In a discussion with Gene Morisani, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District Chief of the Construction Division talks about District Construction Division’s ongoing construction projects in Florida, that primarily focus’ on ecosystem restoration, coastal storm risk management, and navigation improvements that keep this well-oiled machine running.
Morisani
In an interview, Morisani highlights key projects and partnerships. He has been the chief of Construction for a year and firmly has his hands on the construction steering wheel. He lauds his team for their successes, partnerships, and progression.
"We have a great team. I tell them all the time that it is all about our people, projects, and partnering with our stakeholders that keeps our projects moving forward," said Morisani.
"In the Jacksonville District, we dredge the harbors and channels of some of Florida's busiest ports and naval bases. We do some of the vertical construction work that I am used to, but not on the same scale as other places. We are currently undertaking numerous water infrastructure projects to mitigate flooding and support environmental restoration in areas such as the Everglades. Now those projects are so much harder than they look, because in Florida, especially as you go south, where most of the work is, water is everywhere."
We are busy working in locations such as Canaveral, Kings Bay, Mayport, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, and other coastal areas in Florida, dredging for ports and renourishing beaches.
Erin Duffy, Gavin Jackson, and John Rossi lead some of the most experienced and effective project engineers and inspectors in the North Florida Area Office (NFAO). While the NFAO handles the bulk of this work, our teams in West Palm and Miami, led by Nolan Eusebio and Nestor Rivera, respectively, also regularly perform this work.
We partner with numerous dredging contractors, from the biggest national firms to local small businesses. This work requires knowledge of marine safety as well as USACE's dredge monitoring system.
We must coordinate quality assurance surveys from the Operations Division and private firms to ensure the work is done right and the Dredging contractor is on track.
I am always amazed by the responsiveness and timeliness of the Operations Division Survey Boats – we cannot do it without them!
Our team also does a great job managing the challenges of working along the coast, like concerns from the public about safety, noise, vibration, and sand quality.
Regular coordination with Engineering and Planning also helps ensure that environmental controls are in place and precautions are observed, thereby limiting the impact of our work on wildlife and ecosystems.
We're doing important roof work at NAS Jacksonville in support of the Defense Logistics Agency as they sustain the F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter. We are delivering Army Reserve Facilities in Gainesville, Force Protection Upgrades for the Marine Reserves in Tampa, and support facilities for our own Operations Division at multiple locks.
It takes a "firefighter" mindset to manage this work. The project engineers and inspectors of the Construction Division arrive every day to address RFIs, review submittals, discuss schedule progress, inspect work, address items that don't meet the standard, process payments, execute changes, and coordinate with partners at non-federal sponsors or end-users.
In the ecosystems program, we hold one of the largest contracts with USACE at the Everglades Agricultural Area. EAA links Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and is a truly historic project for the USACE.
The combined total of the projects we have there is almost $4 billion, and one of our contracts is worth $2.9 billion. Juan Sanchez Bulted leads the team there.
Other major ecosystem programs are ongoing with major reservoir projects at the Indian River Lagoon South and the Broward County Water Preserve Area.
The team there includes resident engineers Victor Guerrero and Jessica Robbins, but it's worth noting that we don't build alone in Construction. We rely on our partners.
We are working with many great teammates from Engineering, including Joel Galliard, Program Managers Mike Rogalski and CT Karla Garcia, among others. Again, there are so many more that contribute to our success.
Managing many contracts means we have modifications and adjustments, and sometimes disputes are inevitable.
However, we work through, and this is a significant workload that we perform under delegated authority from and together with the Contracting Division. Annette Martinez in West Palm Beach and Joseph Toups in Jacksonville lead the Construction Division's contract administrative team, helping our field offices adapt to changes.
They also provide support on disputes, final payments, and contract closeout actions. When disputes arise, the schedule is often a major issue with significant cost implications.
We have a team of national experts in scheduling, led by Emma Chen, who help the Jacksonville District and many other Districts in the enterprise effectively manage schedules and perform complex forensic time-impact analyses when needed.
No high-performing organization can sustain itself without a variety of support functions that provide the resources, funding, equipment, staffing, policy, and guidance necessary for the mission.
The Construction Division has support branches here in Jacksonville and at the Field Execution Office in Palm Beach Gardens, which are the essential components of the machine that make it function.
Tony Jettinghoff, Jose Gonzalez, Oscar Pagan Satana, LeeAnn Shinavski, Okan Nalbant, and Roberto Chevres, along with their teams, are force multipliers that enable the field offices to focus on delivery, contract administration, and quality assurance.
The work their teams do is the parts and pieces under the hood that make a piece of heavy equipment go. Everyone sees the excavator bucket doing the job, but it loses its ability to move a grain of sand when one of these components, which are not readily seen or understood, is lost.
"This is a team effort, and I thank our team for their efforts," says Morisani.