Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest held a design review meeting with Mariner Skills Training Centers (MSTC) and Naval Base San Diego (NBSD) Feb. 13 in San Diego, to review plans on moving forward with MSTC training facility for Surface Warfare Officer School (SWOS).

NAVFAC Southwest turned over a $4.1 million building renovation at NBSD to SWOS on Jan. 7 for the new Junior Officer Of the Deck (JOOD) training course and phase one of reformed Surface Navy training.

“This in-house design was a huge achievement for the NBSD PDES team,” said NAVFAC Southwest FEAD Director, LCDR Austin Rasbach. “Not only was it the first $4 million design but also had an aggressive accelerated timeline, speaking to the capabilities of NBSD’s PWD ability to design and award future large projects.”

NAVFAC Southwest Public Works Department (PWD) at NBSD received the requirement for a facility to house the new JOOD training in 2018 with the demand that it must be operational for classes approximately 12 months later. SWOS needed six months to install the trainer equipment and the supporting training network, which gave NAVFAC Southwest PWD NBSD approximately seven months to design, award and finish the renovation.

NAVFAC Southwest PWD NBSD Project Development and Engineering Services (PDES) team designed the complete renovation of the old Coast Integrated Products Team office building in four months. The office building is now a state-of-the-art facility which includes an OIC office, 45 instructor desks, two server rooms, two electronic classrooms, two debriefing rooms and ten Conning Officer Virtual Environment (COVE) trainer rooms that house simulators critical to the technical training for the course.

“In order to meet the tight timeline, the project was awarded an 8(a) sole source contract to Permon Construction Inc.,” said Anthony Phillips, NAVFAC Southwest Contract Specialist. “It was also planned for overtime in the contract up front, approximately 20 percent increase in price to expedite completion. Construction was completed on Dec. 31, 2018, 104 days after the contract was awarded on Sept. 15, 2018. Permon Construction Inc. got started right away on Sept. 19, 2018 and did not let up until completion. This completion date was met not only by hard work from the contractor but the Government employees as well.”

The project was made a top priority and everyone involved was made available immediately to review designs, provide comments and provide other base support activities.

NAVFAC Southwest’s Metro Production Office (MPO) played a major role in support with accelerated outage process to increase the power supply for the training equipment.

“Permon Construction Inc. partnered with NAVFAC Southwest Facilities Engineering Acquisition Division for Naval Base San Diego throughout the process and did high quality work at an incredible rate of work,” said LT Samantha Krulik, NAVFAC Southwest Construction Manager. The JOOD Training facility was a major achievement for NAVFAC Southwest proving superior customer service to the fleet.”

SWOS was directed to establish MSTCs to develop new training courses for Surface Warfare Officers in both Norfolk, Va. and San Diego in response to a series of unprecedented and escalating mishaps in the Pacific Fleet in 2017. MSTC is composed of two courses, Officer Of the Deck (OOD) Phase I and II, focused on seamanship and watchstanding tactics. Both OOD I and OOD II must be fully operational and ready for students May of 2021. OOD I has been deemed so essential that the CNO ordered a four-week pilot version of the JOOD course be ready for training in May 2019.

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