WASHINGTON (May 28, 2010) - Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki announced today a nearly $19.5 million contract to develop the
next phase of Washington Crossing National Cemetery, in Newtown, Pa.

"We are pleased to continue to develop this national shrine in the
Keystone State," said Secretary Shinseki. "VA is committed to providing
the best possible service to Philadelphia-area Veterans by constructing
new burial areas and building permanent facilities."

The contract was awarded to G&C Fab-Con, LLC, a service-disabled
Veteran-owned small business from Flemington, N.J. in the amount of
$19,497,300.

The project is scheduled for completion in fall 2011.

Administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the 205-acre
national cemetery in the Philadelphia area will continue to serve
Veterans' needs for at least the next 50 years. The cemetery, which
serves approximately 580,000 Veterans in the Philadelphia metropolitan
area, is located near the borough of Newtown in Bucks County, about
three miles northwest of Interstate 95 and less than three miles from
Washington Crossing Historic Park.

In January, VA completed a 12-acre early burial area with temporary
facilities. The first burials at the new cemetery took place Jan. 20.

This phase of the project will include approximately 10,000 full casket
gravesites; 3,600 in-ground cremation sites; 4,000 columbarium niches
and a memorial wall. The cemetery will also include an administration
and public information center complex with public restrooms, a
maintenance facility, a cemetery entrance area, a flag assembly area and
committal shelters for funeral services. Other infrastructure elements
include roadways, landscaping, utilities and irrigation.

The Commonwealth's other VA cemeteries are Philadelphia National
Cemetery, Indiantown Gap National Cemetery near Lebanon and the National
Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Bridgeville. The Philadelphia National
Cemetery, established in 1862, no longer has available burial space.

Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than
dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be
buried in a VA national cemetery. Also eligible are military personnel
who die on active duty, their spouses and eligible dependents. Other
burial benefits available for all eligible Veterans, regardless of
whether they are buried in a national cemetery or a private cemetery,
include a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a
government headstone or marker. Families of eligible decedents may also
order a memorial headstone or marker when remains are not available for
interment.

In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates
131 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers'
lots and monument sites. More than three and a half million Americans,
including Veterans of every war and conflict, are buried in VA's
national cemeteries on more than 19,000 acres of land.

Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery
offices, from the Internet at www.cem.va.gov <http://www.cem.va.gov/>
or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at (800) 827-1000.

For information on Washington Crossing National Cemetery, call the
cemetery office at (215) 504-5610. To make burial arrangements at the
time of need, call the national cemetery scheduling office at (800)
535-1117.