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Security SNAFU
Military jobsite security requirements
are often inconsistent and confusing
By Mary Buckner Powers
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Sundt Construction is participating
in a pilot program to verify workers'
status at its military family housing projects and operational
facilities across the U.S. Sundt has build about 13,000
housing units for all branches of the military. This project
is at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson.
photo ©Liam Frederick |
In September, 120 undocumented workers building houses at
Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado were arrested. In July,
48 illegal laborers and carpenters were arrested at Seymour
Johnson Air Force base in North Carolina. The same month,
another 58 illegal construction workers were arrested trying
to enter Fort Bragg, N.C. In May, 29 foreign nationals from
a drywall contractor were arrested at Camp Pendleton in California.
The arrests are part of a recent crackdown on "critical
infrastructure sites" by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, a division of the Dept. of Homeland Security.
"Protecting the integrity of military facilities and
other critical infrastructure sites is a crucial component
of our immigration enforcement strategy," says Assistant
Secretary Julie Myers. Jobsite immigration sweeps are tighter
and more prevalent on government projects, and the arrests
illustrate the difficulties of working in a new world order
and the increased pressure to improve national security.
Procedures to get through the gates at military bases changed
dramatically after Sept. 11, 2001, says Patrick Burns, vice
president and general manager of Minneapolis-based M.A. Mortenson's
federal contracting group. Every worker has to have a badge.
Before Sept. 11, only the driver of a truck full of workers
needed identification.
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Every base has its own rules for
entry. The commander at Hawaii's Ford Island wants to
be safe while not slowing down construction. Contractors
must have ID badges issued through the Navy contracting
officer. Fluor Corp. is renovating a historic theater
at Ford Island into a conference center.
photo courtesy of fluor corp.
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The difficulty in getting workers onto a military site is
not always related to their immigration status. Bases often
concentrate more on identifying people with criminal histories,
but the number of illegal workers is a serious problem in
many southwestern states, including Arizona.
That is why Tempe-based Sundt Construction Inc. is participating
in a pilot program to verify that its employees can work in
the U.S., says Wayne Oliver, Sundt's compliance director.
Verification is the main issue most contractors face. "We
in construction are not trained to recognize improper documents,"
he says.
Under the pilot program, a prospective employee fills out
an I-9 form, which Sundt verifies with the immigration service.
"We usually get a response within hours," Oliver
says. "Either a worker is confirmed or designated as
nonconforming."
Problems that can cause the query to come back as nonconforming
range from a typographical error to improper documents. The
worker is given a certain number of days to resolve the issue.
The verification program has given Sundt a leg up on the illegal
immigrant issue, Oliver says.
Different Rules
Many military bases rely on contractors to verify the immigration
status of workers. Each base sets its degree of security and
establishes its own rules and procedures. Some bases require
little documentation, and others require workers to have a
security clearance. Contractors must follow each installation's
rules. "We are working on three bases in Norfolk, Va.,
and all three have different requirements," says Robert
Leonard, director of operations for M.A. Mortenson's federal
contracting group.
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| Sundt Construction is the design-build
contractor for military single-family housing units and
duplexes at the U.S. Air Force Academy outside Colorado
Springs. photo ©Liam Frederick |
The requirements usually are dictated by what the base commanders
are trying to protect, Leonard says. One base may require
workers to attend a two-hour orientation that includes a safety
video and a background check. Others want a Social Security
number and birthplace.
Workers might easily go on a base to cut grass and paint
buildings, but they need special clearances to be behind restricted
areas, Leonard says. Mortenson establishes a protocol for
each installation based on the rules it has been told to follow.
As a rule, contractors are responsible for background checks
on their workers, but the military handles the more intensive
security checks. Still, it can add significant costs to military
projects, hurt participation by some companies and limit competition,
Leonard says. "It affects the subs," he adds. "Those
who are busy with work that's less of a hassle are reluctant
to bid military jobs unless it's something great and worth
the effort." That often leaves general contractors with
subs that are less sophisticated or not experienced enough
to handle the added rules, he says.
Day labor is also a problem, with some contractors claiming
they can't get as much as 90% of their work force onto a military
construction job. Day laborers "require a lot of effort
for approval and security," says Leonard. Companies often
must work through a group of laborers until they get to the
ones they're willing to keep and who want to work more than
just a day or two, he says.
Preplanning for Access
Napa, Calif.-based Nova Group Inc., which often works on
high-security sites such as nuclear submarine bases, faces
an even greater challenge to get its workers cleared. "We're
always behind a fence, and we're often behind two," says
Carole Bionda, Nova's vice president and general counsel.
