Fort Detrick
Directorate of Public Works (DPW)

393 Beasley Drive
Fort Detrick Md. 21702
301-619-2454

Operations & Maintenance Division

Operations & Maintenance

The Operations and Maintenance Division (O & M) provides for the day to day services required to keep Fort Detrick's buildings and grounds in functioning condition. It is O & M policy to operate in the most efficient, timely, effective, and economical manner in support of Fort Detrick's multi-tasked mission, which concentrates on biomedical research and development, medical materiel management and international telecommunications.

O & M Goals:

  • Perform maintenance on a regularly scheduled basis.
  • Provide functional facilities that meet the Army's requirements and offer an environmentally acceptable atmosphere for those that live and work at Fort Detrick ensuring their health and safety.
  • Identify potential problems early within the context of the planned maintenance system so that corrective action may be planned, included in the budget cycle and completed in a timely manner.
  • Conserve energy and resources by ensuring maximum operating efficiency of energy-consuming equipment and systems.
  • Offer quality customer service by informing customers of planned maintenance activities.

How to Request a Service Order

A service order is work that usually causes some kind of inconvenience to a customer until the condition is corrected. Service order work includes repair, maintenance, or construction and is usually limited to a single trade and a minimum amount of money for material. A service order is also a quick way to inform the Directorate of Installation Services (DIS) of emergencies. Some requests may require more work than what a service order calls for, in these instances a quick fix to correct the problem will be made with a change of the Service Order to a Work Order for additional resources.

Please refer to the Work Order section of the handbook for a description of the work order process.

Frequently asked questions are:

  1. Who can call in service orders (trouble calls)?
    Each building or agency has people that they have authorized to call in service calls. The reason only designated people may call in service orders is because building managers need to know what is going on in their buildings and a service call can obligate their money. We suggest that each person have these phone numbers posted in their work areas. Anyone can call in an emergency at anytime i.e., a broken water pipe, electric hazard, etc. to the trouble desk at 301-619-2726.
  2. Can a project be accomplished by Self-Help?
    By utilizing the post Self-Help program the response on getting problems corrected is increased. In a large majority of cases, this type of work should be accomplished by the customer under the Self-Help program, and the result in man-hours savings helps the DIS correct more serious problems. For information on the post Self-Help program please call 301-619-2855.

As soon as you have discovered a problem you may call the service order desk at extension 3-2726 (operated 24 hours a day), fax the order in to 301-619-2314 or send by email to USAGDISTROUBLEDESK@amedd.army.mil. Please provide the following information:

  1. Callers name
  2. Callers phone number
  3. Facility number (building number or other location).
  4. Room number
  5. Person to contact if other then caller
  6. Contact persons phone number
  7. As complete a description as possible of what the problem is
  8. Any special conditions i.e., secure area, hot suite, need escort to enter, have worker call before they leave shop to make the repair so you can meet them.
  9. What action the caller has taken to correct the problem

Maintenance personnel working hours are from 0630 until 1630 Monday to Friday, and will be called in for emergencies during other times. Please refer to the attached priority listing. The DIS is not staffed for immediate response to each service order call. Emergency calls receive priority over all other work and are responded to as soon as possible. For calls other then emergencies, reaction time by DIS is governed by a number of variables: personnel on other high work priorities, availability of manpower, or availability of overtime. Please refer to the following priority list.

Priority System

  1. PRIORITY 1 - EMERGENCY: Emergency work takes priority over all other work and requires immediate action, including overtime or diverting craftsmen from other jobs, if necessary, to cover the emergency. Usually work will be classified as emergency when it consists of correcting failures/problems constituting an immediate danger to life, health, mission, security, or property. Examples include, but are not limited to: overflowing drains, broken water or steam pipes, gas leaks, major utilities service failures, broken electrical components that may cause fire or shock, clogged toilets (when only one is available for use), spillage of hazardous/toxic substances, Command emphasis, and accidental lock-ins of children. Required response time for emergency work is within 15 minutes. Once started, work will continue at least until the emergency has been terminated and damage has been contained. Then, if the remaining work is uncomplicated and close to completion, the job will be completed within 24 hours. If the remaining work requires detailed planning or special materials, the job will be rescheduled and downgraded to the appropriate priority.
  2. PRIORITY 2 - URGENT: Work required to correct a condition that, if left unattended, could constitute a possible danger to life, health, mission, security, or property. Examples include, but are not limited to: heating and warm-water supply outages, air-conditioning system failure, or functional failure of ranges and refrigerators. Typical response time for urgent work could vary from 2 hours to 7 days, depending upon availability of craftsman and relative urgency. For example target response times might be 2 hours for a heating outage, 12 hours for an inoperative refrigerator, or 5 days for a partially inoperative range. Once begun, urgent work should be continued until completion, unless the need for special materials causes a temporary job stoppage.
  3. PRIORITY 3 - ROUTINE: Work not meeting the criteria for priorities 1 or 2. This priority covers required work that, if not accomplished, would merely continue an inconvenience or unsightly condition. SO's with this priority will generally be grouped by geographical area for accomplishment in the most economical manner on a first-come-first-serve basis. Some of the work requirements with this priority may be combined into IJO's. When possible, every effort should be made to respond to and complete routine SO's within 30 days.
  4. PREVENTITIVE MAINTENANCE - Periodic maintenance performed on a schedule or as needed under a Reliability Centered Maintenance Plan.

How to Request a Work Order

A work order is utilized for work that is beyond the scope of a service order, regardless of cost and is either new construction, maintenance, and/or repair work and generally requires design and an independent government estimate to ensure that all local, state, and national codes are met. Approval of all parties including funding authority, must be granted before work order projects proceed. Requests for work orders must be submitted on a DA Form 4283 and must be signed by an authorized requestor. DA Form 4283 is available in the AMEDD Electronic Forms Support System and can be found by selecting "Local Forms Menu" on the Main Menu page.

Frequently asked questions are:

  1. Who can submit a work order? Each building or agency has personnel that they have authorized to submit work requests. The reason only designated people may submit work requests is because building managers need to know what is going on in their facilities and a work request may obligate their funds. We suggest that each person in each area have these peoples names posted in their work area.
  2. Can the project be accomplished by Self-Help? Requests are submitted on the same form for Self-Help as they are for work requests. For this size of Self-Help project, you need to show us that you have the abilities to accomplish the task i.e., a journeyman carpenter, or someone with other trade knowledge in the area of consideration.

Be sure to fill in all the areas on the Work Request that are listed below:

  1. Customer ID if you know it (serial number is our control number and we will fill it in and send a copy back to you)
  2. Date
  3. Building /facility numbers
  4. Customer name (person authorized to submit work request)
  5. Point Of Contact (POC) name
  6. POC Phone Number
  7. Work Description, this area needs as much information as you can provide about what it is that you want done and a sketch if possible, the better the description is the better the job is to prioritize for our work backlog. If you need additional space please attach another sheet of paper.
  8. Typed name of authorized requestor
  9. Signature of authorized person

The request can either be hand carried, put in post mail system or faxed to 301-619-2314, addressed to the Work Order Clerk.

Priority work request are assigned document numbers and are entered into the automated system immediately upon receipt. New non-priority work requests are reviewed at a weekly Work Order Meeting. Upon completion of this meeting work requests are assigned document numbers, entered into the automated system, and assigned to the appropriate section of the DIS. Copies of the original DA Form 4283 will be sent to the requestor. The form will include the newly created document number to be used for tracking purposes.