By Troy Turner
The U.S. Army tapped BL Harbert International LLC, a Birmingham-based mega-contractor experienced in high-profile government and commercial builds including American embassy, NASA and military jobs, for construction of a training complex at Fort Novosel.
Novosel, formerly known as Fort Rucker, is home to Army aviation, with special emphasis on the Army’s helicopter command, and is located in south Alabama’s Dale County. The $61 million firm-fixed-price contract is another in a long line of government-related contracts for BL Harbert.
The company recently was awarded a $210 million firm-fixed-price construction contract for a weapons generation facility as part of a deal including construction of five new facilities and renovation of another at Barksdale Air Force Base, Bossier Parrish, Louisiana.
BL Harbert carries a well-established and lengthy track record of taking on major and often complex projects in both the government and private sectors, including the development of U.S. embassy compounds abroad, facilities for NASA, large academia and sports construction projects, classified military operations, and a variety of large commercial projects.
Another example for the military is the design-build of a 126,000-square-foot facility and a 37,500-square-foot headquarters office building for the Redstone Test Center, located at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.
That facility serves as the central test center for rotary wing aircraft for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and includes administrative areas, aviation operations, testing areas, parts storage and technology shops co-located within one facility.
Similarly, BL Harbert earned a contract for the design-build of a 55,420-square-foot Group Support Battalion and an 81,650-square-foot Group Support Troop Battalion for the 7th Special Forces Complex at Eglin Air Force Base.
The company in March 2023 received contract approval for its 10th project at Tyndall Air Force Base. The $92.9 million contract is for the design and construction of F-35 fighter jet munitions storage facilities.
“Our portfolio contains projects in more than 50 countries since 2000, providing us with the requisite knowledge to build anything, anywhere,” BL Harbert materials state. The company provides a wide array of preconstruction, engineering and design-build services.
Its U.S. embassy and consulate work spans the globe and includes completed/future projects building embassies in such hotspots as Lebanon and Turkey. In one example, the company was awarded more than $800 million between 2010-2020 to construct an embassy compound that included housing and other features in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Work on other notable projects include academic and sports-entertainment venues such as the basketball arena at Auburn University, the north endzone project at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and construction of Protective Stadium in Birmingham, among many others.
The Army’s Corps of Engineers in Mobile is the contracting agency for the recently announced Fort Novosel project.
For more information on the BL Harbert portfolio, see: https://www.blharbert.com/market-sector/
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Troy Turner is the editor-in-chief and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com; https://aladefense.com/meet-the-editor/
Photo shown above: The Rotary Wing Center Headquarters & Hangar Facility at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
Shown below, top to bottom: Among the many projects BL Harbert is/was involved in developing is the NASA Flight Dynamics Research Facility in Hampton, Virginia; the U.S. Embassy compound in Beirut, Lebanon; and Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photos via BL Harbert media)
