The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District, (NAU) provides both installation and contingency support to U.S. forces throughout the United States European Command and United States Africa Command areas of responsibility. Headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, the district, which is part of the North Atlantic Division, covers a widely dispersed geographic area from Western Europe across Eastern Europe and throughout most of the African continent. Work is executed from offices in Germany, Belgium, Turkey, Romania, Italy, Bulgaria, Georgia and more. The bulk of this work included Army and Air Force Family Housing units, forward operating sites in Eastern Europe, and training and operations facilities.
Europe District provides premier engineering, construction, stability operations, and environmental management products and services to the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, other U.S. government agencies and foreign governments throughout Europe and Africa.
In Fiscal Year 2023, Europe District awarded more than $1.4 billion in contracts to support its varied missions across Europe and Africa. This work ranges from projects geared toward enabling operational readiness like administrative facilities, training range improvements, forward operating sites, runways and prepositioned stock sites to projects that deliver on U.S. Army and Department of Defense quality of life promises like housing, Department of Defense Education Activity schools, and more.
The unit was established in 1971 in Frankfurt am Main.[1]
Nonmilitary construction projects totaled $396 million – a 26 percent increase from 2008 – including almost $200 million in upgrades to various lodging and administrative facilities, airfields, child development centers, warehouses, and utility infrastructure; more than $125 million in small- to medium-sized renovations and planning work for garrison Directorates of Public Works; and roughly $30 million for environmental surveys and services throughout Europe.
Most illustrative of the district's work in 2009, however, was the construction placement. The district turned over 44 major facilities and 100 small- to medium-sized renovation projects, totaling about $586 million to customers this year. These projects included barracks, vehicle maintenance facilities, company operation facilities, and battalion and brigade headquarters facilities in Grafenwoehr, Germany; an Army Lodge in Chièvres Air Base, Belgium; the first C-130J aircraft hangar in Europe at Ramstein Air Base; a consolidated communications facility in Turkey; the only official border crossing station between Georgia and Russia; and miscellaneous military facilities on bases across Europe, Israel and Mali.
Also on the district's frontier in 2009 were the continued support to manage the construction of $100 million in forward operating site facilities for the U.S. Army Europe-led Task Force-East initiative in Romania and Bulgaria. This has since grown into U.S. Army Garrison Black Sea and Europe District continues to support this and other U.S. Army garrisons throughout Europe.
In 2024, Europe District formally transferred responsibility for design and construction projects in Israel to the Middle East District in a ceremony in Israel after decades of managing that mission. The change was linked to the U.S. Central Command’s 2021 assumption of combatant command responsibility of Israel from U.S. European Command.[2]
The United States Army Corps of Engineers Europe District provides planning, design, construction, environmental services, and project management to meet customer infrastructure requirements; engineering services supporting the Theater Security Cooperation Plan; and Field Force Engineering supporting contingency operations in the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command areas of responsibility.
Within its geographic boundaries, NAU supports the following governmental agencies and foreign governments:
The MILCON programs fund much of the Europe District's engineering and construction program. The programs provide much-needed improvements to both operational and quality-of-life infrastructure. In fiscal year 2010, the district plans to execute about $746 million in support of U.S. forces and other customers throughout Europe. Current major MILCON programs include:
Europe District is working closely with the German construction administration, the Defense Health Agency, U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz and other partners to deliver the new Rhine Ordnance Barracks Medical Center being constructed in Weilerbach, Germany. Once complete, the new hospital will replace the nearby Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and the 86th Medical Group Clinic, providing service members and their families with modern, world-class healthcare facilities they deserve for years to come.
Construction kicked off in 2023 on a $1.3 billion project in Grafenwoehr, Germany intended to include nearly 50 buildings and house more than 5,000 Soldiers. The first Operational Readiness Training Complex will be built over about 10 years and will include all the facilities needed for an entire brigade set of troops and equipment to train and operate on a rotational basis. [3]
Currently, Europe District's DoDEA MILCON program has 28 Projects including 26 schools and other facilities with 17 schools completed and counting as of fall 2024. This nearly $2 billion program replacing older schools and facilities across Germany and Belgium with modern, educational facilities for approximately 16,000 children affiliated with the U.S. and NATO militaries.
