Louisville team named USACE Project Delivery Team of the Year for Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patt

Published July 19, 2012

The Louisville District was awarded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2012 Project Delivery Team (PDT) of the Year for Merit award for its work on the Human Performance Wing (HPW) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio during the Strategic Leaders’ Conference National Awards Ceremony Aug. 6 in Little Rock, Ark.

The HPW project team was recognized for safely completing the largest single Corps’ construction contracted executed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base since World War II as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Program (BRAC).

"This was a huge mission that resulted in a wonderful facility,” said Louisville District Commander Col. Luke Leonard. “We are very proud of this team, and especially of our Air Force partners at Wright Patterson and our engineering and construction contractors who made it possible."

The team was commended for developing and employing innovative technology and business processes to complete the project 89 days ahead of schedule, under budget and within quality standards. Headquarters applauded the PDT for their superior coordination and customer relations, which allowed for early occupancy of the facility.

“Everything that needed to go right came together on this one,” said Dewey Rissler, project manager and Louisville District Military Branch Air Force Section Chief. “I’ve never been involved in a project where every team member all had the same goals, the same focus and the same desire to achieve what we did.”

The project consolidated four Air Force and Navy organizations from three different locations into a single highly complex and technical facility for 1,800 military and civilian personnel, known as the 711th Human Performance Wing.

“It was quite a challenge to combine so many different organizations,” said Rissler. “But we were very lucky with the personnel that the base put on the project. They really worked with the users to identify their specific needs upfront. Those guys worked tirelessly on the coordination efforts,” he said.

The complex is a massive 670,000 square ft., $238.8 million undertaking that took less than 3 years to construct.  It houses many technical Department of Defense (DoD) components to include the Navy’s disorientation device and the state-of-the-art Air Force Centrifuge—one of only four in the world.
Additionally, the project managed to achieve a LEED Silver status and identified a $54.8 million savings through value engineering.