GSA Awards $2.6 Million Contract for Low-Embodied Carbon Paving Projects in Calexico

January 06, 2025

Funded by the Inflation Reduction Act as part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda

CALEXICO, Calif. — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded a $2,626,909 contract to B3 Construction, Inc. for low-embodied carbon concrete paving projects at the Calexico West and East Land Ports of Entry in California’s Imperial Valley, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. The San Diego, California-based company will remove, dispose and structurally replace a combined total of 16,974 square feet of asphalt and concrete pavement with new low-embodied carbon concrete, eliminating an estimated 2.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the primary greenhouse gas driving climate change.

The Calexico West Land Port of Entry project will replace 11,270.28 square feet of existing asphalt and concrete paving at the historic customhouse parking lot with low-embodied carbon concrete. Additionally, the project will make improvements to existing site paving to make them more accessible and compliant with existing Architectural Barriers Act requirements. Six miles away at the Calexico East Land Port of Entry, the project will use approximately 5,704.69 square feet of low-embodied carbon concrete pavement to ensure vehicular access to the site’s water retention pond to allow for the proper maintenance of the pond, embankment and surrounding area.

Both projects received funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, and are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages the federal government’s purchasing power to spur demand for construction materials that are made with substantially lower levels of embodied carbon. The low-embodied carbon concrete used in these projects will comply with GSA’s new low-carbon construction standards, underscoring the agency’s commitment to sustainability and lowering its carbon footprint.

“These projects at the Calexico Land Ports of Entry showcase GSA’s commitment to sustainable infrastructure that provides long service life and improved roadways while supporting our environmental and sustainability goals,” said Sukhee Kang, Regional Administrator for GSA’s Pacific Rim Region. “By using low-embodied carbon materials, we’re reducing emissions and setting a standard for cleaner construction across federal facilities as well as sustainable paving critical and high vehicle traffic port areas to support CBP operations.”

The Inflation Reduction Act provided $3.4 billion for GSA to use its buying power to promote the development and manufacturing of low-embodied carbon construction materials and to make federal facilities more sustainable and cost-efficient. GSA’s Inflation Reduction Act projects will implement new technologies and accelerate GSA’s efforts toward achieving a net-zero emissions federal building portfolio by 2045. Through these investments, GSA estimates that it could reduce carbon emissions by over 2 million metric tons in operational greenhouse gas emissions. That’s the equivalent of taking about 500,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles off the road for one year.

This announcement is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, focused on growing the American economy from the bottom up and the middle-out – from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to creating a manufacturing and innovation boom, to building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.

To learn more about GSA’s Inflation Reduction Act projects, visit GSA’s IRA web page.

###

About GSA: GSA provides centralized procurement and shared services for the federal government, managing a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet, overseeing over $100 billion in products and services via federal contracts, and delivering technology services that serve millions of people across dozens of federal agencies. GSA’s mission is to deliver the best customer experience and value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow us at @USGSA.