Questionable Management Practices at the Facilities Engineer Support Agency, Fort Belvoir

Alleged mismanagement practices at the Facilities Engineering Support Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, involved: decommissioning of a nuclear power barge, contractor employees, and contract acceptances.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is decommissioning the nuclear power barge Sturgis after it spent more than $1 million to install an emergency core cooling system as alleged. When the system was installed, the Sturgis was being used in the Canal Zone. Exorbitant operating costs have made efforts to find other uses for the Sturgis impossible. While it was claimed that the civilian contractor doing the modification work on the barge has 18 workers on the project who are retired military members of the Facilities Engineering Support Agency, Agency officials advised that no former agency personnel who were retired military worked for the contractor on this project. Investigation of the claim that the Agency is accepting all missions offered so it can stay in existence to protect its civilian personnel showed that when the Facilities Engineering Support Agency lost its nuclear mission, additional responsibilities were added. The Agency's civilian workforce consists of 89 employees, seven of whom are retired military formerly assigned to the Agency.