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Balfour Beatty wins Air Force housing privatization contract

  • Published
  • By Heidi Hunt
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  The U.S. Air Force selected Balfour Beatty Communities, LLC to privatize military family housing for the Western Group Bases, to include Whiteman, an Air Force Global Strike Command base.

"BBC was selected after a competitive solicitation process led by the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment," said Jessie Barrera, Western Group manager for Beale Air Force Base, Calif.; F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.; Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. and Whiteman AFB, Mo. "BBC currently manages housing units on nine Air Force installations."

Under the deal, the Air Force will lease approximately 449 acres of land on Whiteman as part of a 50-year transaction, and convey 920 existing Whiteman housing units and other improvements to BBC according to Mr. Barrera. During the first three years of the project, 140 homes will be renovated and another 30 demolished, resulting in a final end-state of 890 homes.

"At closing, the houses become property of BBC who will own and operate the rental housing development for military families, as well as finance, plan, design, and construct improvements in the development that maintain the housing units for the 50-year lease period," Mr. Barrera said.

Housing Privatization shifts the renovation, construction, operations and maintenance responsibilities of family housing to the private sector, whose expertise is to build and manage housing assets, allowing the Air Force to focus on the mission and its Airmen.

The Air Force Housing Privatization program in 10 years has provided approximately 38,000 homes to military families at 44 bases around the country, at cost of $423 million according to Ian Smith, Deputy Director Housing Privatization Program Management Office.

"That same effort via military construction would have cost $7 billion and taken 25 years," said Mr. Smith. "In 2010, our private sector partners delivered an average of 530 new and renovated homes per month, as well as numerous community centers, pools, sports courts, playgrounds, and dog parks for residents. These amenities help to provide the thriving housing communities military members and their families have come to appreciate."

Personnel from the Whiteman Housing Office will be on hand at the town hall meeting, held at Mission's End, April 25 at 6:30 p.m. to answer questions.
For more information, visit www.afcee.af.mil/resources/housingprivatization/index.asp or e-mail HPinfo@us.af.mil.