GSA makes sustainable investments at Howard H. Baker, Jr. United States Courthouse in Knoxville

October 15, 2024

Funded by the Inflation Reduction Act as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda

ATLANTA – The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced it will award a contract to Chitina Diversified Services LLC, a Native Alaskan-owned, small disadvantaged business based in Anchorage, Alaska, for repairs at the Howard H. Baker, Jr. United States Courthouse in Knoxville, Tennessee. This $7.4 million award, which includes $3.3 million in funds from the Inflation Reduction Act [PDF], highlights GSA’s commitment to promoting opportunities for small and socially economically disadvantaged entities through collaboration and robust outreach. In addition to the Inflation Reduction Act funds, this contract also includes approximately $4 million of funds from other sources.

“This project is a prime example of how the Biden-Harris Administration is fulfilling its commitment to invest in America while expanding opportunities for small businesses,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. “The Howard H. Baker, Jr. Courthouse is a place where hundreds of dedicated public servants work to ensure justice and we’re proud to support that vital effort while reducing our environmental impact, saving taxpayer dollars, and creating jobs in the community.”

The project consists of securely underpinning of the building foundation with low-embodied carbon concrete and steel that will support the foundation and restore it back to its original condition. The project also includes work on the slab that will reduce the risk of future foundation settlement issues. Once the foundation is stabilized, the contractor will make repairs to the building’s interior spaces, roof, brick, and storm drainage. GSA anticipates using over 700 cubic meters of concrete masonry units (sometimes called cinder blocks) and two metric tons of cold-formed and galvanized steel. GSA expects that both categories of materials will meet its most-stringent “Top 20%” emissions thresholds, And estimates that selecting these low-carbon materials will avoid over 50 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

“The investment in this courthouse is an example of how we’re making strategic investments in critical facilities across the region,” said Jeff Smith, Regional Commissioner for GSA’s Southeast Sunbelt Region. “The project will make repairs to building infrastructure, while using sustainable building materials and investing in small businesses.”

The funding for the improvements – made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in history – will be used for low-embodied carbon (LEC) materials that have fewer greenhouse gas emissions associated with their production.

The Howard H. Baker, Jr. U.S. Courthouse project is one of more than 150 LEC material projects that GSA announced last November. The project is expected to be completed by summer 2025.

The announcement furthers the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, under which the federal government is, for the first time, prioritizing the purchase of low-embodied carbon asphalt, concrete, glass and steel that have lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions associated with their production, use and disposal. These investments aim to expand America’s industrial capacity for manufacturing goods and materials of the future, address the climate crisis and create good-paying jobs for workers in the region.

The Inflation Reduction Act includes $3.4 billion for GSA to build, modernize, and maintain more sustainable and cost-efficient high-performance facilities. This funding includes $2.15 billion specifically for LEC construction materials. GSA’s Inflation Reduction Act projects will implement new technologies and accelerate GSA’s efforts toward achieving a net-zero emissions federal building portfolio by 2045. Through these investments, GSA estimates a total greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 2.3 million metric tons, the same amount that 500,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles produce each year.

This project is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, focused on growing the American economy from the bottom up and the middle-out – from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to creating a manufacturing and innovation boom, to building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.

To learn more, visit GSA’s Inflation Reduction Act web page.

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About GSA: GSA provides centralized procurement and shared services for the federal government, managing a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet, overseeing over $100 billion in products and services via federal contracts, and delivering technology services that serve millions of people across dozens of federal agencies. GSA’s mission is to deliver the best customer experience and value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow us at @USGSA.