Teams form to make bid on building $1B 'spy center'

(Salt Lake Tribune) It is team-building time for companies interested in constructing a $1 billion data center for the National Security Agency at Camp Williams.

Some of Utah's biggest general contractors have teamed up with national counterparts to go after the lucrative primary contract to build the 1 million-square-foot center for the nation's intelligence community.

At least two of them -- Big-D Construction and Okland Construction -- have conducted open houses in the past month to find partners in the small-business community.

That's essential to getting the contract. Federal guidelines mandate that small businesses represent 70 percent of the project's subcontractors. Of that, portions must be allocated to businesses owned by women, people from disadvantaged groups, veterans and disabled veterans.

"It's a great goal," said Rob Moore, president and chief operating officer of Big-D, a Salt Lake City contractor that has forged an alliance with Balfour Beatty Construction (out of Dallas) and DPR Construction Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.).

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