Construction, pharmaceutical firms win $533 million in defense contracts

Wright-Patt construction contract awarded at $247 million

Area firms have landed a few big defense contracts lately — including one noteworthy contract for delivering COVID-19 vaccines.

Among them, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, based in Wilmington, Del., was awarded a $286.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for the delivery of 200 million doses of AZD1222 vaccine for COVID-19, the Department of Defense said.

Work will be performed in Butler County’s West Chester Twp. and in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2021, the government said.

The pharmaceutical company has a Butler County presence at 8814 Trade Port Drive.

The contract came from the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Newark, N.J.

Another recent award: Several area construction companies, including Megan-PCI JV LLC, CPM-AWA LLC, CAM Management and Services, and Butt Construction Co., among others, were awarded a $247 million multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for construction projects at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Work is expected to be completed Aug. 31, 2025, the Department of Defense said.

At $247 million, this contract would be among the larger construction contracts at Wright-Patterson. Through a spokeswoman for the 88th Air Base Wing, Steven Vincent, director of the 88 Civil Engineering Group, said this is a “multiple award construction contract" covering expected upcoming projects in future years.

“The $247M figure is the cap of the contract and is intended to meet various construction project needs at Wright-Patterson over the next 5-years,” the base said. “No projects have yet been awarded to any of the companies.”

Patricia Judge, section chief for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Civil Engineering Contracting Branch, said the purpose of the contract is to cover repair and maintenance of base infrastructure. The $247 million award value is an estimate derived from Air Force projections of facility maintenance and renovation projects expected to be required over the five years,

By way of comparison, construction in the wake of the 2005 BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) process involving the consolidation of the 711th Human Performance Wing and other missions, awarded in 2008 and completed in 2011, was valued at $240 million, according to spokespeople for the 88th Air Base Wing, which acts as landlord at Wright-Patterson.

The construction award was the result of a competitive acquisition and 21 offers were received, the Defense Department said. The contract came from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson.

The construction project is not related to the NASIC expansion. The groundbreaking for the $153 million addition to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) campus for the Intelligence Production Complex at Wright-Patterson is set for Thursday at Wright-Patterson.

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