KBR Awarded $385 Million IDIQ Contract

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded KBR the contract, which provides for establishing detention and processing capabilities to existing Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities.

April TxDOT Letting Dates

The Texas Department of Transportation has scheduled its next highway letting for April 11 and 12. One hundred and six projects are approved to be let with an estimated total of $579,889,471.

A TxDOT report said projects may be added, advanced or delayed as deemed necessary.

KBR Awarded Contingency Contract

Houston-based Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. recently announced that the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement component awarded KBR an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity, or IDIQ, contingency contract to support ICE facilities in the event of an emergency. KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton.

With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five-year term, consisting of a one-year based period and four one-year options, the competitively awarded contract will be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005.

The contract provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs. The contingency support contract provides for planning and, if required, initiation of specific engineering, construction and logistics support tasks to establish, operate and maintain one or more expansion facilities.

The contract may provide migrant detention support to other U.S. Government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency such as a natural disaster. In the case of such an event, the contractor could be tasked with providing housing for ICE personnel performing law enforcement functions in support of relief efforts.

SH 130 Builds New Homes for Bats

State Highway 130 developer Lone Star Infrastructure and Bat Conservation International, a leading bat conservation organization based in Austin, recently joined to launch the "Lone Star Bat Project," an initiative that will provide new homes for up to 40,000 bats in Central Texas. The installation of an artificial bat roost, or bat house, took place in January under the future SH 130 San Gabriel River bridge in Williamson County, northeast of Georgetown.

The Lone Star Bat Project is planned as the largest installation of bat houses in TxDOT history on the largest highway project in Texas history. SH 130 crews will install a total of eight roosts along the toll road.

The Mexican freetailed bats that will soon make a home in the bridges of SH 130 consume huge quantities of insect pests. The bats migrate to Mexico to spend the winter in a warmer climate. Upon their return in spring, the nocturnal bats are expected to discover the new homes.

As with the well-known Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, the San Gabriel River bridge is expected become home to a colony of bats that will leave at sunset in search of insects and return at sunrise. According to Tom Van Zandt, environmental compliance manager for the SH 130 project: "Bats dwell underneath bridges primarily because of the heat that radiates from above, through the concrete then to the substructure. In effect, this heating works as an incubator for the bats."

Gulf Coast States Get $868 Million to Fuel Road Reconstruction

Gulf Coast states still rebuilding after last year's devastating hurricanes will share $868 million in federal funds aimed at road and bridge projects, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta recently announced.

Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida will use the money to repair or rebuild federally supported highways and bridges damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Mineta said.

Mississippi will receive $740 million, Louisiana $75 million, Florida $42 million and Texas $11 million for repairs based on formal requests already received from the states. Additional funds are likely to be received once the states issue final requests for aid.

Eligibility for federal funds varies by project, but in most cases, the federal government will pay for 100 percent of the work.

The funding was included in a $2.75 billion emergency relief package requested by President Bush and approved by Congress late last year.