U.S. General Services Administration
GSA Awards $4.7 Million in Low-Embodied Carbon Paving Contracts for Border Patrol Headquarters and Andrade Land Port of Entry
Funded by the Inflation Reduction Act as part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda
TUCSON, Ariz. — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) awarded $4.7 million in contracts to OCS Construction Services Inc., for low-embodied carbon asphalt and concrete paving projects at the Border Patrol Headquarters in Tucson, Arizona, and Andrade Land Port of Entry in southeast California, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act as part of President Biden’s investing in America agenda.
The Riverside, California-based firm is a certified 8a small business contractor and will provide design and construction services to replace a total of 27,200 square feet of pavement with environmentally preferred low-embodied carbon paving materials, effectively avoiding 6.7 metric tons of embodied carbon emissions, a leading producer of greenhouse gas. This award highlights GSA’s commitment to collaborating and building more robust outreach to promote opportunities for small and socially/economically disadvantaged business entities.
Both projects received funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), 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 $1,542,187 contract for the Tucson Border Patrol Headquarters paving project will replace the existing asphalt at the facility with 66,500 square feet of low-embodied carbon asphalt pavement, including 1,200 square feet of asphalt to prevent water shedding and erosion.
In Winterhaven, California, the $3,180,208 contract includes $2,899,180 in Inflation Reduction Act funding to design and provide construction services for the paving project at the Andrade Land Port of Entry will remove the existing paving covering the northbound vehicle inspection lanes and replace it with 26,000 square feet of new, low-embodied carbon asphalt, which complies with GSA’s new low-carbon construction standards.
“These low-embodied carbon asphalt paving project contracts underscore GSA’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint,” explained Sukhee Kang, Regional Administrator for GSA’s Pacific Rim Region. “These projects improve conditions for the agencies protecting the border. They also provide opportunities for small businesses and provide an economic boost for southern Arizona and California.”
The announcement furthers the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, under which the federal government is, for the first time, prioritizing the purchase of low-embodied carbon asphalt, concrete, glass and steel that have lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions associated with their production, use and disposal. These investments aim to expand America’s industrial capacity for manufacturing goods and materials of the future, address the climate crisis and create good-paying jobs for workers in the region.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes $3.4 billion for GSA to build, modernize, and maintain more sustainable and cost-efficient high-performance facilities. This funding includes $2.15 billion specifically for low-embodied LEC construction materials. 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 a total greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 2.3 million metric tons, the same amount that 500,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles produce each year.
This project 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, visit GSA’s Inflation Reduction Act web page.
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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.