Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is a United States (U.S.) based allowance that provides uniformed Service members equitable housing compensation based on housing costs in local housing markets when government quarters are not provided. A Service member stationed outside the U.S., including U.S. territories and possessions, who does not have government housing available is eligible for Overseas Housing Allowance (OHA).
Several types of BAH satisfy various housing situations that occur among military members. In general, the amount of BAH you receive depends on your location, pay grade, and whether you have dependents. Under most circumstances, you receive BAH for your assigned location, not where you live. Additionally, you may be entitled to some BAH amounts if you reside separately from your dependents. This occurs in situations involving unaccompanied overseas tours or having a dependent Child that resides with a Former Spouse. The rules regarding these situations can become quite complex. Consult your Finance Office if you are in one of these situations.
The BAH rates have increased an average of 12.1%, effective January 1, 2023.
The contract will be awarded to an established* government contractor such as WSP or Vanguard, not InterNACHI. You would likely be an employee or subcontractor of the winning government contractor.*
*edited
The misleading part is that this would be an exclusive opportunity for InterNACHI members only.
Let’s take a deep breath first. The bid documents never specified that only InterNACHI members could do the inspections. The language is pretty clear:
“Inspectors shall possess the appropriate state/country/regional certification or
InterNACHI certification, as defined by the respective state/country/region in which the work will be performed.”
So it was an either-or scenario. Also the bid was set up such that a prime contractor would administer the program and deliverables, and sub out the actual inspections to state or InterNACHI certified inspectors.
But the solicitation appears to have expired with no notice of bid closing, no RFI notices. This is pretty common when the bidders find flaws in the solicitation early on that the procurement-side can’t resolve before the bids are due.
Having been part of these large-scale inspection efforts, my guess is one or more bidders found and successfully demonstrated a flaw in the process. The procurement side is probably rethinking some portion of this effort.
Another item to consider is the GAO report that was released to congress at the end of April, specifically calling out the confusing array of housing inspector certification requirements. In fact the GAO report clearly recommended that the Department of Defense develop its own internal housing inspection certification protocol, and employ trained DOD employees to perform the inspections.
Nick, how do we sign up for the U.S. Army inspections? We are in San Antonio, Texas. We are a woman-owned company and half of our inspectors are disabled Vets.
