Construction of the new William Beaumont Army Medical Center complex at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, is nearly two years behind schedule and roughly $22 million over the original contract award, according to Task & Purpose.
The medical campus was contracted for $648 million, but costs have risen to nearly $670 million and are likely to grow even higher, said Brad Hartell, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' construction manager for the project, according to the report. The 1.1-million-square-foot medical complex was slated to open in 2017, but several delays have pushed the opening date to July 2019.
"This is not a building — it's a campus of six buildings. That makes it more complex," said Lt. Col. Edwin Rodriguez, Fort Bliss replacement hospital program manager for the Army Health Facilities Planning Agency, according to the report. "We had some hiccups in the process, but we're looking at a campus of six complex buildings."
The campus includes a main, seven-story hospital with 135 beds, as well as two six-story clinic buildings and an administrative building. The campus will also have a clinical investigation building with labs and a central utility plant with three power generators and room for a fourth generator in the future, according to the report.
The new campus replaces the 44-year-old Beaumont hospital and clinics currently located on Fort Bliss.