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14 January 1999 MEMORANDUM FOR INTERESTED PARTIES FROM: ANG/CRTC SUBJECT: Letter of Commendation and Recommendation for Knesal Engineering Services 1. The Air National Guard Combat Readiness Training Center (ANG) in Gulfport, Mississippi retained Knesal Engineering Services, Inc. (KES) in 1995 to design the relocation of Hewes Avenue through our facility. The value of this 1.0 mile project is over half of the cost of a $10.5 million program to enclose the base within a contiguous holding and removes civilian traffic from our operations area. The project requires the acquisition of civilian properties and relocation of the major thoroughfare to the base perimeter. KES provided planning, surveying, engineering, wetlands permitting, and architecture for this project. 2. The ANG selected KES because of the comprehensive manner in which they addressed the project's needs in their presentations. The project contains a large number of issues not usually addressed by the ANG, since the majority of our projects are architectural, and it was essential that we retain a firm who could identify all of the issues we needed to address. During the selection process, KES complemented their staff of project managers, design managers, and technicians with a comprehensive team of subconsultants to handle the architectural, traffic planning, geotechnical, and landscape architecture. We felt confident that they could address all of the known issues and guide us through the maze of issues yet to be uncovered in a project of this type and magnitude. 3. KES's foresight, judgement, and knowledge of the community and local governments have been invaluable resources to the Government for communicating with the general public and for our producing a project acceptable to the community. KES represented us at several meetings and presentations with local planning agencies and elected officials, and their willingness to continue revising the project to meet the changing needs was instrumental in our gaining acceptance at the local level and the upper level military chain of command. 4. From the beginning of the project, KES was able to foresee and plan for the large number of variables and uncertainties, which we eventually encountered. Their work was further complicated by the large number of interested parties which had to be consulted and satisfied throughout the project, such as:
5. The initial project stages were under extremely tight deadlines to meet Congressional funding cycles. KES met all of the deadlines, even under the changing circumstances and the large number of interested parties. Though KES's work was significantly delayed at several points by the resolution of changes requested by the Government and the City of Gulfport, their management and design organization completely supported the Government's needs and thus provided essential continuity to the project. Without the leadership and capabilities of Knesal Engineering we would not have been able to keep the project on track. 6. In summary, KES's team was able to navigate the project through numerous difficult obstacles to a comprehensive design that demonstrates sound judgement and foresight, a complete array of management and technical skills, and the ability to produce in the most compressed and uncertain of environments. 7. We have recently received our authorization to purchase the rightofway for the project, after which KES will assist us with bidding the project and administering the 18month construction effort. 8. You are invited to call me if you have any questions about KES's performance on this project. STEVEN T. SMITH, Lt Col, MS ANG
Base Civil Engineer |
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