Combined Joint Task Force 101
U.S. Army Maj. Scott DeJesse from Amarillo, Texas, Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team district support team leader, explains his ideas for local development initiatives to members of the Alingar District Rural Rehabilitation and Development office on Forward Operating Base Kalagush Dec. 29. (U.S. Air Force photo by Chief Master Sgt Richard Simonsen)
By U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Simonsen Rural Rehabilitation and Development officials from the Alingar District in Laghman Province visited the Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team’s engineers on Forward Operating Base Kalagush Dec. 29 to learn the proper techniques for awarding contracts to ensure high quality work and value for the money spent.
The visit by Haseebulla and Samiullah continues
“(The relationship) is going very well,” said Haseebulla. “We will be able to implement procedures and, with the help of the PRT and district government, be able to make Alingar better.”
The Alingar District government is considering contractor bids to build boundary walls at schools in the villages of Kachur and Sheykhan. PRT engineers explained to the RRD officials that they do not necessarily need to accept the lowest bid.
“In contract selection you have choices,” explained U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Anthony Williams, PRT engineer from Norristown, Pa. “In a small project like this you would want to accept the lowest bid, but the bid must be technically acceptable.”
The PRT’s goal in this type of instruction is to give the Alingar District leaders the tools they need to become much more self-sufficient.
“It is very good to be here for this type of learning and training,” Samiullah said.
The men also learned good stewardship principles like ensuring contractors comply with the requirements of the contract. “We have become aware of our oversight responsibilities,” said Haseebulla. “In the past, no one told what projects were going on.”
Samiullah (left) and Haseebulla, representatives from the Aligar District’s Rural Rehabilitation and Development office, examine contract bids at Forward Operating Base Kalagush Dec. 29. (U.S. Air Force photo by Chief Master Sgt Richard Simonsen)
The Laghman and Nuristan PRTs work together to help the Alingar District government build infrastructure capacity.
“This is a very important first step for Alingar to be able to do it on its own,” said U.S. Army Maj. Scott DeJesse from Amarillo, Texas, Laghman PRT district support team leader for the Alingar District. “A contract is done for convenience, but we want to change it in the future so that these projects are done by the people of Alingar. We want the local people to learn these skills.”
The PRT engineers explained to the RRD officials that they have the right and responsibility to ask potential contractors a lot of questions before signing a contract.
“We will ask lots of questions,” said Samiullah. “We will not accept poor-quality materials or poor-quality work.”
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