By: Creighton A. Welch
As part of the Base Realignment and Closure process, AMEC Earth and Environmental Inc. was awarded an $18.5 million contract Monday to build an airfield maintenance training complex at Lackland AFB.
The Pennsylvania-based company has an office in San Antonio.
Although more than 75 percent of the BRAC projects are taking place at Fort Sam Houston, money is being spent at other bases.
“It's illustrative of the fact that BRAC is affecting all of the installations in San Antonio,” said Randy Holman, program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and spokesman for the Joint Program Management Office, the tri-service military group overseeing design and construction of BRAC.
The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment awarded the contract, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will oversee the construction.
The 74,000-square-foot center will benefit the Inter-American Air Forces Academy at Lackland, which trains and educates air forces of several Latin American countries. It will include classrooms, aircraft operations and hangar maintenance training areas. It is scheduled to be finished in the fall of 2010.
The new facility will be the center for training that currently is conducted at Port San Antonio.
“By moving this facility, they're freeing up valuable real estate at Port San Antonio,” Holman said.
The peak of BRAC construction will occur at the end of this summer, when more than 2,200 construction workers are expected to be spread across the various project sites. But there is still a need for prime contractors and subcontractors, Holman said.
“There's still a lot of opportunity for projects,” he said.
This contract is the 17th of 30 contracts worth more than $700 million that will be awarded by the end of fiscal year 2009, which ends Sept. 30, for BRAC and other military construction projects in San Antonio.
“This project represents our continued commitment to maintaining our momentum,” Holman said.
It's part of $2 billion in BRAC funds going toward military construction projects. Additionally, there's about $1 billion in military construction work that is not tied to BRAC.
As many as 15 more projects should be awarded in fiscal year 2010.