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Owner of troubled housing firm wins contract

A construction and engineering firm that is part-owner of troubled housing development projects at four Air Force bases has been awarded a contract to do environmental remediation work at two former Air Force bases, despite the fact the future of the housing projects has not been resolved.

The Shaw Group Inc., a Fortune 500 company, announced Tuesday that it had received a contract from the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment at Brooks City-Base, Texas, to do environmental cleanup at the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, S.C., and the former England Air Force Base, La. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment also awarded the original contracts for the housing projects.

Shaw owns half of American Eagle Communities, a company that had to stop work last year at four Air Force bases when it ran into financial troubles.

The projects were supposed to include nearly 3,000 units of new or renovated housing at Moody Air Force Base, Ga.; Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.; Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.; and Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., but only a fraction were built.

The collapse of the projects left the bases short of housing for airmen and their families, and prompted lawmakers to call for the Air Force to change how it runs its privatized housing programs. Subcontractors hired by American Eagle are still owed millions of dollars for work they performed.

The Air Force and American Eagle decided late last year to part ways, and the Air Force scaled the projects back to 1,767 homes.

American Eagle is currently in negotiations to sell the projects to Hunt Pinnacle Group, which would resume construction. The companies signed a letter of intent April 1 to continue negotiations, said Mike Hawkins, spokesman for the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, which oversees housing privatization for the service.

Hawkins said the recent environmental remediation contract is not a new contract but is a work-order on an existing contract. Shaw’s involvement with the housing fiasco does not, by law, prevent it from doing other government work, he said.

A spokesman for Shaw did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Air Force officials defend their role in the housing projects, pointing out that the four bases are the only ones having problems out of 29 privatized projects at 40 Air Force bases. They maintain the problems are with one developer, not the broader privatization program.