NAPLES, Italy – Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Europe Africa Central (EURAFCENT) opened Facilities Engineering and Acquisition Division (FEAD) Somalia aboard Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, on July 15, 2020.
“FEAD Somalia enables the newly established Navy Contracting Office (NCO) by providing targeted resources to help expedite emergency and recurring requirements in the AOR (Area of Operation),” said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Hightower, assistant operations officer at NAVFAC EURAFCENT. “This construct supports AFRICOM (U.S. Africa Command) tasking where the Navy assumes the lead service for Base Operating Support-Integrator (BOS-I).”
The office is slated for 22 personnel with 11 working out of Camp Lemonnier and the remaining 10 distributed across contingency locations in East Africa, said Hightower.
“NAVFAC EURAFCENT is supporting troops and warfighters who are conducting counter-terrorism operations within Africa,” said Capt. Joseph Harder, operations officer aboard NAVFAC EURAFCENT. “This mission is different from our other PWDs because they are supporting operations in a phase two environment rather than a phase zero environment.”
This environment has a much higher security and threat level than a base operating in a phase zero environment such as in a large European city, said Harder.
Camp Lemonnier is comprised of nearly 300 U.S. Navy sailors and civilians supporting more than 4,000 U.S., joint and allied forces, military and civilian personnel and U.S. Department of Defense contractors. Although the new FEAD located on the camp, their primary focus is supporting the NCO’s mission in Somalia.
“Our newest FEAD is one way we are directly assisting in AFRICOM’s third line of effort to develop security in Somalia,” said Capt. Jeffrey J. Kilian, commanding officer, NAVFAC EURAFCENT. “We are leveraging our resources and experience to optimize product and service delivery into Somalia and helping create a safe, stable and prosperous Africa.”