRAC re-alignment and is scheduled to move from Falls Church, VA to Ft. Meade, MD in...
From SAIC - 18 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

DOD JTF-GNO Senior Information Security Consultant with Secu... - new

Securicon LLC - Fort Meade, MD
area to the Fort Meade, MD area as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. The qualified applicant will become part of Securicon's support to...
From ClearanceJobs.com - 14 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Chief, Financial Execution Division - new

Defense, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency - Bethesda, MD
asp#TELE OTHER INFORMATION: BRAC Information : As a result of Department of Defense (DoD) Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative, all major NGA... $119,554 - $165,300 a year
From usajobs.gov - 14 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

SCCM Engineer - new

TEKsystems - Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
deployments. There are thousand of people moving from Ft. Monmouth to APG due to BRAC. Our client manages the Network Enterprise Center (NEC)support for APG...
From Monster - 10 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Senior Program Manager - GVS with Security Clearance - new

DSCI - Aberdeen, MD
Proving Grounds, MD under the Department of Defense, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Execution Plan. The successful candidate must be capable of planning...
From ClearanceJobs.com - 20 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

General Engineer - new

Army, Army Acquisition Support Center - Edgewood, MD
Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commissions recommendations have been approved. This vacancy exists in an organization that is affected by BRAC. Click here for... $98,789 - $163,275 a year
From usajobs.gov - 17 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Prj Mgt & Plng Opns Rep Asc - new

Lockheed Martin - Maryland
Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), MD due to Army Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) of Fort Monmouth. Frequent travel to Fort Monmouth, NJ is required until ARAT...
From Lockheed Martin - 26 days ago - save job - block - email - more... 
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Lead Network Engineer - new

BAE Systems - Bethesda, MD
Responsible to the BRAC locations for Transport Engineering under a Federal customers enterprise IT operations and sustainment (O&S) contract. Responsibilities...
From Engineer-Jobs.com - 26 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Attorney-Adviser - new

Defense Logistics Agency - Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
involving depot level reparables, a mission being transferred to DLA pursuant to BRAC 2005. Legal and policy advice will cover all areas of contract formation... $105,211 - $136,771 a year
From usajobs.gov - 26 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Deployment Ops Staff Officer - new

SRA Int'l Inc. - Bethesda, MD
and at different NGA facilities during the execution phase. Local Travel to NGA BRAC locations within the Washington , DC metropolitan area will be required...
From SRA Int'l Inc. - 30 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Network Engineer - new

McClendon - Bethesda, MD
Essential Job Functions and Responsibilities include: Responsible to the BRAC locations for Transport Engineering under the IT/IS Contract. Responsibilities...
From McClendon - 30+ days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Project Manager/Coordinator

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancemen... - Rockville, MD
MHRP BRAC related activities with the BRAC Offices at... needed to respond to BRAC related tasks. 3. Represent the MHRP by attending BRAC meetings at WRAIR, MRMC...
From The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine - 30+ days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Client Manager, Construction - new

CAPE, Inc. - Columbia, MD
DOD clients w/ a focus primarily in construction services, including MILCON, BRAC, and SRM opportunities. Qualify needs/opportunities to position the Company...
From iHire - 26 days ago - save job - block - email - more...

Communications Engineer, Lead - new

A Management Consulting Company - Aberdeen, MD
Red Bank capabilities and help in BRAC transition of... government programs -5 years of experience with BRAC staffing requirements -5 years of experience with...
From Ivy Exec - 8 days ago - save job - block - email - more...