Contracts for construction, other projects to be awarded
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is making progress in obligating stimulus funds but some members of Congress are questioning if funds are being spent quickly enough and actually creating jobs.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continues to lead DHS agencies in obligating funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), according to DHS reports dated August 4. CBP construction projects have obligated a total of $214 million and doled out $614,300 of that amount to date.
CBP issued a task order to contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) through an existing contract to assist with ARRA projects on July 29. The contract runs through Jan. 31, 2010. The agency has begun environmental assessments of work to be done at some of its construction sites, DHS reported. Working with the General Services Administration (GSA), CBP plans to award contracts for building some of those projects in the next week.
CBP also released solicitations for non-intrusive inspection equipment July 31. An evaluation board will meet on August 12 to begin reviewing proposals.
Despite developments in stimulus projects at CBP and other agencies, some members of Congress have expressed impatience with the modest speed of spending the money.
Lawmakers discussed their concerns with representatives from the US Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and GSA at a hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee July 31.
"Is the Coast Guard simply using the stimulus money to meet reoccurring annual needs? And if this is what they're doing, how is that stimulative?" Rep. Frank Lobiondo (R-NJ) queried.
Lobiondo noted the Coast Guard reports a construction backlog of $1.1 billion in projects and received only $88 million under the Recovery Act to tackle some of them. The Coast Guard has obligated $7.5 million of those funds as of August 4 but hasn't actually spent any of it, according to DHS ARRA reports.
The Coast Guard plans to obligate about 25-30 percent of those funds by the end of fiscal 2009 and another 50 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, Martin Rajik, deputy assistant commandant for resources at the Coast Guard, told the committee.
The agency also will spend 100 percent of its funds for bridge construction projects by the end of September, Rajik said. The four bridge construction projects should create about 1,200 jobs, he added.
FEMA meanwhile hasn't spent any of its ARRA funds for the construction of firehouses, although it received more than 6,000 applications for $210 million in stimulus funds for the projects by the time the application period closed on July 10, Ross Ashley, FEMA administrator of Grant Programs, told the committee.
If DHS could fund all of the requests, it would require about $9 billion, Ashley estimated. FEMA has limited ARRA funds to $5 million for each individual firehouse project and the agency plans to make awards by the end of September.
"Under Fire Station Construction Grants, there's no match or cost share requirements, and fire station construction grants funds will cover 100 percent of the project's cost. The immediate result will be an infusion of funding that supports local construction. This local construction will, in turn, create new jobs, services, purchases, and enhance essential services," Ashley stated.
The biggest single project under DHS stimulus funds is construction of a new department headquarters at the St. Elizabeth's campus in Washington, DC, noted Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). Norton questioned why those funds have yet to be awarded.
Anthony Costa, the acting commissioner of the GSA Public Building Service, replied that the agency would award a construction contract valued at $350 million in August. But a contract valued at $450 million for the renovation of the Coast Guard's headquarters would not be awarded until fiscal 2010.
"[W]e have to complete design to actually provide the construction documents so they can go out to bid. So that work is ongoing," Costa said of the delay.
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