Pate Construction, BCSS Win $400 Million DTRA Test-Site Construction Contracts

Pate Construction Co. of Pueblo, Colorado, and BCSS LLC of Tempe, Arizona, have won a combined, multiple-award contract worth up to $400 million for above-ground construction supporting the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Research and Development Directorate. The contractors will provide construction and test-site support at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and other locations as directed. The competitively awarded contracts were set aside for small businesses and have a potential 10-year ordering period through Sept. 29, 2036.

Above Ground Construction Services Contract Details

Under the construction services solicitation, DTRA can order general support for tests, new construction, repairs and maintenance of test structures and articles, and demolition and remediation at test sites. The work is tied to research testing rather than routine upkeep of office buildings: a contractor may prepare a site and build a test article, support testing, then repair or remove the structure afterward.

One anticipated task-order statement of work illustrates that sequence at White Sands Missile Range. For MILLSTONE SILVER 34, it calls for a semi-reusable structure made of concrete and compacted soil at the SHIST test site. The construction contractor would prepare the site, build to government-provided designs, help ready the structure for instrumentation and testing, and make it safe for re-entry before its eventual restoration, modification or demolition. The document describes a project lasting up to 365 days from its task-order award; it does not identify which of the two contract holders would perform it.

A separate sample task-order statement of work describes a one-room concrete, bunker-type test structure at White Sands’ Large Test Bed. That example calls for construction within 12 months, followed by up to four months of post-test support that includes making the site safe, repairs and remediation. It also calls for as-built drawings and LiDAR scans to document the completed work.

Award and Contractor Background

DTRA awarded the contracts Sept. 30, 2026, after receiving eight proposals. Each company received a $50,000 task order at award, meeting its minimum contract guarantee. Additional construction work and funding will depend on subsequent task orders; the $400 million figure is the combined contract ceiling, not an amount committed at award.

Pate has performed related DTRA test-site work. A DTRA contract list recorded a Pate research-and-development test-article construction vehicle with a $320 million ultimate value and an end date in August 2024. More recent work under that vehicle includes a test-bed tunnel construction modification valued at up to $35.6 million, with performance potentially extending to December 2026, and a concrete structure at the HUMBLE JASMINE 3 site valued at up to $5.3 million, also with potential performance through December 2026. BCSS has a Kirtland engineering operations contract valued at up to $408.4 million, with potential performance through May 2029, for base civil-engineering services.

This award was disclosed by the DoW in its daily press release. Additional contract details will be available on HigherGov in approximately 90 days under HDTRA226D0001, HDTRA226D0002 after the contract is formally disclosed by the government.