An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Report | Dec. 21, 2017

U.S. Military-Occupied Facilities Evaluation – Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar DODIG-2018-049

 

Background:

The DoD Office of Inspector General (OIG) has previously performed similar health and safety evaluations of U.S military-occupied facilities in Southwest Asia, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the United States. This evaluation was conducted onsite at AUAB, Qatar, which is on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula surrounded by the Persian Gulf and attached by land to Saudi Arabia.

Findings:

We found that indoor air quality, electrical systems, fire protection systems, and inactive fuel systems were not being maintained in accordance with DoD health and safety policies and standards. However, we found that the active fuel systems at Al Udeid Air Base were generally maintained in accordance with DoD health and safety policies and standards.

We identified a total of 253 deficiencies that could affect the health, safety, and well-being of DoD personnel: 13 related to indoor air quality, 105 related to electrical systems, 49 related to fire protection systems, and 86 related to inactive fuel systems. The deficiencies identified during our evaluation resulted from acceptance of new construction that did not comply with DoD health and safety policies and standards, moisture intrusion into facilities, and inadequate facility maintenance.

We considered five of the electrical deficiencies we identified to be critical deficiencies requiring immediate corrective action and issued a notice of concern on June 7, 2017, to the Commander, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing.

On June 21, 2017, the Commander responded to these concerns and indicated that they were addressed or in the process of being addressed. See Appendix B for additional information on the notice of concern and the Commander’s response

Recommendations:

We recommend that the Commander, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing:

• Conduct a root cause analysis and implement a corrective action plan for all deficiencies identified in this report. Ensure that facility operations and maintenance comply with the Unified Facilities Criteria and the National Fire Protection Association standards. Determine the causes of the moisture intrusion into occupied facilities. Include an assessment of the fuel system pipelines in accordance with the American Petroleum Institute (API 570) piping inspection code.

• Conduct a root cause analysis and implement a corrective action plan to ensure that all construction projects are reviewed for compliance with applicable fire protection and fuel systems codes and standards before they are accepted by the Government as complete.

This report is a result of Project No. D2017-D000PT-0103.000.