The lack of work in the Reno-Sparks region forced Spanish Springs Construction of Sparks to pursue federal work, and the company recently was awarded a $6.2 million contract for facilities upgrades at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs north of Las Vegas.
The contract was awarded through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles office.
Spanish Springs Construction will upgrade a road and security gates leading into the base and will install an active barrier to stop possible unauthorized forced entry. The company, founded in 2004, also will construct a guard booth, install five small pre-fabricated buildings and a 250,000-gallon water tank.
"Ever since the economy took a downturn in Reno last year, we started looking to other opportunities and have been chasing federal work across the country," Spanish Springs Construction Vice President Adam Rutherford says.
Rutherford says bidding federal work is much more complex than bidding public works projects in Nevada, but federal contracts have provided plenty of work for the company. Spanish Springs Construction also won a $4.8 million contract in upstate New York through the Veterans Administration late this summer.
It won the contract at Creech Air Force Base, which is about 45 miles north of Las Vegas, through a combination of technical expertise and low bid. Spanish Springs Construction will self-perform some tasks and hire subcontractors for other aspects of the job.
"It is a very important contract for our company due to its size and the amount of local people we will be able to employ," Rutherford says.
Work is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2010 and take four months to complete.
