Navy breaks ground for Supply Corps School

NEWPORT – The Naval Supply Corps School and Center for Service Support’s relocation to Rhode Island moved one step closer to reality today as Naval Station Newport officially broke ground for the new NSCS facility.

Capt. Michel T. Poirier, the station’s commanding officer, and Capt. Brian D. Sheppard, commanding officer of the Navy Supply Corps School (NSCS), were among the speakers at the 10 a.m. event. Also attending were Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed and U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy.

The 58,000-square-foot school is slated for completion “early in 2010,” NavSta Newport spokeswoman Lisa Rama told Providence Business News today. That will allow the Supply Corps’ training and support operations to relocate from their current base in Athens, Ga.

The Supply Corps is one of the oldest staff branches of the Navy. “Two hundred and thirteen years ago, the Naval Supply Corps was created to service our nation’s fledgling naval force of six frigates,” Reed, a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, said in a statement today.

“Throughout every major engagement since then, both hostile and humanitarian, the Naval Supply Corps has ensured that the United States Navy has been able to conduct sustained operations – on land, air or sea – in any area of the world. … The flexibility and capability to maintain the Navy’s high operational tempo and readiness to rapidly project power with carrier strike groups is only possible through the logistical support of the Naval Supply Corps,” the senator added

The NSCS is being designed and constructed by H.V. Collins Co. of Providence, under a $24.5 million contract awarded Oct. 30 that also includes the renovation of an existing 27,000-square foot facility for the Marine Corps Detachment (MarDet), another training program that is being relocated to Newport.

MarDet, which handles about 300 students per year, provides accession information technology training to Marines and also offers basic aviation supply officer training for Marine officers. The NSCS, which handles about 5,000 students per year, trains newly commissioned Navy supply officers in leadership, supply management, disbursement and food services. It also offers advanced training in logistics, hazardous materials (HazMat) management and contracting.

The project, announced in February 2006, is part of a consolidation that will transform Naval Station Newport into “a world-class Center of Learning Excellence,” Poirier has said. It will bring the region an estimated 180 permanent jobs – 100 active-duty and 80 civilian positions – and will nearly double the number of students who pass through the base each year to more than 16,000 from the current total of about 9,500.

“This facility will provide the foundation of training that will be required in logistical support of the Navy for many years ahead,” Reed said today.

Last Thursday, in another project spurred by the recommendations of the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission, the Navy Warfare Development Command broke ground on its future home in Norfolk, Va. Construction is slated for completion by September 2009, and the NWDC is expected to move their from its current base in Newport by March 2010.