For Release: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Contact: David Gillies: 202-225-5661

CONTRACTING OFFICE TO BE BASED AT SCOTT AFB – 290 JOBS

Washington - Congressman Jerry Costello today announced that Scott Air Force Base will be home to one of five new regional Air Force contracting offices. In addition to Illinois, the new office will cover Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota. The office will employ an estimated 290 people - 200 of which will be new jobs - and is scheduled to begin operation in fiscal year 2010 and be fully functional two years later. Costello expects private firms doing business with the contracting office to locate offices near Scott in the future.

Scott was selected after considering other sites in the eight state region. Costello has been working on bringing the contracting office to Scott for months as a part of an overall plan to bring other missions to Scott and grow the base.

“Locating this facility at Scott is yet another example of how the base is prepared to take on new missions,” said Costello. “As the last Base Realignment and Closure Round demonstrated, during which the base added 800 new jobs, Scott’s central location in the country, the talented men and women that serve there and our region’s support for Scott leave it well positioned to grow into the future. We will continue to work with the Air Force to provide the resources for this and other projects.”

Costello recently announced $88 million for a new C-40 aircraft and $13.99 million to construct a new Joint Intelligence Operations Center at Scott as part of this effort. Scott employs over 14,000 people and is the largest employer in Illinois south of Springfield. It is estimated that the base pumps over $2 billion annually into the regional economy.

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