WASHINGTON – A contract of more than $3.7 million has been awarded by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to a Birmingham firm to build the first, small burial area of the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo.
“We will soon make the hopes of Alabama veterans for burial in a nearby national shrine a reality,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. “Providing a lasting tribute to their sacrifice is one of VA’s most honorable missions, one we are proud to fulfill.”
A contract for $3,725,405 went to BSI Contracting, Inc., a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, to complete construction of a small burial area in the spring next year. The 12.7-acre development will provide an estimated two years of burials, enabling VA to begin providing services while the remainder of the cemetery’s larger first phase of development is completed.
The small first project will provide more than 1,000 pre-placed, double-depth crypt gravesites, 45 standard gravesites, 1,000 in-ground cremation sites, a temporary committal service shelter and a temporary administration and maintenance complex.
A year ago, VA awarded a contract to design the cemetery’s larger phase to another small Birmingham firm, Civil Consultants, Inc. The design will prepare for development of an additional 60 acres and 10 years of burials.
Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be buried in a VA national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for all eligible veterans, regardless of whether they are buried in a national cemetery or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker.
In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 125 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers’ lots and monument sites. More than three million Americans, including veterans of every war and conflict, are buried in VA’s national cemeteries on more than 17,000 acres of land.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery offices, from the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at (800) 827-1000.
For information on the Alabama National Cemetery, call the cemetery office at (205) 665-9039. To make burial arrangements at the time of need, call the national cemetery scheduling office at (800) 535-1117.
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