U.S. General Services Administration
GSA awards contract for DeConcini LPOE feasibility study
By: Javier Fernandez
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) recently awarded a feasibility study contract to Line and Space, an Arizona based small business, for the Dennis DeConcini Land Port of Entry (LPOE) in Nogales, Arizona.
“The GSA team is excited about this important study,” said Anthony Kleppe, LPOE Program Manager for GSA Region 9. “Awarding the feasibility study is a major step towards developing a project that delivers major improvements to this important cross border region with modern facilities meeting the needs of Customs and Border Protection, the traveling public and the larger ‘Ambos Nogales’ binational community.”
Since 2006, GSA has been meeting regularly with elected officials, community leaders, and binational stakeholders to discuss potential port solutions to facilitate cross-border travel in Nogales. First delivering commercial improvements at the Mariposa LPOE in 2014 and more recently commissioning a feasibility study to explore the modernization and expansion of the DeConcini LPOE. At the last meeting in August 2022, the GSA project team explained the next steps for the feasibility study that Congress had funded earlier that year. The study’s technical analysis will determine the project’s feasibility and formally recommend whether or not to proceed. It also provides insight into how the proposed project would better incorporate the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) evolving mission requirements, increase port security, and improve the efficiency of travel and trade.
The DeConcini port was built in 1931 to support Prohibition-era border inspection operations. Since then, the Nogales binational region has grown significantly. In 1994, the old border station was, with the exception of the historic customs house, demolished and replaced with the current facility, which is now undersized and unable to accommodate the 2.5 million pedestrians and 7 million vehicles that cross each year. Furthermore, the port’s existing footprint and configuration prevent the installation of sophisticated inspection sensors and other technology that CBP needs to carry out its mission. A new, modern, and expanded facility would correct those limitations, enhance CBP’s operational capabilities, improve the traveling public’s experience, and help ease long border crossing wait times.