Air Force awards contract to begin replacing unsafe housing at military medical campus

The Air Force selected two firms to work together with the goal of delivering new housing within just two years for up to 6,000 troops training to serve in medical jobs across the military, the service said Tuesday. 

Troops began relocating last month from the Medical Education and Training Campus’s housing at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston in Texas after it was deemed unsafe, despite being just 12 years old.

Layton Construction and Gensler, a design firm, were awarded Monday the contract for the new housing through new contracting options available to the Air Force — an “other transaction authority agreement” with a “progressive design-build.” It should allow for the project to move in stages, be flexible and finish faster by using non-standard processes.

“This agreement uses proven industrial offsite manufacturing technology to accelerate the previously planned construction timeline by approximately 70%, targeting completion within 24 months while securing an anticipated 20% reduction in overall project costs,” according to the Air Force.

The value of the contract agreement was not available Wednesday, but the Pentagon’s military construction budget in fiscal year 2025 authorized $469 million to the Air Force for the housing. Other contracts related to the housing described the project as more than $500 million.

Work is slated to begin in December, and the five 400,000-square-foot dormitory facilities should be completed by January 2029, according to the contracting documents. The first site-work expected is the demolition of the old housing.

However, the military is still moving some of the 5,200 trainees affected by the sudden closure, the Air Force said. The final service members should be moved by early September.

“The [Department of the Air Force] has the highest degree of confidence in the feasibility and credibility of this timeline,” according to an Air Force spokesperson. “This confidence is validated by several specific, commercial-grade risk mitigations built directly into Layton/Gensler’s selected proposal and confirmed during our technical reviews, such as controls placed on logistics, supply chain redundancy, and leveraging manufacturing to the maximum extent practicable.”

The firms have worked together on other military projects, including a child development center at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Va., which broke ground in January.

The training campus supports the medical education of about 16,500 members a year from across the military, preparing troops to serve in various medical, dental and public health fields.

The vacated housing was 330,000 square feet with each unit housing 1,200 students, according to the medical training campus’s website. Students lived in double occupancy rooms and had access to computer learning centers, linen rooms, classrooms and game rooms. Hensel Phelps built the housing, which opened in 2014 and cost $391 million, according to the company’s website.

Some of the students have moved into hotels on base. An Army contract with Rest Easy LLC will cost about $59 million for one year to house troops in up to 960 rooms at double occupancy, according to contract documents.

The Army had about 2,400 soldiers affected by the move, most of whom were in combat medic training, according to the Army Medical Center of Excellence.

“Our people deserve quality living quarters that are clean, safe and comfortable, delivered at speed, so they can focus on their work,” said Dale Marks, assistant defense secretary for energy, installations and environment. “We are leveraging American industry to deliver a warfighter production capability — this is an unprecedented milestone for the DOW and a huge win for the warfighter.”