A trio of influential New Jersey lawmakers are urging Pentagon officials to reevaluate and revamp existing base security and contracting guidelines to prevent future breaches in security that have allowed scores of undocumented workers to gain access to our military installations.

    Congressmen Chris Smith, Frank LoBiondo, and Jim Saxton spent most of the day meeting with Army, Air Force, and Navy contracting officials to press for the reforms.  The lawmakers were joined by a group of key labor leaders from the state building trades who are also supportive of reform.

    Smith is the Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Saxton is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities.  LoBiondo chairs the Transportation Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and is also a member of HASC.  The New Jersey members, each of whom represent critical military installations, were joined in their reform effort by House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter.

    “From our meetings, I am confident that all three service branches understand the severity of this issue, and will continue to work with us in the coming months to develop a lasting solution,” Smith said.

    “In consultation with the building trades, we put together a strong plan of action to promote ‘Best Value Contracting’ that will ensure greater security at our bases and provide incentives and fair treatment for contractors who follow stringent security guidelines and hire well-trained, skilled, and documented employees,” he added.

    “Reforms of these contracting procedures are necessary and long overdue to improve base security and also ensure value for the taxpayers during work on projects at these facilities,” said LoBiondo. “Now more than ever, the armed forces need to address this pressing national security concern and along with Reps. Smith and Saxton, we’ll keep working with the military to reach a satisfactory conclusion.”

    “The proposal presented to the various service branches requests the military to award points when evaluating contractors to firms that conduct background checks on their employees and that hire certified, skilled laborers.  It also calls for a more open bid process in which a contractor must list all subcontractors in an effort to prevent a firm from submitting a strong bid proposal only to cut costs and hire shoddy subcontractors once the job is awarded,” Smith explained.

    “By using ‘Best Value Contracting’ more aggressively, the military will help ensure that documented, trained professionals will be working on our bases.  In addition to fostering an atmosphere of greater security, best value contracting will award jobs to firms and workers with the knowledge and know-how to get the job done right, timely, and on-budget,” Smith said.  “It’s a win-win situation for everyone except for fly-by-night contractors trying to game the system and potential terrorists looking for a soft spot in our base security structure.”

    During the meetings, each service branch was presented with a proposal that would require more stringent background checks for employees working on critical base projects.  Officials from each branch took the proposal and pledged to promptly review the materials as they reevaluate their contracting procedures. They also pledged to report back to the members soon.

    Additionally, Congressmen Smith, Saxton, and LoBiondo are considering drafting legislation to develop a pilot “Best Value” program in New Jersey.  They are also committed to pushing forward legislation authored by Congressman Saxton that would require background checks on all employees working on base projects.

    Smith, Saxton, and LoBiondo have all worked for years to convince local bases to use “Best Value Contracting,” in which factors such as quality of work and the skill level of workers on a given job are evaluated in addition to total bid price so such jobs go to contractors who employ skilled, certified, and documented workers. A string of recent arrests, however, has cast doubt as to how well military contractors are following the BVC guidelines now.

    Last month, 21 undocumented workers were arrested and charged with using fake Social Security numbers to work on projects at Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base.  Federal investigators are currently looking at other military bases, including Fort Monmouth, Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station, and Earle Naval Weapons Station to determine if the problem of undocumented workers has spread to these installations as well.

    Earlier this year, about 40 undocumented workers were arrested on similar charges after federal authorities found them working at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, where about 200 Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) units are stored.  And just this week, more than 40 undocumented workers were arrested after they infiltrated the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.