ISB offers technical and project management services on a reimbursable basis to supplement installation-engineering capabilities. Among the services available are:
• Project scope development
• Installation and Base Camp Master Planning, including comprehensive master plans, stationing and area development plans, and facility utilization surveys
• Project programming (DD 1391s) and Planning Charrettes
• Geographic Information Systems, including data collection, GIS map maintenance and conversion, and training
• Project Design, including full design for small projects with Life Cycle Project Management
• Job order contracts which provide pre-priced maintenance and repair (M&R) work items and delivery orders
• Indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) Multiple Award Task Order (MATOC) contracts; allows flexibility for scope of work, design and funding/task orders.
• Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC)
• USACE Access Control Point Equipment Program (ACPEP)
The Environmental Team performs tasks like conducting environmental baseline surveys, environmental reviews, identifying and disposing of contaminated materials and soils, providing remediation design, execution and management services, and natural and cultural resource management. The environmental program also supports the U.S. Army garrisons with their environmental operational, remediation, and base closure activities and provides support to 7th Army Training Command's Integrated Training Area Management program [4] and the Defense Logistics Agency Energy's program throughout Europe.
O&M programs fund about a quarter of Europe District's engineering and construction team. These programs supplement the U.S. Army garrison installation engineers with the total resources, experience and expertise of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in their efforts to resolve O&M, and host nation engineering and construction issues. The district has made its services more accessible to the garrison Directorate of Public Works (DPW) customers by collocating Regional Program Managers (RPM) with nine U.S. Army Europe and U.S. Air Forces in Europe Installation Engineers. RPMs provide responsive support – from serving as an adjunct member of the DPW staff to helping coordinate with the district and helping prepare forms to justify major construction projects.
The Europe District provides design and construction services to DeCA and AAFES across Europe. Future commissary construction is planned for the Ramstein, Wiesbaden, Ansbach and Stuttgart communities in Germany. The district recently turned over new commissaries at Chièvres Air Base, Belgium, and Grafenwoehr, Germany.
Europe District supports EUCOM and AFRICOM theater security plans and all three pillars of U.S. foreign policy, including defense, diplomacy and development. This is done by executing a variety of projects across a large, geographic area. Typical projects range from construction of facilities for foreign militaries through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to humanitarian assistance programs through partners like State Department and USAID.
The International Engineering Center (IEC) provides design and construction contracting services to U.S. government agencies in Europe and Africa for projects that are outside the above categories. Work ranges from traditional military engineering construction of facilities, roads and bridges, to renovating orphanages and building customs and border crossing stations. Major programs include:
• Exercise-related construction (ERC) – The IEC supports EUCOM's Theater Engagement Plan by coordinating and managing Exercise Related Construction throughout Eastern Europe and Africa • Georgia Border Security and Law Enforcement Program – The district supports the Department of Homeland Security with construction of customs and border crossing stations. Primary end users are the Georgia Border Guard and the Georgia Customs Department • International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) Program – The IEC continues to assist INL with design and renovation of facilities for the Department of State such as police academies, forensics laboratories and pistol ranges • Civil-military operations – The IEC provides contracting services to the EUCOM and AFRICOM civil military operations programs to design and construct basic humanitarian projects, including improving potable water, renovating schools, orphanages, and hospitals, and building wells • Counter-Narcotics and Terrorism (CNT) Program – The district is currently working on several CNT projects in Europe worth about $4.1 million • Operation Enduring Freedom - Trans Sahara (OEF-TS) – OEF-TS is the U.S. military component of the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative, a U.S. government program designed to help develop the internal security forces necessary to control borders and combat terrorism and other illegal activity. AFRICOM executes OEF-TS through a series of military-to-military engagements and exercises designed to strengthen the ability of regional governments to police the large expanses of remote terrain in the trans-Sahara. The IEC has supported projects on several facilities in Mali, Niger, and Chad. The IEC is utilizing the newly awarded Multiple Award Task Order Contract which provides the flexibility and responsiveness required by customers to meet late emerging requirements in a more timely manner.