|
SUMTER, S.C. (June 15, 2009) - After months of
speculation, Caddell Construction Co. Inc., located in Montgomery,
Ala., has been awarded a $91,600,000 firm fixed price contract for
construction of the new ARCENT (formerly 3rd Army) Headquarters
Complex at Shaw Air Force Base.
The company, which is a major federal contractor, submitted one
of the 18 bids to the Navy Electronic Commerce Online Web site and
was chosen after a review by the Naval Facilities Engineering
Command Southeast of Jacksonville, Fla.
"USARCENT is extremely excited about the announcement of this
contract," said Col. Jerry O'Hara, USARCENT Chief of Public
Affairs. "This award is a major milestone in our preparations to
transition to Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina."
According to a May 29 memorandum from Capt. Steve S. Vahsen,
U.S. Navy Deputy Chief of Legislative Affairs, the project will
involve the design and construction of the ARCENT Headquarters
Complex, including a Command and Control Facility (C2F Facility), a
headquarters building and a Tactical Equipment Maintenance Facility
exterior, a covered equipment hardstand area and staff parking.
The contract will be incrementally funded, with the first
increment of $58,079,920 being allocated at the time of award. The
second increment will be funded in fiscal 2010 at $33,520,080. Work
will be performed in Sumter and is expected to be completed by
April 2011.
"We're very excited about building at Shaw AFB," said Terry
Willis, marketing director for Caddell Construction. "We haven't
been there before, and we'll be doing everything we can to
shine."
Although Caddell is an experienced federal construction company
and has built U.S. embassies, federal courthouses and major prisons
across the country, they consider the Shaw contract to be a very
large one. And, he said, they plan to use local subcontractors and
suppliers for much of the work.
"We make a huge effort to use local subcontractors and
suppliers," Willis said. "This is a very, very big facility, and it
just makes good business sense. We've (always) been very successful
at utilizing local talent."
Willis said that he expects that subcontracting personnel will
be well over 100 at any one time throughout the construction phase,
if not higher. The company will look for new hires through an
outreach program that includes notifications, ads and job
fairs.
They hope to break ground as soon as possible.
"With this kind of aggressive schedule, we have got to get
started as soon as possible," he said. "As soon as the site design
is approved by the government - or as soon as we know that it is
highly likely that it is going to be approved - we will be fast
tracking the project."
|
