Fort Monmouth closing to bring 30,000 new jobs to Maryland

The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Process (BRAC) will bring as Fort Monmouth closes and most of its operations move to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County. 8,000 government employees are from Fort Monmouth to Harford County.

According to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s 2010 BRAC Action Plan Report, “the state of Maryland is preparing for the impact of the nearly 21,400 direct BRAC jobs, along with the projected indirect and tertiary jobs that will continue well into 2015 and beyond.”

“With less than a year until the federally mandated end to BRAC, three of the BRAC [Department of Defense] Agencies already have relocated to Maryland. The largest BRAC project in 2010 was the Communications Electronic Command (CECOM) move to Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG). In October, Major General Randolph P. Strong, Commander of CECOM, hosted a formal flag uncasing ceremony to mark the official transfer of CECOM to its new home in Aberdeen.

The $477 million complex of nine new buildings will house the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Center of Excellence. This first phase of the campus provides 1.5 million square feet of workspace for 5,000 personnel. More than 2,900 positions have relocated from Fort Monmouth to date and will steadily increase in the year ahead.”

Andricka Thomas of the CECOM Life Cycle Management Command announced this week that the C4ISR Center of Excellence has space for more than 7,200 personnel in the now-reportedly $800 million dollar complex.

The relocation of the Defense Information Systems Agency from Fort Monmouth and Northern Virginia to Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County . With the expansion of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, Anne Arundel County officials are expecting 27,000 new workers in the area by 2015 as result of growth at Fort Meade, with contractors adding at least 10,000 more nearby.

The Fort Meade Regional Growth Management Committee (RMGC) has predicted as a bi-product of BRAC.

According to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR), “retention of workforce during the BRAC process is key to retaining institutional knowledge and intelligence supporting the mission. Historically, 20-30% of employees at BRAC-impacted defense organizations relocate, while [the Department of Defense’s] goal is 50% or more. Currently, projections indicate that DoD will meet and even likely exceed its retention goal.”

“However, work is needed to attract a qualified workforce to fill the vacancies created by those not relocating and to backfill positions due to attrition.”

One of the initiatives set forth by the Maryland DLLR is to “train current Marylanders to staff jobs not filled by current employees.” To support this effort, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) partnered with the Maryland Higher Education Commission to identify internships with the agencies and defense contractors that potentially provide personnel for the workplace pipeline.

DBED supported the DLLR in advertising and marketing physical and virtual job fairs associated with Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground. “Additionally, DBED continued to assist the Maryland Transition/One-Stop Career Centers at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey by responding to inquiries of interested personnel and businesses and to monitor activity and effectiveness of the centers.”

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