NAVFAC Washington Breaks Ground on Master Time Clocks Facility at United States Naval Observatory

Photo By Matthew Stinson | Navy leadership and representatives from contractor ECC broke ground at a ceremonial event at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. Feb. 10, marking the beginning of construction of Master Time Clocks and Operations Facility. (Left to right) Bud West, ECC Vice President of COnstruction, Capt. Greg Vinci, NAVFAC Washington commanding officer, Manjiv Vohra, President and CEO of ECC, Rear Adm. John Okon, commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Rear Adm. Dean VanderLey, commnder, NAVFAC Atlantic, Capt. Grahame Dicks, Naval Support Activity Washington commanding officer, Capt. David Kuehn, United States Naval Observatory superintendent.  

UNITED STATES NAVAL OBSERVATORY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES

02.10.2020

Story by Matthew Stinson 

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Washington

Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Washington hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking event at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. Feb. 10, marking the beginning of construction of Master Time Clocks and Operations Facility.

The mission-critical infrastructure is budgeted at $90 million and will serve as the official source of time for the U.S. Department of Defense and a standard of time for the public at large. The project will provide modern and secure facilities to support the collection of astronomical data.

NAVFAC was represented at the ceremony by Capt. Greg Vinci, NAVFAC Washington commanding officer, and Rear Adm. Dean VanderLey, commander, NAVFAC Atlantic.

“We have the opportunity to really do something special here,” VanderLey said. “The only way that we successfully complete projects is through having a really, really good team and really good teamwork and partnership. I think we have that here and my commitment and goal is to continue that throughout the project.”

Rear Adm. John Okon, commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command spoke to the attendees just before breaking ground.

“To our friends in ECC and across all of NAVFAC here in Washington and down in Norfolk in the Atlantic region, thank you very much for all the teamwork we have had up to this point,” Okon said. “On behalf of my entire organization both here at USNO and across Naval Oceanography, we are committed to continuing that strong partnership to bringing this facility to reality in 2024.”

Okon continued by saying, “Our nation, our national security depends on delivering this facility on time and on budget so that we can continue to be the world’s leader [in keeping] precise time and time dissemination.”

The construction contract was awarded in September 2019 to ECC through NAVFAC Washington. The forecasted completion date for the Master Time Clocks Facility at the United States Naval Observatory is September 2024.

• Date Taken: 02.10.2020
• Date Posted: 02.13.2020 12:22
• Story ID: 362979
• Location: UNITED STATES NAVAL OBSERVATORY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US