Naval Academy contracts show housing, feeding midshipmen required extra money
The Naval Academy paid more than $262,000 to put midshipmen up at two local hotels while the institution responded to a COVID-19 outbreak in March. And the Navy spent more than $1.4 million to rent big tents to provide a safe setting outdoors for midshipmen to eat their meals.
The Academy sent approximately 200 midshipmen to the Graduate and the Hilton Garden Inn to free up additional quarantine and isolation space inside Bancroft Hall.
It cost the academy approximately $106,440 to house the midshipmen at the Hilton Garden Inn from March 1 to March 15 and $156,170 to house them at the Graduate from March 2 to March 25, according to receipts obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Sending midshipmen to the hotels was just one of the measures used by the academy to mitigate the impact of the pandemic while having midshipmen on campus, which also included additional spending for the tents, food preparation items and other housing.
Superintendent Vice Adm. Sean Buck said he made the decision that midshipmen needed to be taught in person, which is why the brigade returned over the summer.
But to bring back the midshipmen, the Naval Academy needed to make adjustments.
First, there was the matter of making sure there was enough quarantine and isolation space in Bancroft Hall. This was done so midshipmen would be close to medical personnel if they became ill with COVID-19.
In the fall, the Naval Academy leased dormitory space from neighboring St. John’s College while the school stayed remote. The dormitories came with a likely price tag of more than $1 million, according to the contract between the Navy and St. John’s.
When St. John’s students returned in the spring semester, the Naval Academy turned to families and sponsors to house midshipmen. Approximately 200 midshipmen lived with sponsors, families or family friends who lived within 35 miles of the academy.
Then came the outbreak, which forced the academy to increase the quarantine and isolation space.
Officials also needed to figure out how to feed the midshipmen and how to convert classrooms into hybrid learning spaces so midshipmen could attend class even while they were at home or in quarantine or isolation.
The traditional family-style food service usually offered in King Hall would not provide the ability to social distance.
Instead, the dining hall switched to cafeteria-style. Midshipmen could eat with a few friends inside tents located outside of King Hall.
The NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk rented two tents on behalf of the academy from Grand Rental Events for $1,407,661 for a 57-day base period and eight monthly options, according to the contract’s description.
“This requirement is of unusual and compelling urgency,” NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk wrote in the justification for a sole source contract. “In order to support the mission of USNA and support the dietary/ nutritional requirements of the Brigade of Midshipmen while ensuring maintaining of recommended social distancing to protect against spread of COVID-19, USNA will require additional space to provide meals.”
In seeking a vendor, NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk and the academy included a picture of the space behind King Hall for a tent. The agencies also included a FAQ sheet about the needs for the tent, including chairs and tables for 800-1,000 midshipmen.
But in order to maintain social distancing, midshipmen needed to be spread out among two tents, which would hold up to 500 midshipmen each. The tables needed to be able to hold between six to eight mids, according to the FAQ sheet.
The academy and NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk also sought vendors who could provide Styrofoam food containers and cutlery for grab-and-go meals. The price tags for those items were redacted.
All critical COVID-19 impacts on the academy’s budget were reimbursed by the Navy, Cmdr. Alana Garas, spokesperson for the academy, said in an email. There were no delays to future projects because of the pandemic costs.