One of the Army’s main missile defense bases is dealing with a “critical disruption” to its food services operations, “jeopardizing the readiness” of soldiers.
Fort Greely, where hundreds of soldiers are stationed in Alaska, has been dealing with civilian staffing shortages at its dining facility since at least October, according to a contract solicitation by the Army. The notice, posted on the SAM.gov website where the government takes bids for the military, describes a shortage of cooks and support staff.
USA Today first reported on the issues with the base’s dining facility on Friday, citing the contract. A spokesperson for the command told USA Today that the issue has been going on since October, with limited hours at the dining facility on base. The statement cited “unexpected civilian workforce retirements and attrition.”
The issues are detailed in the contract solicitation document, which also explained why it was being issued without the need for competition. The base was hit with staffing issues through a combination of workers retiring, a federal hiring freeze and the new deferred resignation program. That program, created by the Department of Government Efficiency early last year, was effectively a buyout program for civilian workers aimed at reducing the federal workforce. Tens of thousands of workers were paid to go on administrative leave.
“Without an operable Dining Facility, military and government workers will be denied accessibility to prepared meals on the installation,” the document said. “That will result in negatively impacting their physical and cognitive readiness and contribute to degraded performance during training and normal duty requirements.”
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The base, which was recently heavily featured in the film “A House of Dynamite,” is home to roughly 350 soldiers with the 49th Missile Defense Battalion. The Army unit operates special interceptor missiles designed for defending the United States from ballistic missiles. As such it is an important part of U.S. missile defense strategy. It also is located in the rugged mountains of Alaska and experiences harsh winters.
Task & Purpose reached out to the base and the Army to see if any of the positions have been filled since the contract was posted. As of press time Task & Purpose has not heard back.
The Army is also rushing to fill the contract. The solicitation was posted with a waiver for competition.
“Competition is not possible for this requirement due to the short timeline to procure the services needed to prevent mission failure to the Government. Due to the remote location, other established and responsible contractors are not available to begin operations under a new contract at Ft. Greely upon short notice,” the government wrote.
The Army looked at several alternatives. It found that it wouldn’t be possible to bring in contracted workers from another base, Fort Wainwright. It also ruled out using military culinary specialists (under the MOS 92G classification) as there are next to none at the base. The Army even considered having soldiers eat MREs as a stop-gap measure, but according to the document there are not enough MREs in stock at the base for that to work. USA Today reports that a local vendor was hired to provide dinner and weekend meals to soldiers in the interim.
