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| November 15th, 2006 |
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Media Contact(s): Peter Carr (202) 224-9854,
Jared Whitley (202) 224-0134 |
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Printable Version |
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CONGRESS DEDICATES $30 M TO HAFB PROJECTS
Senate Approves Hatch Requests for Hill Software, Logistic Centers |
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Washington – The U.S. Senate last night passed legislation to fund Department of Defense military construction in the next fiscal year, including millions of dollars requested by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) for key programs at Hill Air Force Base (HAFB).
“Congressional funding for these projects demonstrates Hill’s record of success in delivering for the Air Force,” Hatch said. “When the Air Force needs depot maintenance done right, they come to Utah. No one comes close to Hill.”
The funding bill, H.R. 5385, includes $20 million to expand Hill’s Software Support Facility. The first phase of this expansion was a 72,500 square foot, two-story addition, funded with $19.5 million in last year’s military construction bill. As a result of Hatch’s close, working relationship with Air Force officials, they recommended including this project in the Administration’s budget both this and last year. That strengthened the project’s position within Congress, and helped ensure the facility received the funding it needed to expand.
Hill is expanding its software center because existing facilities are inadequate for the increased workload and personnel the Air Force has assigned to Hill. The base’s Software Engineering Division affords the Air Force a $40 per-hour labor rate savings over industry competitors. Hill’s software engineers develop and maintain software and hardware for a range of Air Force’s fleets, including the F-16 fleet. Carnegie-Mellon University rated Hill’s facility as one of only two Level Five (I) software facilities run by the Department of Defense. Only the top 2 percent of software centers in the world receive this rating.
“Hill’s software engineers can program circles around anyone else,” Hatch said. “They are making sure Air Force aircraft run efficiently and effectively.”
The bill also includes $10 million for another Hill project that Hatch requested through the appropriations process: the Air Logistics Center Warehouse in Ogden. The facility will house equipment vital to world-wide operations, equipment currently stored in inadequate 1940s’ era wooden warehouses, many with dangerous structural damage. The buildings have deteriorated so much that when 5 inches of snow accumulate on the roofs, a common occurrence in Utah, no one is permitted inside for fear the structure will collapse.
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