jgbyrd posted on February 16, 2012 13:25
NAVFAC Northwest to spend $7 million on vehicle barrier
By JJ Swanson
jswanson@soundpublishing.com
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest on Feb. 10 awarded a $6.9 million contract to a Gig Harbor construction company to build a “passive vehicle barrier” along two miles of fencing on the northwest side of Naval Base Kitsap Bangor.
Vehicle barriers are intended to define perimeters and keep unauthorized or potentially dangerous vehicles out of restricted areas. They sometimes serve as “a final denial,” according to an Aug. 2010 report by the Department of Defense.
Passive vehicle barriers are permanent, non-movable walls which do not require the operation of security personnel, such as concrete blocks, reinforced knee walls, ditches, tire shredders or chain-linked fences with anti-ram foundations.
“It’s just a fence to keep vehicles out,” said Leslie Yuenger, spokeswoman for NAVFAC Northwest.
Reinforced passive vehicle fences were formally tested by the department with a 15,000 pound vehicle traveling at 50 mph. The wall stopped the “attack vehicle” within 3.28 feet.
Yuenger explained that the fencing project was necessary to bring the Bangor installation into compliance with DoD security regulations.
Regulations consider all potential threats, including the “moving vehicle bomb threat” as well as “potential liability effects” following terrorist acts in specific locations.
“Vehicles loaded with explosives can detonate as a large bomb, inflicting severe damage on critical military facilities and potentially injuring DoD personnel,” according to the department’s report. “Such vehicle bombs are effective terrorist tools because they facilitate the transport of large quantities of explosive to any desired location.
Lt. Michell Jones, installation security officer for Naval Base Kitsap Bangor would not comment on the base’s specific security concerns, how the passive vehicle barrier would work or whether the barrier would ease the workload of security officers, saying that such questions could be “vulnerable to us.”
Break-ins to the Bangor base by anti-nuclear protest groups were the subject of security discussions back in 2009, said Leonard Eiger, spokesman for Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.
A group of five Disarm Now Plowshares members cut through several fences at Bangor base to reach the weapons storage area before being arrested by security officers Nov. 2, 2009. Another incident that year involved placing a ladder over the fence.
“There was a real response from Navy back then. Thinking, planning, analysis, what can we do to increase security, fence detection devices,” Eiger said. “But I think that’s simmered down.”
Eiger said he doubts that the barrier has anything to do with anti-nuclear protestors. However, he takes issue with project’s price tag.
“I don’t know how $6.9 million goes for fencing,” Eiger said. “20 layers of fences, what does that buy us? And how much security is really necessary to guard?”
Washington Patriot Construction Company, who beat out four other bids for the installation of the passive vehicle barriers, expects to complete work by Dec. 2013. The work is part of a multiple-award construction contract awarded by NAVFAC Northwest.
The construction company previously received a $2.7 million contract in Aug. 2010 to “modernize” the Non-Destructive Testing Lab and HVAC in Building 431 at PSNS & IMF in Bremerton.
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