Seven contractors have been chosen by the US Navy to carry out some $2.5bn in projects, of which four fifths will be located on the South Pacific island of Guam and the remainder in other areas of the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Nine teams applied to the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) for the five-year indefinite quantity contract. Those chosen were:
- A joint venture between Tutor Perini of California and Guam-based Black Construction
- A consortium made up of Core Tech of Guam, HDCC of Hawaii and Kajima of Japan
- A joint venture between Gilbane of California and Federal Construction of Virginia
- A joint venture between Japan’s Obayashi and Californian contractor Granite
- Hensel Phelps Construction of Honolulu
- Hawaiian contractor Nan
- Californian contractor RQ Construction
The work will be performed primarily within the NAVFAC Pacific area of operations, which means Guam, Hawaii and the Northern Mariana Islands, with a small percentage in other Pacific and Indian ocean bases.
The first task order under the framework deal was awarded to the Granite–Obayashi joint venture. This is a $126m job to build a car repair facility, an electrical and communications building, a car wash and roadworks in Finegayan, Guam.
The work is expected to conclude by December 2025.
It is part of the US government’s attempts to upgrade its military facilities in the Pacific to meet the growing power of China’s navy, which is expanding rapidly. It is expected to increase from 340 ships today to 440 ships by 2030.
In a speech to the National Press Club last month, US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro commented: “It is no secret that the People’s Republic of China seeks to upend our dominance on the oceans across the globe. The PLA Navy has added over 100 combatants to its fleet – a naval build-up that is a key component of its increasingly aggressive military posture globally.”
Further reading:
