LAWTON – The first “fast-track” construction contract on development of the Firehawk Aerospace complex in northwest Lawton was approved recently by the Lawton Economic Development Authority.
At its April 16 meeting, LEDA authorized its board chairman, David Madigan, to “approve the award of Bid Package #1 in an amount not to exceed $3 million.
However, all three bids received on the project April 21 exceeded that amount.
Furthermore, Herring Construction of Lawton determined that of the three bids, two were deemed to be “unresponsive” because they were “outside of the required 60-day completion schedule … which is considered a material requirement for the project.”
“Everything is about the schedule,” LEDA Executive Director Richard Rogalski said. The construction schedule “is of primary concern to Firehawk Aerospace Inc., and delaying this award would not be in the best interest of the project.”
Consequently, Ryan Herring, the “construction manager at risk” on the Firehawk project, recommended awarding the contract for demolition, site work and storm drainage to Iron Pipe, whose bid was $4,388,288.
In comparison, T&G Construction’s $3.65 million bid was $728,763 lower than Iron Pipe’s bid, but T&G calculated 140 days to complete the site preparation. At the other extreme, Martin Dozer’s $6.65 million bid was $2,265,614 higher than Iron Pipe’s bid, and they projected a 118-day completion schedule.
The dirt work “has to be done in 60 days so the concrete contractor can start,” Herring told LEDA’s board of directors, who awarded the contract to Iron Pipe on Thursday. Rogalski said grading at the site was expected to start Monday.
Firehawk Aerospace produces hybrid rocket engine propellant. The Addison, Texas-based company, which began operations in 2019, has an innovative approach to rocket propulsion: it utilizes 3D-printed solid rocket fuel to produce safer, more efficient, and cost-effective hybrid engines for various applications, including defense and commercial space exploration.
The company predicts production will reach 1,000 pounds per day of propellant, enough to power 15,000 rocket motors annually.
“It makes sense for us to be in this neighborhood, because Fort Sill is the training base for the missile systems that Firehawk is developing design concepts for,” George Liddell, Firehawk’s senior director of operations, told the Lawton City Council last July. Fort Sill is the home of the Air Defense Artillery School.
A company document reports the Firehawk complex will include 16 structures “serving a variety of functions,” and the structures “will cover roughly 76,200 square feet.”
Seven industrial buildings of varying sizes and requirements will be built. The largest, encompassing 22,500 square feet, will house office space and a high-bay warehouse. That building will have a parking lot that will accommodate at least 100 vehicles and space for loading docks.
There also will be “a smaller and separate industrial building dedicated to shipping and receiving of energetic materials,” Firehawk Aerospace officials related.
Three manufacturing buildings will be constructed “and will require properly rated barricades (protective barriers) due to the processing of energetics.”
In addition, six reinforced bunkers will be constructed: four earth-covered magazines and two aboveground magazines.
Also planned are three rocket motor test stands. Each will be built “to handle highthrust loads and will consist of reinforced foundations, concrete walls, electrical, and surveillance systems.”
The company reported it will invest in advanced machinery and other improvements to equip the manufacturing plant.
Some of Firehawk’s buildings will have concrete exterior walls that are 24 inches thick, and concrete interior walls that will be 12 inches thick, Herring said.
Firehawk contract ‘will have teeth’
The Firehawk contract does not provide for liquidated damages if a deadline is missed, because docking a contractor’s paycheck for being tardy is not a solution to the problem, Rogalski said. “The timing of this project is critical.”
“We will have provisions in our contract with Iron Pipe that if they fail to meet the milestones, we will hire other contractors to help them finish the work and all of the additional expenses will be Iron Pipe’s expenses, not ours nor the owner’s,” Herring said. “We will have teeth in that contract.”
“Every single piece of equipment” for the Firehawk project “has an early delivery date,” said Liddell. “Every group working on this project is being held to the same requirements of the end customer: the U.S. Department of Defense.”
The Firehawk construction project “is being released in phases,” Herring said. The contract approved Thursday was “just one of a multitude of packages that will be coming out,” he said.
For example, one utilities package is out for bids now, and sealed bids on the next package – three buildings with 12 packages for, say, water/sewer service, electricity, perhaps HVAC – will be opened in the Lawton City Hall Banquet Room on May 12.
“There may be challenges at times, meeting some of the requirements,” Liddell said during a remote video conversation Thursday with LEDA’s directors. “Every bid package will be aggressive but feasible.”
May 31, 2027, is the date set for initial completion of the complex, Rogalski said. Firehawk is “contractually obligated to have something up and running” by that date, he said.
Firehawk also is contractually obligated to create a minimum of 100 jobs at an average salary of $93,500. In addition, an operating covenant requires the company to remain in business in Lawton for at least 10 years.
Construction Manager at Risk is a project delivery method in which the construction manager is involved early in the design phase and assumes financial risk for cost overruns and commits to a guaranteed maximum price.
Herring Construction Co. received a pre-construction fee of $110,000; as the project moves into the construction phase, the company will be paid a fee of not-to-exceed 6% of the construction cost.
Firehawk complex to be on 320 acres in NW Lawton
The complex will be built on a half-section of undeveloped land directly north of the Goodyear tire manufacturing plant, between 112th Street and Goodyear Boulevard. The site is north of what would be Gore Boulevard if the street extended farther west.
The land is owned by the Comanche County Industrial Development Authority.
“We previously signed a purchase and sale agreement” on the 320 acres, and the arrangement is scheduled to close on Monday, Rogalski told Southwest Ledger on Saturday.
A term sheet approved earlier this year established the basics for the agreement. In exchange for the property, LEDA will remit $1.6 million to the CCIDA: $500,000 up front Monday and, starting in two years, four annual payments of $275,000 each.
“In no event” will LEDA’s investment exceed the $22 million that LEDA received in a grant from the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority, a document stipulates. Any costs above that amount will be borne by Firehawk.
The Lawton Industrial Development Authority voted April 28 to issue a note “or other evidence of indebtedness” of up to $8 million as a ‘bridge loan’ to LEDA, to jump-start “the costs of acquisition, development, and construction” of the Firehawk industrial manufacturing facility.
That loan is needed “to address potential timing differences for LEDA in project construction payments and receipt of grant funds for the project,” city records relate.
The proceeds from the $22 million ODFA grant will be awarded in stages, the Lawton City Council was told. “Our first earning, about $1.7 million, was in December,” Rogalski recalled. LEDA anticipates receiving similar amounts monthly until December 2026 or January 2027, he said.
Final maturity of the “shortterm loan” will be in 2029, a bond attorney told the council.
The price of a “full-scale facility” has been estimated at $65 million, Rogalski said. That includes ODFA’s $22 million grant to LEDA, $18 million contributed by Firehawk, plus an estimated $25 million in equipment that Firehawk will install in its complex. However, he indicated the final cost may exceed that estimate by a significant amount.
Mike W. Ray is a fifthgeneration, award winning journalist who has more than 55 years’ experience covering municipal, county, state, and federal government in Oklahoma and Texas. He can be reached at mike.ray@swoknews.com