Job listings: Plenty to come from projects in Washington State

Job listings will abound as contractors gear up for $2 billion in federal projects over the next two years.

Despite challenging times for construction, there appears to be an abundance of federal contracting jobs. Last week, managers from three federal agencies — Tom Moore of the Navy, Anil Nisargand of the Army Corps of Engineers and Rick Thomas of the General Services Administration — presented their upcoming projects before members of the Associated General Contractors of Washington.

Together, the projects represent about $2 billion worth of work.

NAVFAC

Moore, chief engineer of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, said they have $300 million worth of projects in place for each of the next two years, but in fiscal year 2013 the total will jump to $500 million, thanks to a multiphase wharf project at Bangor.

Moore said the construction estimate for the wharf is between $500 million and $650 million, with the first increment expected to bid in June of 2012 at a cost below $100 million. He said they anticipate the entire project will be bid in four increments and finished as early as 2016.

Wharf designs are about 35 percent complete, and officials are studying whether it will be floating or fixed. The wharf would service submarines but other details were not available.

The Navy has five construction projects on its roster for 2011, including three in Bangor, one on Whidbey Island and one in Yakima.

The Bangor work includes two emergency generator projects — one less than $20 million and the other less than $30 million. Moore said they combined the generators into one project and are seeking bids. The plan is to award a contract March 30.

The other Bangor project is a two-phase laboratory expansion valued under $20 million. Moore said a request for proposals will be issued next month for the first phase and the second phase will bid in 2012.

On Whidbey Island, the Navy plans to seek proposals next month for a small craft launch facility valued under $5 million.

The Yakima project is a vehicle maintenance facility valued under $15 million. A request for proposals will be issued next April.

In 2012, the Navy's construction program includes two more projects at Bangor, plus a project each at Bremerton, Keyport and Whidbey Island.

In addition to the submarine wharf, work at Bangor for 2012 will include a waterfront barrier project valued below $20 million and a waterfront security force facility valued below $30 million.

The Whidbey Island project involves replacing 30,000 feet of pipeline at a cost less than $30 million; at Keyport, environmental remediation will be conducted for less than $5 million; and the Bremerton job involves treating drydock water before it returns to the bay, a project valued below $15 million.

All 2012 projects have tentative bid advertisement dates in June, except for the Bangor waterfront security facility, which could advertise for bids in April.

Corps of Engineers

The corps' Seattle District office has about $600 million worth of projects for the next two years, most of them planned at Joint Base Lewis McChord, according to Nisargand, chief of the Specifications Section of the Engineering and Construction Division for the corps' Seattle District.

The 2011 projects at Joint Base Lewis McChord are:

— $63 million Regional Logistics Support Facility, the first of four phases, which includes two tactical equipment maintenance facilities totaling 156,000 square feet. Contractors are already lined up under the multiple-award task order contracts (MATOC) process and will bid in April.

— $47 million Integrated Theatre Support Battalion, a 300-person barracks design-build project that includes road and infrastructure improvements. Nisargand said the barracks will use the MATOC process and will likely bid in May with a September award date, but the road and infrastructure improvements may be bid separately or combined with the Pendleton Avenue project (see below).

— $40 million Whole Barracks Renewal, including 73,000 square feet of design-build barracks, 53,000 square feet of operations facilities for three companies and a 9,000-square-foot storage building. Nisargand said this will be a MATOC contract handled by the corps' Savannah District that will go out to bid around January.

— $19 million Pendleton Avenue upgrade, which includes road and infrastructure work; out for bids in March.

— $16.5 million Regional Logistics Support Complex phase two, a design-build 62,000-square-foot warehouse; out for bids in February.

— $9 million for intersection improvements and a new access point between the two bases; out for bids in July using the small business MATOC process.

— $8.4 million Preventive Medicine Services Facility, a 13,500-square-foot building with ambulance shelter and ramp; design-build MATOC project out for bids in March.

— $7 million Chemical Battalion headquarters and site, an 18,000-square-foot design-build project; out for bids in July.

— $5.3 million Fast Rope Sniper Tower, a four-story concrete training tower; HUB Zone MATOC contract out for bids in July.

These Lewis McChord projects will bid sometime in 2012:

— $65 million for potable water distribution lines, upgraded water lines and roads.

— $57 million second phase of the Brigade Combat Team Complex, which has a 144-person barracks, two 18,000-square-foot tactical equipment maintenance facilities, small battalion headquarters buildings and road upgrades.

— $52 million Brigade Complex, with 67,000 square feet of barracks, a 16,000-square-foot battalion headquarters, 44,000 square feet of company operations facilities and a 35,000-square-foot tactical equipment maintenance facility.

— $49 million second phase Aviation Complex with 94,000 square yards of aircraft apron costing $12.5 million, a $13 million stormwater retention basin and $13 million in site improvements.

— $35 million first phase Aviation Complex with 268-person barracks and relocated athletic fields.

— $17.5 million Operations Readiness training facility with 61,000-square-foot barracks and 20,000-square-foot dining facility.

— $7.5 million, 16,000-square-foot administration building and 2,000-square-foot flight simulator building for the Air Support Squadron.

For 2011, the corps also plans to advertise bids in September for a $3.8 million sniper field firing range in Yakima and in July for a $15 million wing headquarters at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane. The Fairchild design-build project is tentative and not funded, Nisargand said.

At Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, the corps is bidding later this month a $10.6 million weapons storage project and next May will bid the $20 million final phase of family housing replacement.

At Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, the corps next July will advertise bids for a $23 million civil engineer facility that includes a 12,000-square-foot administration building, 16,500 square feet of maintenance shops and a 25,000-square-foot warehouse. That project is tentative and not funded.

Other projects Nisargand talked about were a future fish facility at Mud Mountain Dam, operations and maintenance at other dams, miscellaneous civil works and dredging.

He said they are in the process of selecting a contractor to fix Howard Hanson Dam, a project estimated between $10 million and $25 million. The Hanson Dam project earlier this year got $44 million in federal funding.

GSA

General Services Administration project executive Thomas said contracts have been awarded on GSA's five large projects, but there still are a lot of subcontracting opportunities. Three are design-build projects: Federal Center South in Seattle with Sellen Construction and ZGF; Jackson Federal Building in Seattle with Howard S. Wright Construction; and Foley Federal Building/Courthouse in Spokane with Lydig Construction Co. and McKinstry.

The Federal Center South project involves redevelopment of an existing warehouse into a 175,000-square-foot green office building at a cost of $70 million. Work at the Jackson building includes major mechanical and electrical system upgrades. At the Foley building, crews are performing similar improvements to those at the Jackson building, as well as tenant improvements. Those two projects are estimated at $40 million each.

The fourth project, the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in Portland, is the largest on the list — with a $139 million price tag. The project is modernizing an existing high-rise with new exterior cladding, HVAC and electrical upgrades, and tenant improvements.

Thomas said the fifth project, the Bonneville Power Administration Transmission Services Facility in Vancouver, is at the 50 percent design development. Plans call for a 180,000- to 240,000-square-foot office building costing $50 million to $65 million. Construction is not funded, but Mortenson Construction has been selected as the construction manager as contractor (CMc) and NBBJ as the architect. CMc is a similar process to the general contractor/construction manager method.

Rounding out the GSA list is $15 million in various minor repair and alteration projects in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. They typically range from $50,000 to $1 million in scope. Thomas said most of them will use the MATOC process.