Federal government construction in Alaska: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to spend nearly $2 billion from 2010-2012.

• Author: Resz, Heather A.
• Position: CONSTRUCTION

The Alaska District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is on course to disburse nearly $2 billion completing a variety of projects statewide from 2010 to 2012. The full-service Alaska District employs about 500 professional Department of Defense civilians in its three major programs: military construction, water resource development, and environmental cleanup and restoration activities.

The size and scope of the district make it unique in the world, said Dr. Larry McCallister, director of programs and project management. "We do all the civil works, regulatory, military real estate and military construction for Alaska," he said. "We're the primary design and construction agent for the Army and Air Force in Alaska."

The Alaska District--part of the Pacific Ocean Division--is headquartered on Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson near Anchorage. Alaska has two regional Corps of Engineers' offices. The Northern Area Office on Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks manages construction north of the Alaska Range, and the Southern Area Office on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson manages construction to the south.

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On average, the Corps of Engineers work represents about 8 percent of construction in the state, said Chris Tew, chief of the contracting division.

All total, federal spending makes up a third of the state's economy, according to a 2008 report by the Institute for Social and Economic Research. Petroleum is another third and all other jobs make up the remainder, according to the report.

Corps of Engineers relies on competitive bid process for 90 percent of contracts

Though companies anywhere in the U.S. can bid on projects here, Alaska companies have a unique advantage.

"It's very difficult for a firm to come up here and compete without experience working in Alaska," said Tew. "Because of that, most bids are won by Alaska firms."

To help get the word out about its upcoming projects, he said the Corps of Engineers provides Alaska companies an overview of upcoming projects at quarterly Industry Days events in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

"We have a lot of ongoing work and we have a lot getting ready to go out," McCallister said.

Tew said about 90 percent of the Corps of Engineers' projects are bid competitively. And about 30 percent of contracts go to small businesses, he said. "We've put literally hundreds of millions of dollars into small businesses in the past few years."

Each fiscal year, Congress appropriates funding for military construction work. Most of the funds for 2010 are already obligated through contracts, Tew said.

He said the Corps of Engineers has one American Recovery Reinvestment Act project left to award for a floating breakwater for Unalaska harbor before the Sept. 30 end of fiscal 2010.

"Our goal is to have the majority of our 2011 projects ready to go to bid Oct. 1 and all of our bids awarded by March 1, 2011," McCallister said. So contractors have the entire, brief Alaska construction season to do the work.

This year, Alaska contractors also saw another $100 million in projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he said. The primary Alaska recipients of stimulus dollars were harbor and port projects in Anchorage, Akutan and Unalaska, McCallister said. "There is no doubt there will be jobs for the next two years because of that money."

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