The building technologies and practices have emerged in recent years as alternatives to traditional design and construction in meeting the cost, time, and quality goals of owners and builders. Some of these methods are used frequently in commercial construction markets but are not yet widely accepted within U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)standard practice. The House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services (HASC) and Committee on Appropriations (HAC) are now encouraging the military departments to employ different construction techniques that may prove less costly than conventional methods. The objective of the projects described in this report was to test two alternative construction methods and to evaluate their effectiveness in providing less costly facilities to the Army. These methods are: (1) One-Step Competitive r -I,(“Turnkey”) Negotiation, and (2) Architectural Fabric -.CTE Structure technology. USACE selected two projects from the FY84 MCA pro- JW0″gram for testing the One-Step “Turnkey” method. The projects were two physical fitness centers-one each at Forts Bliss, TX, and Stewart, GA.

Military Construction, Army (MCA) requirements are projected to grow in the future as old structures are replaced or renovated. Both the House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services (HASC) and Committee on Appropriations (HAC) have urged the military services to explore alternative construction methods in an effort to minimize time and dollars spent on facilities acquisition while providing high-quality final products, Several building technologies and practices have emerged in recent years as alternatives to traditional design and construction in attempts to meet cost, time, and quality goals of owners and builders. Some of these methods are used frequently in commercial0 construction markets but are not yet widely accepted within military department standard practice. To gain acceptance in the military construction community, these methods need to be proven in terms of providing quality products at a lower cost than conventional methods. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has taken initiative in this direction by funding research to evaluate candidate techniques under actual conditions in the field. As part of this effort, the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory was asked to study six facilities selected from the FY84 MCA program as test projects using two different alternative construction methods: One-Step “Turnkey” Facility Acquisition and Architectural Fabric Structure Technology.