Air base looking for a few good people.

Despite the wide variety of projects that are ongoing or being planned at CFB North Bay, the site manager for the air base's contracting firm says there's no small amount of concern over the lack of attention received from potential contractors.

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"It's disappointing, because there's a good amount of work for companies here," Terry Brownlee, site manager for Defence Contrators Canada (DCC), says.

He suggests many companies in the region are missing out on millions of dollars worth of work as a result of not having filed for a security clearance. In turn, this reduces the number of bids for selection by the DCC, a Crown corporation whose sole client is the Department of Defense.

As an example of this problem, Brownlee says a $1.4 million athletic track being completed at the base received but two bids. Additionally, a recent roofing project at the base failed to receive a single bid. Even after some minor modifications were made, the project received a total of four bids and eventually went to a company in Toronto.

Due to the security requirements inherent in working at a military base, companies looking to perform various types of infrastructure-related work must be cleared to various security levels. While elevated security clearances can require sponsorship from external firms, most security clearance screening processes typically involve verification of qualifications, criminal records, credit checks, and reference inquiries.

However, as construction grows, fewer companies appear to be willing to submit to the process, cutting down on the number of potential pool of bidders for a given project.

"When it's busy, people go to the places where there's less paperwork, less bureaucracy or more money to be had. As the market gets hot, that seems to be what's going on," Brownlee says.

To highlight the volume of construction activity set to take place at CFB North Bay, Brownlee points out that bidding recently closed on nearly $5 million worth of work.

That total is split evenly between two projects, which include a retrofit of the base's 50-year-old headquarters. This will involve replacing nearly everything from the mechanical and electrical systems to the windows and siding.

A new 30,000-square-foot military police headquarters is also slated for construction, with completion expected within a year. Currently in development is a $4 million, 100-room accommodation facility which would temporarily house people passing through the base for training purposes.

Requested by the Department of Defence (DOD) and drafted by DCC, the application for the project is in the second year of the DOD's approval process. This means the proposal may take up to three years to wind its way through the official channels before a final decision can be made and the funding is distributed.

Brownlee says the move would allow the base to upgrade its dorm-like group facilities in the form of a series of 350-square-foot rooms. These would cater to personnel passing through either for week-long stays or extended, year-long residence as they receive training in various trade skills or radar station operations. These become increasingly important as the OPP and RCMP continue make use of the base for their own training purposes.

"As a single, we can't put them in a housing unit, because they're two bedrooms and reserved for couples with or without kids, so we need that middle-of-the-road, transient type of quarters."

A $1.8 million community centre at the base is nearing completion, and will soon serve as a daycare, teen centre and other various family-oriented roles.

www.dcc-cdc.gc.ca

By NICK STEWART

Northern Ontario Business