Navy

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southeast hosted an Industry Day event, March 22, from the Adam W. Herbert University Center located at the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville, Florida.

The event provided NAVFAC Southeast an opportunity to promote their products and services delivery through enhanced engagement with industry partners, large and small.

“NAVFAC Southeast is embracing the mindset that to be successful in achieving national defense strategy objectives on infrastructure and facilities, we need a strong, collaborative government and industry team that values continuous learning from each other,” said NAVFAC Southeast Executive Officer Capt. Jeremy Adams. “In order to better harness this learning mindset, venues such as today’s industry day are at the forefront and are extremely valuable. Our intent is to learn more about our respective challenges and move towards mutually improving performance.”

The event allowed contractors to gain a better understanding of NAVFAC Southeast as an organization, and the products and services they provide to the Navy. It also provided attendees the opportunity to ask questions directly through the virtual chat function to command leadership and subject matter experts.

“We are focused on communication and collaborative improvements,” said Renee Comfort, chief contracting officer for NAVFAC Southeast. “Champions keep playing until they get it right; we can continue to work towards innovation and improvement together.”

The schedule consisted of presentations from command leadership, “track-based” discussion groups, and a speech from the Keynote Speaker, Submarine Group Ten Commander Rear Adm. Thomas “TR” Buchanan. Areas of discussion included NAVFAC Southeast Operations; Environmental; Contracting; Small Business; Planning, Design, and Construction; and more.

“An integral part of meeting our challenges is a strong collaborative government and industry team aligned to continually learn from each other and accelerate execution performance,” said Buchanan. “Events like this one provide a useful forum and platform for open dialogue to share information, ideas and innovations.”

Small businesses play a vital role in the American economy – employing half of our country’s workforce, creating nearly two out of every three new American jobs, and often being the source of the next great American innovation. NAVFAC Southeast strives to meet its goals and build on its successes by providing contract opportunities to these businesses.

“NAVFAC Southeast invests in small businesses to support our national defense,” said John Bazylewicz, assistant deputy director for small business. “Small businesses fuel the American dream, which grows the local and federal economies that ultimately strengthen the warfighter.”

Bazylewicz explained that sound business processes enable NAVFAC to meet the expectations of supported commanders while serving the public policy objectives of providing opportunities to small business.

Small businesses provide services and expertise that support the Navy’s mission and the men and women in uniform. Each year NAVFAC establishes target goals for Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone Small Business (HUBZONE), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), and Women-Owned Small Business categories. Utilizing these small business concerns to the maximum extent practicable is a matter of National interest with both social and economic benefits.

Six hundred participants registered for the event, making this Industry Day the highest attended in the command’s history.

“The value in this event was putting together in one place key government contacts and staff with the contracting community that was solely missed during the pandemic,” said Robert Aycock, representative from SpecPro. “It also allowed us to hear and understand what is important to the government so we know how better to serve.”

The command continuously participates in different industry outreach events throughout the year.

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) commander, Rear Adm. Dean VanderLey, has announced Linn Lebel, P.E., as NAVFAC Project Manager of the Year for 2023.

“I congratulate Ms. Lebel on receiving this award,” said VanderLey. “She epitomizes the leadership and technical expertise that are the foundation of effective project management and mission success. Project leadership like hers is essential for NAVFAC to deliver projects on time, within budget, while meeting the mission requirements of our Supported Commanders.”

A civil engineer who began her career with NAVFAC in 2015, Lebel joined Officer in Charge of Construction Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (OICC PNSY) in April 2021 to oversee the $1.8B Multi-Mission Dry Dock #1 project, the Navy’s largest military construction (MILCON) project awarded in NAVFAC history and the first Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) mega-project. SIOP is a holistic investment plan that integrates all infrastructure and industrial plant equipment investments at the Navy’s four public shipyards to meet fleet maintenance requirements and improve Navy maintenance capabilities.

