AN NASIRIYAH - Twenty-four Gulf Region South District Iraqi engineers joined six of their American counterparts here in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineer's Construction Contract Administration class Dec. 3-6.
The class provides project and resident engineers with information about day-to-day job duties, according to Russell Holeman, chief of the Engineering and Construction Division, GRS. This is the first time the instruction has taken place in Iraq.
"The training was conceived by my predecessor, Andy Adams," he said. "We provide a lot of information to the engineers in the field, but realized that we send our people in the States through a lot of training courses to be in (project and resident engineer) positions. Why not do the same thing with the Iraqi engineers'"
He said the class, as taught in the United States, stresses information on contract administration and the roles and limitations of engineers administering those contracts. "The class gives them an explanation of how to interpret drawing and specifications and how to present that information to a contractor," he said.
"The class also teaches engineers about conferences - preconstruction conferences - and the meetings throughout the life of a contract. It presents general information about construction quality management; what to look for and how to ensure quality. The contractor is responsible for achieving that quality, but the engineer needs to understand his or her role making sure we get a quality product that we can turn over."
Holeman contacted the Huntsville Training Center in Alabama and coordinated to export the classes here.
Instructors Alex Herrera and John Briggs with the Fort Campbell resident office, Louisville District, volunteered to come to Iraq and present the course for GRS and the North and Central districts.
"We both served in the al-Hillah area doing assessments and then we traveled to Basrah to set up the original GRS office," Briggs said. "I got the call a month ago from Marilyn and both Alex and I decided to come over. We believe in the mission and this is something we really wanted to do."
Briggs said the course focuses on the rules and regulations surrounding contract administration and the responsibilities of the project, area and resident engineers.
"I took the course five years ago and it is the same course," he said. "It explains how the Corps deals with its contractors - from estimations to negotiations, and how to get the quality we need from them."
Both men recognized many of the Iraqi engineers from previous tours, which made the experience even more gratifying. Herrera commented about the high quality of their work and their efforts to get the right information.
The instruction materials, from the manuals to the final exam, are on the leading edge of the Corps' technology - and the feedback Herrera received from the students was "they are learning a lot. We have asked for their feedback throughout the whole course."
"The training sessions are so useful and concentrate on the daily methods of dealing with construction projects administration," said an Iraqi architect, who works with Thi Qar Area Office. "The U.S Army trainers gave us the solutions and the answers for all the problems and the questions that could face us at any construction site in the future."
"The Corps also supplied us with data books which will be our references to accomplish correctly our site missions. This training should have been done before now, but overall, we are so thankful and grateful for all the people who participated to set up this training. And we hope to get more training in the future," he said.
An Iraqi civil engineer who works with Basrah Area Office said, "The training is very interesting. It added lots of information to what we know. It has enhanced our engineering experiences and helped develop our technical skills to be able to handle any engineering difficulty and to fix any contracting violations in accordance with the project engineers."
Briggs explained that this course was the first of its kind taught in Iraq and GRS Commander Col. Gary Johnston will evaluate feedback from instructors, Holeman and the students to determine whether he needs to bring more classes or offer other internal training here.
"GRS is at the spear point to bring in the Iraqis engineers and train them to be able to take over our work in the future and to get them all here," Briggs said.
"This group is amazing. GRS is leading the way in transferring our responsibilities to them - the Iraqis. One of the engineers said to us, 'Now you are giving us the road to get to the end.' It is exciting to be a part of it," he said.
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