New Nationwide FEMA Camps Should Raise Eyebrows By Alan P. Halbert January 2, 2012
Of all the rumors flying around on the internet, one just refuses to die, and it concerns America's FEMA camps. In a nutshell, there seems to be a solicitation of bids occurring for the staffing of FEMA camps within 72 hours of implementation by an order from either Homeland Security or the president. This situation begs to be investigated, with special consideration paid to the motives of the present administration. I went to the source, the FedBizOpps.gov, and searched for the solicitation number HSFEHQ10-R-0027, titled National Responder Support Camp. A search of the history of the amendments to this Solicitation for Contract showed that it had been modified several times, with the last modification -- number 0008, with an original date of letting out to bid with a synopsis of May 13, 2011 -- occurring on December 16, 2011. This last modification rescinded the solicitation, with said modification's purpose noted as follows: 1. Cancel Solicitation HSFEHQ-10-R-0027. 2. A new draft solicitation will be issued on January 2012 for industry comment. 3. A Pre-Solicitation Conference will be held approximately two week post draft solicitation. Okay...score one for the internet and the vigilant citizens who perform an invaluable service to our nation by monitoring the actions of our government and its various agencies. I began the laborious task of reading the Invitation to Bid -- this tome is 116, pages with many canned and boilerplate requirements for doing business with Uncle Sam duly enshrined amongst the pages. The Task Order Request (TOPR) under Scenario I & II under Section J of the Appendix made for another 42 pages. The required size of the camps was fluid, though they had the required capacity of 301 to two thousand, including security and camp cadre. The staffing requirements or cadre for FEMA personnel for these camps -- which are identified as being located in five (5) distinct regions throughout and within the borders of the USA, with camps located in each and every state -- was three to fifteen each. The size of these camps will vary around 5 acres per 1,000 inhabitants, though they will never be less than 3 acres for populations of 500 or fewer inhabitants within the camps' boundaries. This requirement also had a minimum square footage for each inhabitant: either the camp's cadre