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Officer in Charge of Construction RVN

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by BusterD (talk | contribs) at 16:18, 15 January 2018 (Submitting (AFCH 0.9)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

  • Comment: There is some very good work seen here. Unfortunately, the many sources which do appear on this page need to be formatted into inline citations. I urge the page creator to read WP:CITE to see what options might best suit. I would very much enjoy reading this page once finished. I agree that if verifiable and well cited, this page would be very useful. BusterD (talk) 22:56, 14 January 2018 (UTC)
@BusterD: I have responded to your comment on the article talk page. I will begin reformatting the inline citations in a couple of days and I will inform you when I have completed this. Thank you. Overlain (talk) 04:19, 15 January 2018 (UTC)


Officer in Charge of Construction, Republic of Vietnam
Insignia of OICC RVN and NAVFAC
Active1965-1972
CountryUnited States
BranchU.S. Navy
TypeContract Construction
RoleContracting Officer
Size400px
Part ofNaval Facilities Engineering Command
Nickname(s)OICC RVN

The U.S. Officer in Charge of Construction, Republic of Vietnam (OICC RVN), was established by the U.S. Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks on 1 July 1965 to manage the large construction program in South Vietnam assigned to RMK-BRJ, a consortium of four of the largest American construction companies. This construction program was to prepare the infrastructure in South Vietnam to allow escalation of U.S. troop levels into Vietnam during the Vietnam War and supply them with facilities and matériel. This program became the largest construction program and contract in history up to that time.[1][2][3] The result was a transformation of southern Vietnam from an area of little infrastructure to the industrial country today that continues to rely on the new ports, airfields, highways, and bridges constructed under this program.[1] As the journalist Richard Tregaskis put it, the bases built under this huge construction program “had the interesting collateral effect of preparing her way [Vietnam] for a catapult-style launching into the modern age.”[4]

History

In the 1950s, the United States Department of Defense assigned responsibility for contract construction in support of military assistance and military construction in regions around the world to the three major branches of defense: the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. The Navy was assigned as the Department of Defense contract construction agent in Southeast Asia, among other regions.[5][6][7]

The Navy established its first contracting officer in Southeast Asia with the Officer in Charge of Construction, Thailand, located in Bangkok, in December 1955,[5][6] and in 1958, the name was changed to OICC Southeast Asia in order to encompass the construction work undergoing in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.[8]

In response to a request from the government of South Vietnam to upgrade airports and build a new airport in Pleiku, OICC Southeast Asia established a branch office, the Resident Officer in Charge of Construction Saigon, in February 1961.[9] Subsequently, the Navy’s Bureau of Yards and Docks (BUDOCKS) awarded a construction contract to a consortium of two of the largest American construction companies, then known as RMK, consisting of Raymond International of Delaware, Inc. and Morrison-Knudsen of Asia.[10] BUDOCKS was renamed the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) in May 1966.

After the Tonkin Gulf incident in August 1964, and the subsequent planning to introduce American combat troops into Vietnam, the construction program grew exponentially. The construction program for Vietnam became greater than that in Thailand, so the Officer in Charge of Construction, Republic of Vietnam (OICC RVN) was established in Saigon on 1 July 1965 , and OICC Southeast Asia became OICC Thailand.[11][6]

NAVFAC broadened the construction consortium in August 1965 by adding Brown & Root, Inc. and J.A. Jones Construction Co., Inc.[12] The consortium then became known as RMK-BRJ.

176 Hai Bà Trưng, Đa Kao, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh City, former OICC-RVN HQ

By February 1967, OICC RVN staff was 1,050, including 90 naval Civil Engineer Corps officers, at 47 sites with 782 separate projects.[13] This was in response to the growth in work for RMK-BRJ, which reached a peak of over 51,000 employees in July 1966.[14]

At a ceremony marking the completion of all work under the RMK-BRJ contract on 3 July 1972, Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker noted the end of a “decade of achievement.”[15]

OICC RVN was disestablished on 1 October 1972.[16] This coincided with the contract closure report for the RMK-BRJ contract. As reported by Richard Tregaskis, “At that time, no disputes remained between the Navy and the contractor, — a remarkable achievement for a contract relationship of this nature.”[16] The contract was closed with a value of $1.865 billion, which does not include the value of government-furnished materials, equipment, shipping, and transportation.[17] This is the equivalent of $14 billion in 2017 dollars.