“Linn has distinguished herself as a superior leader throughout her NAVFAC career,” said OICC PNSY Commanding Officer, Capt. Frank Carroll. “She is an outstanding professional and a shining star among the exceptional talent within NAVFAC. Her leadership, expertise, and dedication have had a direct and positive impact on SIOP and NAVFAC.”

Lebel has successfully managed numerous projects in support of PNSY’s waterfront infrastructure improvements, including several MILCON projects for the Los Angeles Class Submarine Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) and SIOP. In addition to the Multi-Mission Dry Dock project, she was the project manager for the Super Flood Basin which modified existing structures, parts of which were built in 1845, to allow the docking of submarines regardless of the tide in the Piscataqua River.

A native of Trumbull, Connecticut, now living in Kensington, New Hampshire, Lebel noted, “It’s an incredible honor to be named NAVFAC Project Manager of the Year. I am proud to be a member of such an amazing, hard-working team.”

Lebel is no stranger to recognition. In 2019, she was NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic’s Engineer of the Year and most recently, Project Manager of the Year for OICC PNSY.

OICC PNSY leads the way with SIOP and submarine projects designed to meet the fleet’s operational cycle and expected service life requirements, providing post-award construction oversight for over $2.8 billion of military construction and special projects through 2028. The command ensures dedicated focus on constructing critical production support projects in support of the fleet.

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command is the Naval Shore Facilities Command, Base Operating Support, and Expeditionary Engineering Systems Command that delivers life-cycle technical and acquisition solutions aligned to Fleet and Marine Corps priorities. Become a fan at www.facebook.com/navfac, follow us at www.twitter.com/navfac, view our photostream on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/navfac, and read SEABEE Magazine online at http://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/.

Naval Information Forces (NAVIFOR) joins the Navy in celebrating Women’s History Month throughout the month of March.

NAVIFOR’s celebration of women in the Navy was held at the Hall of Heroes at the Suffolk DoD Complex March 24. Established by Public Law 100-9, Women’s History Month was created to recognize women’s contributions and achievements throughout the history of the United States. The 2023 Department of Defense theme “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories,” is a tribute to women’s storied history in the Navy and the legacies they have left over generations.

NAVIFOR is uniquely positioned to celebrate this month, as the command triad consists of an all-women leadership team. NAVIFOR Commander Vice Adm. Kelly Aeschbach is the only woman Navy type commander; NAVIFOR’s Force Master Chief Laura Nunley is currently the only woman Force Master Chief in the Navy; and Ms. Liz Nashold is the first woman deputy commander of NAVIFOR. They have nearly a century of active duty and federal service between them.

Nashold opened the event by highlighting the critical contributions of women to the Navy.

“This month, as the history and legacy of women are celebrated across the Navy, the Department of Defense, and our nation, I can’t help but personally reflect on how the inclusion of women has made us more capable, more competitive, and more effective. If you look around the room today, we have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years of experiences – centuries of legacies,” said Nashold. “Women – active, reserve, and civilian – are critical to every single mission, everything we do, around the globe. We don’t have to look too far to see how women, time and again, have chosen to serve and how their inclusion has made us sharper, bolder, and better.”

Nashold reflected on how more than 20% of the Navy’s active force now are women, serving in all capacities to defend the maritime domain, enhance the Navy’s lethality, and deter strategic competitors. The Navy has fifty-six thousand talented women who serve as Navy civilians. Navy history is full of trailblazing pioneers who paved the way for more than 138,000 women – active, reserve, and civilian – serving in the Navy today.

The Navy has more women leaders in service than ever before. Twenty-two female admirals and 1,580 female master chiefs and senior chief petty officers lead from the front. More than thirty percent of the Department of the Navy’s civilian leadership in the senior executive service are women. Every rank is open to women serving in nearly every Navy community, from the seafloor to the stars.

Force Master Chief Laura Nunley introduced the event’s guest speaker, Master Chief Courtney Barber, who is not only one of the Navy’s most senior enlisted women but also an accomplished Navy life coach, three-time published author, civilian life purpose coach, host of a iHeart radio show and a 2022 humanitarian award winner.

