NAVFAC/PWD - 2020 Year in Review

Throughout 2020, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), which includes the Public Works Department (PWD) onboard Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella achieved many successes. This diverse team of 270 employees include active duty Seabees, Civil Engineer Corps officers, civil service members, and host national employees. They work together to plan, design, build, maintain and sustain NAS Sigonella.

A few highlights from the year include preparing an old barracks building for the arrival of Naval Medical Research Unit 3, repairing the fuel station on NAS II, and erecting tents behind the Air Mobility Command Passenger Terminal to support social distancing. In addition, PWD completed hundreds of other piping, heating, cooling, electrical and related repairs in buildings across all bases.

Moreover, the environmental department worked hard to keep the resources under their care both clean and safe. This year, they established a building flushing plan during COVID-19 and minimal manning to maintain safe water quality for building occupants as well as additional flushing and testing protocol prior to children returning to school.

Additionally, the facilities management department (FMD) and production division (Facilities Management and Service Branch and Utility and Energy Management Branch) are always busy and COVID-19 did not slow them down at all. They processed more than 5,400 service requests, 138 utility outages, 79 digging permits and 69 road closures. These are the unsung heroes that many times go unnoticed but are essential to day to day operations.

In September, Capt. Jeffrey J. Kilian, commanding officer of NAVFAC Europe Africa Central (EURAFCENT), awarded Santo Pavone and Cristiano Perotti the Department of the Navy Civilian Meritorious Service Award for their dedication and assistance in the FIAR compliance and integrated planning with our Italian Air Force hosts. PWD Sigonella quality assurance evaluators supported the Navy Family Housing at Marinai housing area and were integral to the housing area receiving an 82% participation on the customer satisfaction survey. Builder 2nd Class Benjamin Branson from Laramie, Wyoming, builder shop supervisor, led a group of eight Seabees and two local nationals in the installation of three 25 foot flag poles, located in front of NAS Sigonella’s administrative building. The team was able to place eight cubic yards of concrete along with 200 square feet of cobble stone paving. They also completed a beautiful stone sign and utilized locallysourced ceramics for the base logo on the front of the sign.

In the same month, September brought serious flooding issues to Sigonella both inside and outside the facilities. The PWD team stepped up across the installation to minimize installation damage. Production and FMD developed a plan to survey roofs, order materials and make repairs. Those repairs have effectively reduced the majority of the leaks.

In addition, this year had seven base-wide power outages, including large events in August and September. The high voltage shop led by Mr. Nunzio Debole, with support from the PWD electrical engineer Michele Cali’ worked tirelessly through long hours both day and night to restore power and support the warfighting mission. Through their teamwork and initiative, the frequency and duration of outages has decreased dramatically in the final quarter of 2020.

Even though 2020 comes to an end, the work and projects will continue in 2021, and NAVFAC and PWD Sigonella will continue their non-stop efforts to support the critical infrastructure needed to maintain the NAS Sigonella mission.