With increased “Vietnamization” of the war effort, OICC RVN helped to build up the Vietnamese construction industry over 1971 and 1972 by awarding fixed-price contracts to Vietnamese construction contractors.[18] The largest of these contracts was for a 102-building Combined Arms School at Bearcat, with a contract value of $3.5 million, awarded to the Vietnamese construction contractor Tran Ngoc Tuan & Ngo The Chu Joint Venture in 1972.[18] RMK-BRJ had trained over 200,000 Vietnamese employees over the 10-year life of its contract in construction and administrative trades[19] and many of these workers became the backbone of the Vietnamese construction industry.[20][21]

On 1 October 1972, all remaining contracts with Vietnamese construction contractors were transferred to the successor organization to OICC RVN, the Director of Construction, Republic of Vietnam, under the command of the Officer in Charge of Construction Thailand.[15]

Organization

CDR E.H.Belton, CEC, USN showing housing for Vietnamese Navy families at Long Binh, Vietnam in 1972

As the Department of Defense contract construction agent in Vietnam, OICC RVN designed projects in accordance with “customer” requirements, and constructed them in accordance with the approved designs.[22] The customers included the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), all of the branches of the U.S. military, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). However, customer requirements, especially for MACV, changed rapidly in response to combat conditions and strategy, which required many changes during construction. The adjudication of priorities between competing agency projects became a major concern.[23]

In February 1966, the Directorate of Construction was formed within MACV to coordinate the overall construction program, including the efforts of military engineers and units.[24] The Director of Construction would determine what was to be built, and release funds for design and construction. He approved what agencies did with funds, and allocated construction resources, including OICC RVN and military engineering units, in accordance with operational priorities. The Director of Construction also determined construction standards.[25][26]

Thus the OICC RVN was under the operational control of the Commander, MACV, through the Commander, Naval Forces Vietnam (NAVFORV), and under the administrative control and technical supervision of NAVFAC.

Commanders

The OICC RVN organization was commanded by naval officers of the Civil Engineer Corps:[27]

  • CAPT M. E. Scanlon, 7/1965-9/1965
  • RADM W. M. Heaman, 9/1965-12/1965
  • RADM R. R. Wooding, 12/1965-3/1966
  • RADM P. E. Seufer, 3/1966-6/1967
  • RADM S. R. Smith, 6/1967-7/1968
  • RADM H. J. Johnson, 7/1968-3/1970
  • RADM A. R. Marschall, 3/1970-3/1971
  • RADM F. M. Lalor, Jr., 3/1971-3/1972
  • CAPT R. F. Jortberg, 3/1972-10/1972

References

  1. ^ a b Dunn 1991, p. v.
  2. ^ Carter 2004, p. 58.
  3. ^ Baldwin 1967.
  4. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 1.
  5. ^ a b Tregaskis 1975, p. 13.
  6. ^ a b c Seufer 1968.
  7. ^ Dunn 1991, pp. 16–17.
  8. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 20.
  9. ^ NAVFAC 1974, pp. 383–384.
  10. ^ Tregaskis 1975, pp. 28–29.
  11. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 106.
  12. ^ Tregaskis 1975, pp. 139–140.
  13. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 288.
  14. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 201.
  15. ^ a b Tregaskis 1975, p. 437.
  16. ^ a b Tregaskis 1975, p. 433.
  17. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 427, fig. 27.
  18. ^ a b Tregaskis 1975, p. 436.
  19. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 406.
  20. ^ Dunn 1991, p. vi.
  21. ^ Dunn 1991, p. 42.
  22. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 203.
  23. ^ Tregaskis 1975, pp. 203–205.
  24. ^ Dunn 1991, pp. 18–19.
  25. ^ Tregaskis 1975, pp. 204–205.
  26. ^ Wallin 1966.
  27. ^ Tregaskis 1975, p. 449.

Sources

  • Baldwin, Hanson W. (10 December 1967), "Vast U.S. Construction Program Changing Face of South Vietnam]: 1,500 Projects, Built Jointly By Military and Civilians, Also Help Reduce Supply Problems and Alter Course of the War", The New York Times{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  • Carter, James M. (2004), "The Vietnam Builders: Private Contractors, Military Construction and the 'Americanization' of United States Involvement in Vietnam" (PDF), Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 2 (2): 44–63 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  • Dunn, Carroll H. (1991), Base Development in South Vietnam 1965-1970, Washington, DC: Department of the Army, OCLC 417565744 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  • NAVFAC (1974), NAVFAC History 1965-1974, Chapter 10: Construction (PDF), Naval History and Heritage Command, retrieved 1 June 2015 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Seufer, Paul E. (May–June 1968), "Construction Program in Vietnam", The Military Engineer, retrieved 10 November 2017 {{citation}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: date format (link)
  • Tregaskis, Richard (1975), Southeast Asia: Building the Bases; the History of Construction in Southeast Asia, Washington, DC: Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, OCLC 952642951 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  • Wallin, H.N. (September–October 1966), "Military Construction in Vietnam: The Construction Agent", The Military Engineer, retrieved 13 November 2017 {{citation}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: date format (link)
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