Last spring, the U.S. Navy Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) awarded a five-year, $50 million architect-engineering services contract to a joint venture between WSP USA and HKS for the Command’s medical facilities projects around the world.
This so-called indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract covers hospitals, dental clinics, medical clinics, veterinary clinics, laboratories, sustainment/restoration/modernization projects, military construction projects, and medical studies.
The contract is not exclusive to the two firms, but it lets NAVFAC assign certain projects to them. NAVFAC selected seven projects under this contract for 2018, including a 477,000-sf, $298 million health, education, and research facility for the Uniformed Services University at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.; and a 44,000-sf medical and dental clinic in Jacksonville, N.C. There’s also a renovation component, plus four research studies that will help define future projects.
See Also: N.Y. builder pushes to get military trauma centers up and running quicker
WSP, which has been active in the healthcare sector for a quarter century, decided to compete for this contract after noticing that the AE presence in the government sector was “not as strong” as in other sectors, says Nolan Rome, PE, U.S. Healthcare Director for WSP’s Dallas office.
Rome says that he had seen IDIQ-type contracts in the past and thought that a combination with an architecture firm might work for both companies and the client. Over the previous seven years, WSP and HKS had collaborated on 42 healthcare projects for the military and private sector.
“We promised a one-stop shop for whatever the government would need, and they perceived us as something new and different,” says Jim Whitaker, AIA, DBIA, Principal and SVP with HKS. “Now, we’re the Navy’s go-to task-order vendor.”
NAVFAC follows a Uniform Facilities Criteria that touches on everything from design to scheduling. It also leans toward design-bid-build delivery, whereas the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Veterans Health Administration prefer design-build. (Rome says WSP will self-perform 98% of the work under the NAVFAC contract.)
Each agency imposes spending limits, notably a 6% cap on total cost design services. “We’ve responded to those parameters with an integrated design approach,” says Alan Davis, Vice President for WSP’s Built Ecology, a national practice based on integration between architect and engineer.
Whitaker says that having a predetermined cost structure and pre-existing relationship can “make procurement easier.”
HKS and WSP have been talking with other government agencies about setting up similar contractual arrangements.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Philadelphia cancer center seeks LEED certification
The New York office of Thornton Tomasetti provided structural engineering services for the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in Philadelphia, a $232 million medical research center and advanced treatment center for cancer and cardiovascular disease. Designed by a joint venture of Perkins Eastman Architects and Rafael Vinõly Architects, the 340,000-sf facility will hous...
| Aug 11, 2010
High-level NICU opens in Washington, D.C.
Design to the highest distinction available by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the new Level IIIC neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Children's National Medical Center in Washington D.C., is equipped to care for the sickest premature babies, including those that require open-heart surgery. The 54-bed facility, designed by Karlsberger with KLMK Group as space planner, is four times large...
| Aug 11, 2010
San Bernardino health center doubles in size
Temecula, Calif.-based EDGE was awarded the contract for California State University San Bernardino's health center renovation and expansion. The two-phase, $4 million project was designed by RSK Associates, San Francisco, and includes an 11,000-sf, tilt-up concrete expansion—which doubles the size of the facility—and site and infrastructure work.
| Aug 11, 2010
New hospital expands Idaho healthcare options
Ascension Group Architects, Arlington, Texas, is designing a $150 million replacement hospital for Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho. An existing facility will be renovated as part of the project. The new six-story, 320-000-sf complex will house 187 beds, along with an intensive care unit, a cardiovascular care unit, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgical suites, rehabilitation clinic, and ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Manhattan's Gouverneur Healthcare Services tops out renovation, expansion
One year after breaking ground, the Building Team for the renovation and expansion of the Gouverneur Healthcare Services facility on Manhattan's Lower East Side topped out the $180 million project. Designed by New York-based RMJM, the development involves a 316,000-sf renovation and 108,000-sf addition that will house a 295-bed nursing facility and five-story ambulatory care center.
| Aug 11, 2010
Decline expected as healthcare slows, but hospital work will remain steady
The once steady 10% growth rate in healthcare construction spending has slowed, but hasn't entirely stopped. Spending is currently 1.7% higher than the same time last year when construction materials costs were 8% higher. The 2.5% monthly jobsite spending decline since last fall is consistent with the decline in materials costs.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction under way on LEED Platinum DOE energy lab
Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction has topped out the $64 million Research Support Facilities, located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Golden, Colo. Designed by RNL and Stantec to achieve LEED Platinum certification and net zero energy performance, the 218,000-sf facility will feature natural ventilation through operable ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Southwest Fisheries Science Center replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement last month with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
| Aug 11, 2010
National Intrepid Center tops out at Walter Reed
SmithGroup, Turner Construction, and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF), a nonprofit organization supporting the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their families, celebrated the overall structural completion of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), an advanced facility dedicated to research, diagnosis, and treatment of military personnel and veterans sufferin...
| Aug 11, 2010
Alabama hospital gets a four-story addition
Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoar Construction has completed the North Tower addition at Thomas Hospital in Fairhope, Ala. The four-story, 123,000-sf addition accommodates an ER on the first floor, 32 private patient rooms and nursing support on the second and third floors, and room for 32 planned patient rooms on the top floor.
