Objective
Our objective was to inspect U.S. military‑occupied facilities at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, to verify compliance with DoD health and safety policies and standards regarding electrical and fire protection systems.
Findings
We found that new construction of U.S. military‑occupied facilities at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, were generally well‑built. However, some new construction that was accepted as complete did not fully comply with DoD health and safety policies and standards regarding electrical and fire protection systems.
We found that existing facilities were not being maintained to DoD health and safety policies and standards. We identified a total of 691 deficiencies that could affect the health, safety, and well‑being of warfighters: 172 related to electrical systems and 519 related to fire protection systems.
The deficiencies identified during the inspection resulted from: acceptance of new construction that did not comply with DoD health and safety policies and standards, inadequate contractor maintenance, insufficient Government inspection of work performed by the contractor, and lack of onsite Government specialized skills in electrical and fire protection inspections.
We considered five of the deficiencies we identified to be critical deficiencies requiring immediate corrective action and issued a notice of concern on September 9, 2016, to the Commanders of Navy Installations Command, and Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. See Appendix C.
Recommendations
We recommend that the Commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia:
Conduct a root cause analysis and implement a corrective action plan for all deficiencies identified in this report. Ensure that all facility operations and maintenance comply with the Unified Facilities Criteria and the National Fire Protection Association standards. Provide the DoD Office of Inspector General a copy of the analysis and corrective action plan within 90 days of the issuance of this report.
Prepare and implement a corrective action plan to ensure all construction projects are reviewed for compliance with applicable electrical and fire protection systems codes and standards before they are accepted by the Government as complete. Provide the DoD Office of Inspector General a copy of the corrective action plan within 90 days of the issuance of this report.
Review the circumstances surrounding the failure by the contracting officer, contracting officer’s representative, and the performance assessment representative to fully document the contractor’s work performance and, as appropriate, initiate administrative action. Provide the DoD Office of Inspector General a copy of the review findings within 90 days of the issuance of this report.
Create an acquisition plan and take action for obtaining the services of certified electrical safety experts, as well as qualified fire protection engineers, sufficient to provide continual inspection of the base operating services contract. Provide the DoD Office of Inspector General a copy of the plan within 90 days of the issuance of this report.
This report is a result of Project No. D2016-D000PT-0178.000.