NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has received three mission assignments from FEMA to construct alternate care facilities in Northern Virginia, the Hampton Roads region and in the Richmond, Virginia area.
The District is working to get contracts in place to mobilize contractors as quickly as possible to begin work on converting the Dulles Expo Center in Loudoun County Virginia, the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Virginia and the Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia.
The facilities will be converted into medical care space providing needed hospital bed capacity for the Commonwealth.
“The dedicated employees at the Norfolk District stand ready to support the commonwealth and the nation during this time of national crisis,” said Col. Patrick Kinsman, Norfolk District commander. “We will continue to build upon the momentum that USACE has built in delivering the needed hospital bed capacity in an unprecedented amount of time.”
The conversion will include adapting the buildings existing infrastructure to support the needs of a working hospital, which includes, reliable backup generation, water, sanitation, HVAC, and oxygen. The buildings will be built out to provide stations for medical personnel, pharmacies, as well as admin spaces in addition to patient care areas.
Work on all the facilities is expected to begin within 48 to 72 hours of contract awards, and is expected to be completed within a six-week period.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced the facilities during press briefings on April 1 and 3. His full announcement can be found at https://www.governor.virginia.gov/
Overall, not including the most recent assignments to the Norfolk District, USACE has received 22 FEMA Mission Assignments totaling approximately $1.5 billion, and USACE has more than 15,000 personnel engaged, across our enterprise, in our response effort who are providing support both on site and virtually. Of the USACE personnel engaged, more than 1,750 personnel are deployed. USACE Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) have been activated at 44 locations across our Divisions and Districts.
The selection of the buildings was made by Virginia officials, who used the initial planning and assessment recommendations from District teams to help guide their decisions.
Through the unified national emergencies response, USACE deploys hundreds of people to provide technical engineering expertise and promote capacity development at home and abroad. The Corps provides management and technical services to include: management and oversight in design, engineering and construction; environmental restoration and management services; research and development assistance.
USACE continues to coordinate at every level with both federal and non-federal stakeholders, including FEMA, Health and Human Services, commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia National Guard and many others. Public Safety is the Corps’ number one priority.
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