Originally published July 2007
The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process means more than just jobs and people; it’s also millions of dollars in construction contracts.
The Baltimore District of the Army Corps of Engineers estimates it has a $7.1 billion construction workload for BRAC-related projects in Virginia and Maryland, including Fort George G. Meade in Anne Arundel County, Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County and Fort Detrick in Frederick County, said Famane Brown, acting chief of the acquisition branch of the Corps of Engineers.
At Fort Meade alone, the Corps of Engineers will manage more than $500 million in contracts for three new buildings, including a $376 million headquarters for the Defense Information Systems Agency, which is relocating to the installation. The Corps of Engineers hopes to award the first contracts by January 2008, said Brown.
While the opportunities look good, there are some risks, said Bob Carney, a partner with Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, a law firm that specializes in representing contractors.
“The biggest risk is shortages of manpower,” he noted. “The non-residential construction in the Baltimore-Washington area is as busy as anywhere in the country, if not busier.”
Adding work at a time when union benches are empty means labor and material costs are going to be real issues, Carney added.
As to whether the contract windfall will be good for local businesses, he said, “ultimately I think most will stay local because local companies have the people to do the work.”
Based on BRAC law, the Corps of Engineers must have a local preference, said Brown. Though she notes the department will have to go outside the local radius if it can’t find contractors who fit the requirements.
The large-scale nature of the current projects creates a challenge and the shortage of qualified contractors is a real problem, Brown said.
To put the situation into perspective, Brown noted that in fiscal year 2006 the Corps of Engineers managed just about $1 billion in contracts — $6 billion less than the current undertaking.
While the building process gets underway, the BRAC Subcabinet, chaired by Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, is also moving forward.
The Subcabinet met for the first time in May and will have 10 meetings over the next five months in jurisdictions around Maryland that are the most impacted by BRAC, the lieutenant governor said in an e-mail.
Staffing of the Subcabinet, which is made up of eight state secretaries and the state superintendent of schools, is also complete. Asuntha Chiang-Smith, a former administrator in the Office of Federal and Military Affairs and previous director of policy development at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic, was named executive director of the Subcabinet.
“We are fortunate to have Asuntha Chiang-Smith on board as executive director to coordinate through all levels of government to ensure we have a report ready with our legislative and budgetary priorities to the governor by Dec. 1,” said Anthony Brown. - Amrit Dhillon |