“She is a polished professional and still relatable and approachable, which is what I love about her,” said Nunley. “No one meets Master Chief Barber without walking away leaving a better person. Her story is our story.”

Barber reflected on the adversities she faced after enlisting in the Navy and while working as a young airman, to now serving as a Master Chief.

“When you walk in your purpose every day, full of authenticity, full of realness, confidence, passion, respect, humble arrogance, grace, and strength, it will NEVER matter what people think of you,” said Barber. “It will NEVER matter the conversations that are being had behind your back. What WILL matter is the attention and energy you waste worrying about it and how you allow it to control you.”

Barber shared invaluable words with everyone in attendance.

“Your struggles and your setbacks were done on purpose. And they are the stepping stones that are going to propel you to where you are supposed to be in life,” said Barber. “All you must do is change your mindset. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change. It is up to you to embrace all that you have endured and learned throughout your life so that you can use your story, your testimony to share with others who are looking for motivation, inspiration, and encouragement. Your story to share is important.”

Vice Adm. Aeschbach closed the ceremony with a recount of her story of attending George Washington University and accepting her commission as an intelligence officer in the Navy – a career path that she credits to her mother, Roni, who Aeschbach noted is “pretty remarkable” and was the main driver to putting her on the path to obtaining a Navy ROTC scholarship.

“Everybody has a story and you need to share your story. You need to look for opportunities to mentor and sponsor because without even realizing it you are inspiring someone every single day,” said Aeschbach. “Share your story, because this is a really critical time for us and you want to keep inspiring people to do what we do and follow behind us.”

The event also included a “Pow-HER-full” wall display with photos of more than 50 women nominated by NAVIFOR personnel and local Information Warfare commands that served as inspirational role models.

Information warfare is a wide-ranging community that includes communications, networks, intelligence, oceanography, meteorology, cryptology, electronic warfare, cyberspace operations, and space experts, among many others.

NAVIFOR’s mission is to generate, directly and through our leadership of the IW Enterprise, agile and technically superior manned, trained, equipped, and certified combat-ready IW forces to ensure our Navy will decisively DETER, COMPETE, and WIN.

For more information on NAVIFOR, visit the command Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NavalInformationForces/ or the public web page at https://www.navifor.usff.navy.mil.

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southeast held a groundbreaking ceremony, March 23, for two additions to Trident Training Facility Kings Bay (TTFKB) that will directly support the U.S. Navy’s Columbia (SSBN-826) class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) program onboard Naval Submarine Base (NSB) Kings Bay, Georgia.

This project marks the beginning of the overhaul of NSB King Bay’s infrastructure to directly support the delivery of the Columbia platform later this decade and is a critical component in advancing our nation’s strategic deterrence mission.

“This effort is top priority for the Navy and Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command as a whole,” said Rear Adm. Lore Aguayo, commander, NAVFAC Atlantic. “To ensure the successful execution of this project, NAVFAC Southeast and Kings Bay Public Works Department are leveraging several lessons learned that we took from the success we recently accomplished in the Kings Bay Dry Dock project.”

The mission of TTFKB is to train officers and enlisted personnel in the necessary knowledge and skills required to build competence and proficiency in operating and maintaining the Trident submarine and all associated systems.

The new additions include a Strategic Systems Program (SSP) Missile Control Center Team Trainer and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Weapons Handling System Team Trainer.

“The expansion of the Trident Training Facility Kings Bay will ensure the United States maintains our edge over our strategic competitors for decades to come,” said Rear Adm. Thomas “TR” Buchanan, commander, Submarine Group Ten. “Columbia class is our future.”

NAVFAC Southeast awarded the $37.6 million contract to Sauer Construction LLC of Jacksonville, Florida on Dec. 30, 2022.

“Sauer is involved in military construction because we get to build the facilities that train and support the great men and women who sacrifice so much to defend our freedom,” said Mr. Kevin Kelly, president Sauer Construction. “We understand the importance of this mission and we look forward to exceeding your expectations.”

Work will be performed in Kings Bay, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by March 2025.