JE Dunn-SmithGroup Wins First Prize for New Federal Procurement Method
“The research to be done at EMAPS will fill a major gap in today’s industry scaling up and adopting materials crucial to a clean energy economy.”
—Martin Keller, Director, NREL
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has contracted the design and construction team of JE Dunn Construction Co. and SmithGroup as it tests a new acquisition strategy. It will be used for a $224 million project to build the scale-up energy materials and processing facility at the federal agency’s South Table Mountain campus in Golden, Colorado.
Using the construction cooperative procurement approach, NREL, a unit of the US Department of Energy focused on renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development, aims to speed up future procurement processes and increase the ‘construction efficiency by working with a single construction partner for projects. valued at over $10 million.
The approach uses a three-step recruitment process. Records show that NREL will issue a Sourcing Notice, Request for Qualifications and Request for Proposals to shortlisted teams. It then signs the team to a task-ordering agreement, in this case lasting up to five years with a combined order cap of up to $500 million.
Future task orders under the contract may be at the South Table Mountain campus or at its Flatirons campus in Arvada, Colo., according to contracting records.
The contract award comes about a year after a report by the US Government Accountability Office recommended several changes to the DOE’s procurement processes to attract more bidders. But the solicitation for this contract began before the publication of this report.
The Energetic Materials and Scale Processing project is the first task order to be awarded under the contract. It would be a multidisciplinary research facility for the collaboration of private industry, universities and other DOE laboratories on the development of new energy products and processes related to energy storage, advanced manufacturing, the modernization of the network and zero chemicals and fuels.
The design of the 127,000 square meter facility is ongoing. NREL wants a high-performance design and plans to seek at least LEED Gold certification. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year.
Mark Kranz, SmithGroup’s director of design, said in a statement that the facility is being designed to “integrate elegantly into the architectural brand of the campus.”
JE Dunn and SmithGroup previously worked on NREL’s 180,000-square-foot Energy Systems Integration Facility that is adjacent to the new project.
“Coming back to the NREL campus is more than just securing another project,” JE Dunn Project Director Charlie Slattery said in a statement. “It marks the continuation of a valuable partnership.”
MW Golden is selected to build a copper stove in Black Hawk, Colorado.
The design elements of the copper kitchen will help preserve the mining aesthetic of historic Black Hawk, Colo.
Courtesy of PEH Architects
MW Golden Constructors will break ground on the Copper Kitchen project in historic downtown Black Hawk, Colorado in April. Designed by PEH Architects, the project is part of the city’s plan to preserve some of its original architecture and character while transforming and adding buildings to the city. Gregory Plaza pedestrian walkway. The pizzeria and bar and an adjacent freestanding elevator tower will combine modern construction with the architectural elements of the historic mining town, according to Castle Rock, Colo.-based MW Golden Constructors. The planned completion of the project is the summer of 2025.
IMEG engineer acquires Idaho firm E&D Co.
The engineering company IMEG Corp. has acquired E&D Co., an Idaho Falls-based owner’s representative and design firm that provides civil, rail, structural, mechanical and electrical design services. The closing operation “expands the industrial portfolio of IMEG and improves [its] full line of services and geographic reach in the Northwest,” said the Rock Island, Ill.-based company, which has about 2,600 employees in 93 locations across the U.S. It ranks No. 57 on the Top 500 list of ENR’s top design projects, with $382.3 million in design revenue by 2022.
Power Engineers adds transmission tower design to its portfolio of services
Power Engineers is adding specialized transmission tower design services to its capabilities with the acquisition of Pittsburgh-based Tower Drafting Services. The deal was announced on December 19, but no details of the transaction were disclosed. The company “has been an important part of the power supply industry for decades, providing specialized expertise in the detailing of steel lattice structure,” said Tim Kautz, regional manager of Power Engineers for line management. The addition will combine the acquired company’s lattice tower structural expertise with the matrix’s capabilities in transmission line design. Tower drawing services also have skills to recreate missing or illegible lattice tower design records in CAD, essential for utilities to upgrade and harden infrastructure, according to Power Engineers.
RDO expands with eight John Deere locations
Equipment Co. has acquired Honnen Equipment’s eight John Deere construction equipment locations in Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. The Dec. 11 deal expands the footprint of RDO teams to 12 states, said Chris Cooper, president of RDO. About 150 Honnen employees in the Wyoming cities of Gillette, Casper, Cheyenne and Rock Springs; in Utah’s Salt Lake City, St. George and Ogden; and in Idaho Falls, Idaho, joins RDO, the firm said, which has 80 U.S. locations and partnerships in Africa, Australia, Mexico and Ukraine.
