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Ft. Bliss Construction Dominates El Paso Area
Good, Not So Good, in BRAC Work

Danny Portillo, Assistant Director, for Small Business Programs, Ft. Bliss

When word originally came several years ago that Ft. Bliss and El Paso would be the recipients of good fortune from the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Act) everyone seemed to be happy.  Now as completion of the massive $5 billion worth of contracts has reached near half-way point, there is quite a bit of head scratching going on. In order to have the massive additions to Ft. Bliss ready for the arrival of three Combat Brigade Teams (somewhere around 20 to 30 thousand new troops at the base) the U.S. Army corps of Engineers has pushed an aggressive construction schedule and limited who can bid. Unfortunately this has eliminated many El Paso general contractors from the eligibility list.

The major reason is the bonding capacity of many local firms. As Danny Portillo of the Ft. Bliss contracting office recently related, “the Corp feels it does not have time to ‘work’ with multiple smaller contractors 

The Corp is on a tight deadline and they must insure that the BRAC construction is done on time.” That’s why the nation’s largest general contractor’s have gotten 90% of the BRAC work at the base.  But all is not lost, some aggressive local subs have gotten work at the base and local business leaders are talking with the GC’s asking for pledges that they will not just interview but actually  use  El Paso area subcontractors (or GC’s as subs) on these massive projects, some as large as $400 million. In the meantime, more work is coming to the Base. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson  has announced another $107 million in remodeling, site-work, paving, MEP, etc under President Barack Obama’s Stimulus Program, jobs which will be let as soon as this July and through early 2010.   

Although the Stimulus does not include new construction, there remains the possibility of even more work on the base as the actual transition of the new troops is completed.   Portillo says there is still much work to be done in finishing the “connection” of the new additions to the old Ft. Bliss. This “Phase II” work could last for several years as Ft. Bliss and El Paso grow by a net 100,000 new persons.