Requirements vary from site to site, but, normally, Nova
Group's workers must have a security clearance. Only workers
who are U.S. citizens can receive that clearance, which is
specified in the contract. "The work takes preplanning.
Subs can't just bring in a crew," Bionda adds. "We
often begin preparing our employees while preparing our response
to a request for proposals."
Companies try to protect themselves when pursuing security
clearances, says Jay Fuss, senior manager of human resources
for Fluor Corp., Irving, Texas. Background investigations
often will pick up past felony convictions, driving-under-the-influence
arrests, tax liens, bankruptcies and drug abuse. "We
don't go forward with those applications," Fuss says.
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Accountability: A Wake-up Call
for Contractors
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is serious
about cracking down on illegal workers at critical federal
sites, including military bases, but ICE agents know
that most employers have been duped with fraudulent
documents, says Dean Boyd, ICE press secretary. "When
we find illegal workers, we want to know who actually
hired them," Boyd says. "Often, contractors
point to the subcontractors. We have to dig deep to
find the culprit." But in order for the hiring
of undocumented workers to be a violation of federal
law, the agency must prove that the employer "knowingly"
hired them, Boyd says. "Frankly, we often find
the contractor wanted to do the right thing, but the
worker had sophisticated fraudulent documents or a stolen
Social Security card."
ICE will bring criminal charges against contractors
who knew they were hiring illegals. "We're doing
that a lot more," Boyd says. "The number of
criminal arrests has skyrocketed." It is important
for employers to think twice about who they are hiring
because the punishment that goes with conviction is
tough, says Boyd. Harboring illegal workers carries
up to a 10-year prison sentence, and forfeiture of property
also is more common now. "We're starting to see
employers losing their houses and luxury cars,"
Boyd says. "It's a wake-up call."
While employers who hire illegal workers can undercut
the competition by paying low wages and avoiding Social
Security taxes, it is the danger posed by the infiltration
of critical sites that prompted the agency to focus
on protecting government bases and critical infrastructure,
Boyd says. "We have limited resources," he
explains. "We'll go after illegal workers at an
Air Force base with a bomber wing or an Army base with
a special operations command before we will a local
diner or a landscape company." ICE is working with
military authorities to crack down on workers who possess
fraudulent documents. "It's a huge problem,"
Boyd says. The agency also is working with employers
through an industry partnership established in July
after receiving a flood of requests on how to avoid
hiring illegal aliens. The goal is to help employers
build a legal work force through education and training.
"Employers are not trained or obligated to be
document detectives," says ICE Assistant Secretary
Julie Myers. Employers can join the initiative, Mutual
Agreement Between Government and Employers, or IMAGE,
which requires them to use a pilot verification program
administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services. Employers are given access to federal databases
through the Internet that they use to check the eligibility
of new hires. As part of the program, ICE trains employers
on fraudulent document detection. Companies must agree
to a Form I-9 audit to participate.
A list of best practices and the details of the IMAGE
program can be found at: www.ice.gov/partners/opaimage/index.htm
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Combat Complications
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U.S. contractors in Iraq must have identification
badges that include DNA information and dental
records to identify them if they are killed. They
also must have weapons training by the U.S. military
before going to Iraq.
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Contractors who work in combat zones receive military
identification cards that contain dental X-rays and
DNA information so workers can be identified if they
are killed. The U.S. military goes through a full determination
using dental records and DNA to identify a body even
if there are other easier forms of identification available,
says Jay Fuss, senior manager for human resources at
Fluor Corp., Irving, Texas.
Contractors headed to a combat zone in Iraq have to
go through a week of training at Fort Benning, Ga. If
they are going to Afghanistan, their training is at
Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. They are issued flak jackets
there and taught about weapons, although they are not
allowed to use them, Fuss says. Security "constantly
goes back and forth," he adds. "We can get
hurt if the contract has certain specs, and we use historical
information."
On overseas jobs, identification cards are issued through
the contracting officers. The level of access given
to contractors and their employees depends upon the
specific contract they are attached to, says Joe Herrity,
director of corporate security for Washington Group
International. The company hires a number of third-country
nationals for its work in Iraq. "The records for
doing background checks are nearly impossible to get,"
Herrity says.
Companies working in Iraq face a special challenge
when hiring Iraqi workers. Even if records are available,
they can't look too hard for them, or it will give away
the identity of the worker. "That will get them
killed," Herrity says. "So will wearing their
ID badge home," he notes.
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