Northwest Florida businesses claim millions in defense contracting work

FORT WALTON BEACH — Williams Electric Co. Inc., an electrical contractor in Fort Walton Beach, has been awarded part of a $95 million contract for electronic security work, and Reasor-Asturian JV LLC, a joint-venture construction contractor in Pensacola has been awarded a nearly $13.9 million contract for work at a U.S. Marine Corps facility in North Carolina, according to recent contract award announcements from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Meanwhile, EMR Inc., a Niceville construction contractor with a long history of earning military contracts, was recently awarded a $12.3 million contract to design and construct an entry control facility for privately owned vehicles at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida's Brevard County, according to the DoD.

The three awards are part of nearly a dozen military contracts announced within the past few weeks with connections to Northwest Florida, according to the award announcements published each weekday by the DoD.

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Williams Electric joins seven other contractors from across the United States in claiming part of the $95 million contract for electronic security system work. The Fort Walton Beach enterprise was one of 34 companies to submit bids for the work, which will be done at various locations, according to the DoD announcement. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which awarded the contract, expects the work to be completed by early October of this year.

Meanwhile, the Reasor-Asturian JV LLC contract covers repairs to two landing pads for aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing at Marine Corp Air Station Cherry Point. Work under the contract will include "replacing airfield lighting, associated electrical upgrades, and pavement markings," according to the DoD contract award announcement.

Work is expected to be completed by September of next year, according to the Department of Defense. Reasor-Asturian JV LLC was one of eight contractors to bid on the work, with the contract awarded through the Virginia-based Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Mid-Atlantic.

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The Reasor component of the joint venture that was awarded the recent Navy contract has previously done work in Northwest Florida, including a 7,500-square-foot flight line building for the F-35 fighter jets at Eglin Air Force Base, and an office and hangar at Duke Field near Crestview.

In other contracting activity with connections to Northwest Florida, 80% of the work to be done under a five-year, $31.5 million contract awarded to aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas, for work supporting the F-35 fighter jet will be done at Eglin Air Force Base. The remaining work will be done at Lockheed Martin's Texas facility.

Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will provide maintenance and sustainment services to the Australia, Canada and United Kingdom Reprogramming Laboratory (ACURL) at Eglin. The laboratory, like a similar U.S. reprogramming laboratory also at Eglin, updates and improves electronic software used in the F-35. That software includes "mission data files" which assist the jets' massive array of optical, electromagnetic and other sensors in identifying threats.

The vast majority of funding for the contract — $31.4 million — will come from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, according to the DoD announcement.

The Canadian government announced in March that the F-35 was its preferred offering as it looks to replace its CF-18 fighter jets, a Royal Canadian Air Force variant of the F/A 18 Hornet, a McDonnell Douglas aircraft used by the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

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In addition to the work with the ACURL, the contract will include some support of the Norway Italy Reprogramming Lab for the F-35, also located at Eglin, according to the DoD contract award announcement.

The contract was awarded through the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Maryland.

Other work coming to Eglin through recent contract awards includes part of a $16.5 million contract won by L3 Harris Technologies Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for work with the "Space Fence," billed as the most advanced radar in the world. The Space Fence became operational in 2020.

The radar, located on the Kwajalein Atoll in the northern Pacific Ocean's Marshall Islands, can track and measure objects, primarily in low-Earth orbit, including much smaller satellites and orbital debris than could not previously be tracked, according to contractor Lockheed Martin.

The $16.5 million contract will cover one year of maintenance, modification and other services for the Space Fence System. In addition to Eglin and the Marshall Islands, work under the contract will be done at locations in Colorado, New Jersey and Virginia, according to the DoD announcement.

Eglin is home to the 20th Space Surveillance Squadron, a U.S. Space Force unit that works in the areas of space domain characterization, recognition and responsiveness. The squadron has representation on Kwajalein Atoll and at a Space Fence facility at Alabama's Redstone Arsenal.

In other contracting activity of local interest, B.L. Harbert International LLC, a Birmingham, Alabama, construction contractor, was recently awarded a $36.8 million contract for construction of two gate complexes at the main access points of Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City. Work is expected to be completed by July 14, 2024, according to the DoD award announcement.

Also, a $12.5 million contract awarded to Deloitte Consulting LLP, in Arlington, Virginia, will cover virtual training for the Navy. According to the award announcement, 14% of the work will be done in Pensacola, home of Naval Air Station Pensacola.

Also recently, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin awarded a $75 million contract to Raytheon Missiles & Defense in Tucson, Arizona, for work connected to the StormBreaker Small Diameter Bomb II, with an expected completion data of Sept. 30, 2024. Work under the contract will be done at Raytheon facilities in Tucson.

Two other recent military contracts were awarded through the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, according to the DoD.

Point Blank Enterprises Inc., in Pompano Beach, Florida, was awarded an $11 million contract to support a Navy antiterrorism program, and Tencate Advanced Armor USA Inc., in Hebron, Ohio, was awarded a $9 million contract for work with the same program.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: NWFL businesses claim millions in defense contracting work