Technologists, Inc. Turns over Final Building at ANP National Training Center, Afghanistan’s Largest Security Infrastructure Project

 

May 22, 2012

Arlington, Va.

 

Technologists, Inc. (Ti), an international engineering and management consulting company that works primarily in challenging and remote environments, has completed construction of the Afghan National Police (ANP) National Training Center in Wardak Province. Ti turned over the final building of the $98.2 million project to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on May 9, 2012.

 

The ANP National Training Center is the largest single construction contract awarded by USACE in Afghanistan, and the largest project completed for the Corps by any contractor. The facility includes barracks for officers and police cadets, classrooms, a helipad, gymnasium, auditorium, driving and shooting ranges, parade field, and dining facilities. Ti also designed and built the roads, perimeter stone walls, and guard towers that secure the complex, and installed self-contained water, wastewater, and electrical-power systems.

 

“The transformation of this project site from bare desert to a complete training campus has been little short of amazing,” said Thomas H. Magness, chief operating officer of Ti. “We are extremely proud to deliver this facility at such a critical time in Afghanistan’s history.”

 

The National Training Center is Afghanistan’s premier police academy. It trains as many as 3,000 cadets at a time not only in general law enforcement but in specialized fields such as narcotics interdiction, border security, and urban antiterrorism. The prestige of training at the national center attracts the most highly qualified applicants from all over Afghanistan and contributes to the development of a national identity among law officers. A cover-story article about the center in the June 2010 issue of the USACE Freedom Builder magazine cited its key role in bringing “renewed credibility to the nation’s law enforcement capability.”

 

The project was completed in two phases: Phase I in December 2011 and Phase II this month. Ti’s workforce grew to as many as 3,000 laborers during periods of peak construction. In response to client requests, Ti adjusted its construction schedules to allow the ANP to begin using parts of the facility as soon as they were finished, even as construction continued nearby. Police training began as long as a year ago in some parts of the center, which has already graduated thousands of new officers.

 

The importance of the project made it a prime target for the Taliban and other insurgents. “In addition to winter weather and delays caused by border closures, Ti’s workers endured dozens of terrorist rocket attacks and threats of kidnappings and even death—but they refused to be intimidated,” Mr. Magness added. “When I look at the Afghan spirit of determination and perseverance—not to mention courage—on display at this job site, it is hard not to be optimistic for the long-term future of Afghanistan.”

 

Since entering Afghanistan in 2004 Ti has completed more than 50 projects for USACE, ranging from single buildings and roads to complex facilities with multiple buildings plus all associated infrastructure. Ti has an additional 16 projects valued at $144.1 million underway in Afghanistan for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other clients. With more than 1,000 employees—the vast majority of them Afghan professionals—Ti is Afghanistan’s largest engineering services company, dedicated to both the building of projects and the sustained growth of its engineering and construction community.