Army Contracting Command Soldiers are on the ground in West Africa assisting in the fight to eradicate the deadly Ebola virus.
Lt. Col. Robert McDonald, 922nd Contingency Contracting Battalion commander, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, has set up shop in Monrovia, Liberia, where he and more than two dozen contingency contracting officers are deployed in support of Operation United Assistance,.
"The biggest challenge has been the limited resources available to combat the virus," said McDonald. "There are many different agencies on the ground competing for material-handling equipment, construction material, transportation and labor. De-conflicting all those competing requirements is a challenge but not something we can't continue to overcome."
In country for almost a month, McDonald said his team has been tasked to build seven Ebola treatment units and force-provider housing supporting the joint forces command units on the ground
"The units will help stop the spread of the virus and bend that curve downward," McDonald said. "Reports from the World Health Organization are that the reported cases are on the decline. We will continue to press forward with constructing ETUs until told otherwise."
McDonald said his team also awards contracts in support of life support for the JFC units on the ground.
"As contingency contracting officers, we have previously deployed as individual augmentees but never as a unit. This is the first time that an Army contracting unit was requested through the normal request for forces process and approved and deployed as an entire unit. This is a major success not only for 922nd CCBn. but for Army Contracting Command as well.
"For me the major difference in this deployment than the other four I have experienced is that this is not a combat mission," he added. "This is a humanitarian mission. The contracting process is the same whether a combat or humanitarian mission."
The U.S. Africa Command, through U.S. Army Africa, is providing coordination of logistics, training and engineering support to the U.S. Agency for International Development to assist in the overall U.S. government foreign humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts to contain the spread of the Ebola virus. AFRICOM's website says OUA is part of the international assistance effort supporting the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
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