The General Services Administration picked Hensel Phelps for a $274.7 million design-build contract to expand a border station in Douglas, Arizona, according to a Sept. 24 award notice.
The New Douglas Commercial Land Port of Entry project is funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, according to the agency. In all, the GSA plans to upgrade 38 federal land ports of entry along the United States’ northern and southern borders using $1 billion in IRA and IIJA funds, with the goal of modernizing the facilities while boosting domestic clean manufacturing and sustainable technologies.
The agency aims to use low embodied carbon asphalt, concrete, glass and steel materials for the Douglas project, which will be designed to achieve LEED-Gold standards.
The existing border station in Douglas is a multimodal port that inspects vehicles and pedestrians, according to the GSA’s solicitation notice. However, it says the current facilities no longer function adequately given the site constraints, steady increase in traffic and outdated facilities and technologies.
The new border station will be located 5 miles west of the existing Douglas port along the U.S.-Mexico border on a 106-acre site. Work includes constructing a main building, commercial primary inspection lanes, a commercial inspection building and loading docks, a vehicle exit booth, a firearms simulation building and a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration facility, according to the GSA.
This is not the first border contract that Hensel Phelps has nabbed recently: In July, the Greeley, Colorado-based contractor won a $173.6 million design-build contract for the final phase of the Calexico West Land Port of Entry expansion and modernization project in Calexico, California.
