"I've spent over thirty-two years in the service and not once was a golden shovel necessary for me to succeed in my mission," said Capt. Dennis R. D. Boyer, commanding officer, Naval Station Newport.

Boyer was referring to the painted shovels standing by for the groundbreaking ceremony, Aug. 21, "first dig" onboard Naval Station (NAVSTA) Newport for the start of construction for a new $48 million modern 200-room Navy Gateway Inns and Suites (NGIS) transient lodging facility.

Boyer was addressing a gathering of community leaders, Navy Gateway Inns and Suites (NGIS) leadership and staff; Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Newport members, Korte Construction Team staff, fellow installation leadership and Sailors gathered to celebrate construction officially getting underway.

Taking care of those assigned to work on NAVSTA Newport and executing tasks assigned while being the best stewards of our resources are two of Boyer's priority goals since assuming command in September 2014 - this innovative undertaking hits the mark on both of these priorities.

"I assumed command following a period of rapid growth here on the base as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decisions made in 2005," Boyer said. "As a result of some of those BRAC decisions, student growth here on the installation increased exponentially and thankfully there were folks here in Newport paying close attention."

Boyer went on in his remarks to specifically thank former commanding officer Capt. Mike Poirier, USN, (ret) and former BRAC project manager Barbara Goldberg for their leadership and support throughout the justification and funding process for the new lodging.

The funding for this new facility truly meant a new way to do business for the Navy.

The construction funds did not come by way of congressional appropriations for military construction - the project will be built using non-appropriated funds earned from room revenue from all Mid-Atlantic NGIS - not just those at NAVSTA Newport.

Additionally, this is the largest non-appropriated funds (NAF) construction project ever awarded by the Navy and the first of its kind to be built as a NGIS hotel facility that will provide quality, affordable lodging services to our mobile military force.

In 2008 a study was compiled, justification of the need for a facility was verified and options for funding it were presented to region leadership. The option decided on was for NGIS to raise the rates throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region on the then 5,000 room inventory and use those funds to build this new facility, improve the existing inventory and maintain the operations status quo.

On July 31, 2013, after 5 years of meetings, decision papers and various levels of approvals through the Department of Defense; Congress approved the NAF construction FY13 project listing that included this facility. While these funds were not from Congress, they still had to approve the NAF construction project.

This ground breaking culminated almost 7 years of work and brings a new NGIS to NAVSTA Newport and the Navy.

"Today we will send a message to our military men and women and the DOD workforce that we intend to continue to create comfortable guest services for those we serve today and tomorrow," said Norm Aurland, Regional Lodging Program Manager for Mid-Atlantic Region.

NGIS provides lodging for official travelers of the Department of Defense on 69 locations worldwide. The program maintains facilities for average occupancy and uses the local economy for all overflows that cannot be accommodated on the installations.

Naval Station Newport is the Navy's Center of Excellence for Officer and Senior Enlisted education and development with over 17,000 students passing through one of the many schools onboard the installation annually.


For more news from Naval Station Newport, visit www.navy.mil/.