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Washington contractors cash in on federal jobs

Seattle Daily Journal Of Commerce

SEATTLE – Despite challenging times for construction, there appears to be an abundance of federal contracting jobs.

About $2 billion worth of work for Washington contractors is coming up on behalf of the Navy, the Army Corps of Engineers and the General Services Administration, according to a recent presentation to Associated General Contractors of Washington.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest has $300 million worth of projects in place for each of the next two years, and in fiscal year 2013 the total will jump to $500 million, thanks to a multiphase wharf project at Bangor.

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

The Corps of Engineers Seattle District office has about $600 million worth of projects for the next two years, most of them planned at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

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

At Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, the corps next July will advertise bids for a $23 million civil engineer facility. That project is tentative and not funded.

GSA contracts have been awarded on five large projects. Three are design-build projects: Federal Center South in Seattle with Sellen Construction and ZGF ($70 million); Jackson Federal Building in Seattle with Howard S. Wright Construction ($40 million); and Foley Federal Building/Courthouse in Spokane with Lydig Construction Co. and McKinstry ($40 million).

The fourth project, the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in Portland, is the largest on the list – with a $139 million price tag. Thomas said the fifth project, the Bonneville Power Administration Transmission Services Facility in Vancouver, is at the 50 percent design development stage. Plans call for a 180,000- to 240,000-square-foot office building costing $50 million to $65 million.