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Business
& Labor
Special
Report: Tracking Down Vulnerability
Transit, seaports want bigger share of federal aid
(enr.construction.com - 05/31/04 issue)
By Tom
Ichniowski
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| COMPETITION
Construction, other industries seek DHS work. (Photo by
Michael Goodman for ENR) |
With each passing week, a focus on security
becomes more entrenched in the business plans and daily life
for those who own and operate powerplants, bridges, subways,
airports, seaports and other key U.S. facilities. Design and
construction firms continue to play a part on those many fronts
of the anti-terror campaign. A new priority is rail and transit,
after the terrorist bombings in Madrid in March.
In Washington, the Dept. of Homeland Security, which incorporated
about 20 separate agencies only 15 months ago, is still in
its organizational youth. But it is huge, with 180,000 workers
and a $36.5-billion budget this year. President Bush wants
to see that funding rise 10% for fiscal 2005, to $40.2 billion.
The federal security effort has produced
some contracts for design and construction firms, particularly
in reconfiguring airport terminals and assessing surface and
maritime transport threats. But there hasn’t been as
much business as bullish industry forecasters had hoped.
Aviation security remains an active
field. Airports can draw on a new Aviation Security Capital
Fund established by last year’s "Vision 100"
law. The fund has $250 million appropriated for 2004. But
transit and port officials think they’re being shortchanged
at DHS. Transit got $115 million for security over the past
two years. The industry is asking for $2 billion in 2005.
In maritime security, the American Association of Port Authorities
wants $400 million in DHSgrants for 2005. That would nearly
match the $493.5 million ports have received since the 2001
terrorist attacks.
So far, however, DHS has resisted port
and transit pleas. Stephen J. McHale, deputy administrator
of DHS’s Transportation Security Administration, told
a May 12 House hearing that while his agency is taking steps
to protect various transport modes, "Aviation, where
federal jurisdiction is paramount, must continue to be a primary
focus of TSA activities."
At DHS, "They’ve got a budget
problem," says Michael P. Jackson, senior vice president
in AECOM’s Fairfax, Va., office. "And I don’t
expect that the administration’s going to ask for terrifically
large amounts of money to address these diverse infrastructure
needs."
But Jackson, former deputy secretary
of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, says he thinks some hikes
will be approved for transit and rail, for example. For firms
like AECOM, that could lead to work designing backup communications
facilities, hardening rail access points or bolstering freight
rail yard security. Still, "I don’t believe it will
be transformational for the industry in terms of a large infusion"
of funds, he says.
Design firm HDR continues work for the
former Immigration and Naturalization and Customs services,
now parts of DHS. "We’re doing a lot of work for
them on the borders," especially in architecture, says
Larry Bory, HDR vice president for federal government relations.
But there is competition from other industries and contracts
with other DHS units have been harder to snag.
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