Army Corps Outlines Plans for BRAC Construction The Army Corps of Engineers plans to award dozens of indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts for billions of dollars in construction work associated with the base realignment and closure program. By law, set-aside contracts will be limited to 8(a), HUBZone and service-disabled veteran-owned firms, said Jack Beecher, acting chief of the small business office at the Corps’ North Atlantic Division in Norfolk, VA. All of the Corps’ district offices will rely heavily on the multiple award IDIQ contracts to reduce the workload on its acquisition staff, Beecher said at a May 11 forum in Falls Church, VA, sponsored by Set-Aside Alert and Mountaintop Marketing Group. The North Atlantic Division expects to manage about $10.8 billion in construction and architect/engineering work over the next five years through district offices in Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Concord, MA. About 400 separate projects are planned. “Most of our BRAC work is going to go into these IDIQ contracts,” Beecher said. The division plans to award 15 to 20 set-aside architect/engineering contracts worth $3 million to $5 million each and 60 to 75 construction set-asides, each valued at $25 million to $50 million over five years. The first HUBZone construction set-aside has already been released. Beecher urged contractors to look at the RFP, number W91236-07-R-0002, because it will be the template for other set-aside contracts. Given the huge volume of projects, Beecher said the Corps is reaching out to companies that have not worked with the agency before. In evaluating past performance, he said, “We’re not going to score you downward because you don’t have any federal work.” Although the Corps traditionally manages its projects in-house, he said it will likely need some construction-management contractors to keep up with the workload. The North Atlantic Division’s set-aside contracts will total as much as $2 billion. In addition, the BRAC projects will generate an estimated $7 billion in subcontracting opportunities for small businesses in the region. Beecher said 23 of the projects are valued at more than $100 million each.