South Carolina Firm Awarded $10 Million Contract
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded more than $10 million to a construction company based in Charleston, S.C. to develop the next phase of the Fort Jackson National Cemetery in Columbia, which opened for burials in January.
“We are pleased to continue to develop this national shrine,” Steve L. Muro, VA’s acting under secretary for memorial affairs, said. “VA is committed to providing the best possible service to the Veterans of South Carolina by developing new burial areas and building permanent facilities at Fort Jackson National Cemetery.”
VA awarded a contract for $10,273,000 to LW Construction of Charleston, LLC, a service-disabled, Veteran-owned small business. The contract provides for the manufacture, delivery and in-ground installation of 4,224 concrete vaults, as well as construction of a 2,000-niche columbarium, an administration and public information building, a maintenance complex, two committal service shelters, a public assembly area, utilities and irrigation systems. The project will also incorporate roads, signs, landscaping and systems for water distribution.
This 74-acre development, along with a previously constructed early-burial area with temporary facilities, is expected to provide an estimated 10 years of burial services. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2010 or early 2011.
In the midst of the largest cemetery expansion since the Civil War, VA operates 128 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers’ lots and monument sites. More than 3 million Americans, including Veterans of every war and conflict – from the Revolutionary War to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – are buried in VA’s national cemeteries on more than 18,000 acres.
Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children may be buried in a national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for eligible Veterans, regardless of whether they are buried in a national cemetery, include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker.
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. To make burial arrangements, call 800-535-1117. For information on the Fort Jackson National Cemetery, contact the cemetery staff at (803) 699-2246.
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