Stryker Brigade News

About 100 Dahok schools are getting much needed renovations under separate contracts, but an even greater need remains. For several months the Dahok government has asked repeatedly for new schools, not just renovations. The school system currently supports approximately 200,000 students, said Anwer Mohammed Hassa, head of planning for the Ministry of Education.

“We have about 200,000 kids in the province and that includes kindergarten, primary and secondary schools,” he said. “New schools are very important.”

Classrooms can be filled with as many as 60 to 80 students at a time, said Mike Posovich, program manager for the Corps’ Northern District’s Building, Health and Education Sector. Some schools run three separate shifts of students daily to handle the need.

The problems with the schools have been growing over the years, said Hameed Salih, public relations representative for Dahok’s governor.

“Dahok was never considered part of Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s reign,” he said. “The province was completely neglected in the 70’s and 80’s.”

In 1988 when Hussein ordered the use of chemical weapons on the Kurds, many fled Iraq but others were forced to leave their villages and move into the cities, he said. The cities have become very overcrowded and the schools face severe shortages.

Following the Gulf War in 1992, the Kurds established their first local government, and although their capacity to do reconstruction was limited, they made efforts toward improvements.

“At the time we were under double sanctions,” Salih said. “The UN had sanctions against Iraq, and the Iraqi government had sanctions against the Kurds. It has been a very slow process.”

Now that Saddam is gone, the Dahok government wants to encourage its people to return to their villages. But, that is challenging.

“Many people have been living in the cities for over 20 years now,” Salih said. “To make them willing to move back, we know we need to provide the same services they’ve grown accustomed to in the cities. The focus right now is on schools, health care, water projects and electricity.”

In addition to these four schools, the governorate has 90 schools under construction. Fifteen have already been completed.

End of the year funds and a lot of hard work and dedication helped make the four schools a reality. Back in October Corps representatives from the Northern District visited the director generals in all seven provinces within its area of responsibility: Dahok, Diyala, Irbil, Kirkuk, Ninewa, Salah Ad Din and Sulaymaniyah. It was at this meeting that Dahok officials explained their desire for new schools to the Corps.

“It has taken a lot of effort to get these four schools,” Posovich said. “It has been very important to involve the local officials and have their approval. Up to this point we haven’t been able to deliver the government’s most pressing needs. But now with these new schools we are helping them address a real serious problem. When the end of the year funds became available we saw the opportunity to make things happen for Dahok. The ministry already had plans and specs on the shelf so that helped us move forward quickly.”

The bid process was accelerated to meet the required end-of-year start date. The initial proposals of work were sent out on Dec. 23 and bids were opened on Dec. 25. In order to compete, all vendors had to be from Dahok province, as well as members of the contract union. The bids received were disappointing. All but one of the bids came back twice as high as the reasonable estimate.

“The bids were as high as $900 thousand for one school,” Posovich said. “The vendors were unwilling to reassess their bids and the government suspected collusion. All but one of the vendors was disqualified by the governor.”

The proposals were re-advertised in hopes that more reasonable bids would be received. Bids from 21 vendors were opened on Dec. 28 and, thanks to more realistic bids, all four schools were awarded. The contracts were signed and a preconstruction meeting was held that evening.

The process was a success thanks to cooperation between the Corps, local Project and Contracting Office representatives, U.S. Army Civil Affairs personnel in the area and Dahok officials.

It was important we involve the local officials in the selection process, Posovich said. Earlier this year an Arab contractor was brought in to do renovations on the Kurdish province’s schools. Work was stopped because the contractor did not have local support. We needed their approval to move the process forward. The government also has experience working with these contractors and their input is extremely valuable.