Joint venture to manage construction of U.S. State Department's Foreign Affairs Security Training Center

Hill International, a global leader in managing construction risk, has announced that its joint venture with URS Corp. has received a blanket purchase agreement from the U.S. General Services Administration to provide construction management as agent services for the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC) project. The five-year agreement has an estimated value to the URS/Hill joint venture of approximately $21.8 million. URS is a 60% partner in the joint venture, and Hill is a 40% partner.

The FASTC project will establish a consolidated training center for training in a wide array of law enforcement and security disciplines within the U.S. Department of State for the protection of diplomats and U.S. embassies abroad. Diplomatic security training is currently conducted at up to 19 different, geographically separated, leased and contracted facilities nationwide. The new FASTC will be a state-of-the-art facility. It is expected to provide training for 8,000-10,000 students per year, including special agents, foreign service officers, selected foreign law enforcement and other personnel.

The URS/Hill joint venture will provide construction management services during the design, construction, and commissioning phases of the FASTC project.

"Hill is proud to be partnered with URS to manage construction of a facility that will help enhance the training of law enforcement officials and ultimately improve diplomat and embassy security," said James E. Koch, Ph.D., P.E., LEED AP, F.SAME, Senior Vice President and Director of Hill's Federal Services Group. +

Samuel S. Unger, RA, MCR, SLCR, MBA, is the Americas Real Estate Leader for Ernst & Young, LLP, Atlanta. He also serves as president of the CoreNet Global Atlanta chapter. In addition to managing 6.8 million square feet of real estate in North and South America, his responsibilities include real estate strategy for area practices, management of external professional alliances, requirements definition, business case development and approval, real estate negotiation and lease development, and oversight of construction projects for the portfolio. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, an MLA and MArch from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Temple University.

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