October 18, 2024

by Josh Snyder | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Lawmakers approved on Friday a $16.5 million contract with a firm that would serve as an intermediary between the state Department of Corrections and the construction firm ultimately chosen to build a proposed 3,000-bed prison.

The Arkansas Legislative Council approved the contract with Sacramento, Calif.-based Vanir Construction Inc., which was presented to the body alongside numerous other agreements reviewed by its Executive Subcommittee on Thursday. The contract’s approval marks the latest step in a series of efforts to reduce overcrowding in state- and county-level correctional facilities.

Offering professional consultant services, Vanir would serve as the Corrections Department’s “owner’s representative” under the agreement, responsible for ensuring the effort is finished on time and within the approved budget, and that it meets the project’s needs, Corrections Department Chief Financial Officer Chad Brown said in a letter to the board earlier this month.

The annual contract amount is for up to $16,542,424. Of that, $15,860,116 will be for “compensation exclusive of expense reimbursement(s),” identified as “basic services,” according to the proposed contract. The remaining $682,308 would be “reimbursable expenses,” identified in the contract as “travel charges.”

While the project has not yet reached its design phase the $16.5 million figure is based off of available funding, Anne Laidlaw, Division of Building Authority director for the Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services, said during a previous meeting. According to Laidlaw, the contract with Vanir is “not to exceed” $16.5 million, meaning the contract’s total cost could ultimately amount to less than that number.

Corrections Department officials have said funding for the contract with Vanir would come from $75 million originally intended for an expansion at Calico Rock’s North Central Unit.

Vanir will help the state select the most suitable site for the facility, as well as an architect. Laidlaw said the agencies are considering available workforce numbers, access to emergency services and infrastructure in determining a location.

The firm will remain involved in the project from its predevelopment phase through the facility’s construction. Its contract begins Oct. 22 and will continue until Oct. 21, 2028, unless the agreement is terminated or canceled early. The contract can be extended or renewed, but will expire no later than Oct. 21, 2031.

In June, the Board of Corrections unanimously voted to move forward with a request for qualifications for the contract, and approved the proposed deal with Vanir on Oct. 4. Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness, as well as Corrections Department Secretary Lindsay Wallace, agency attorney Thomas Burns and Assistant Director of Construction and Maintenance Richard Cooper participated in the process that ultimately selected Vanir as the vendor.

Magness and interim Department of Corrections spokeswoman Shari Gray did not immediately respond to a voicemail and email seeking comment on the contract’s approval.

The new prison is projected to entail a complex with three separate 1,000-bed facilities that share services, Wallace told lawmakers during a Joint Budget Committee meting in March.

Overcrowding in correctional facilities at the state and county level has been a longstanding issue in Arkansas. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as well as some lawmakers, have criticized the Board of Corrections at points over what they have described as inaction regarding the overcrowding. The problem sparked a feud that resulted in the board firing then-Secretary of Corrections Joe Profiri and the filing of separate lawsuits that remain on appeal.

Wallace, the current secretary, has described increasing bed space in the state’s correctional facilities as one of her priorities, and the agency has taken several steps to further increase the amount of available bed space for inmates, such as moving forward with plans to accept a donated work-release center in Mississippi County, transferring some inmates to the Tucker Work Release Facility and planning for additional beds at other sites.

The council’s approval of the consulting contract with Vanir also comes just less than a month after the body assented to a 10-year, $1.6 billion deal between the Corrections Department and Nashville, Tenn.-based firm Wellpath.

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