BGS and DOC tell Senate committee funding cuts could delay correctional facility upgrades

Buildings & General Services (BGS) and the Department of Corrections (DOC) told the Senate Institutions Committee that current funding levels for correctional facility projects risk delays or reduced scope if the committee does not restore or allocate additional funds.

Joe Aja, BGS director of design and construction, said the door control upgrade projects are under contract with a construction manager and that the team expects to receive bid and guaranteed‑maximum‑price information in the coming weeks. He described trimming original estimates from an initial estimate above $10 million toward a target of about $8 million and said bids will determine what is feasible. "When you say reduce scope, how detrimental is that to the overall project?" a committee member asked; Aja responded that the exact impact won’t be known until bids are in and the construction manager identifies tradeoffs.

DOC and BGS staff warned about operational impacts from staggered work. The two sites covered by the door control appropriation are interconnected (a regional correctional facility and the community work camp), and staff said doing one site without the other would require duplicate systems and added disruption. "It wouldn't make sense to do them one at a time," a BGS official said, noting the work is operationally tied together.

On boiler replacement at a corrections site, BGS described long lead times for the boiler (about six months from shop drawings and order to delivery) and additional structural work (about four months). Staff said governor‑recommended funding ($2,000,000) had been reduced by the House to $1,000,000 and that the committee maintained $1,000,000 in the current spreadsheet; they cautioned that delaying procurement and preorders could add roughly a year to the project and raise costs. "If we don't get the additional funding... we will then have to work with that construction manager on what to cut," a BGS representative told the committee.

On DOC Wi‑Fi, committee staff noted the House reduced a $3,000,000 appropriation to $1,000,000; BGS said it does not have the security and technology analysis to estimate installation costs precisely and recommended further analysis with ADS and DOC before committing to large cash spending.

Committee members asked BGS and DOC for written schedules, preorder lists and cost breakdowns and deferred final funding decisions until those materials and additional agency testimony (ANR, ADS) are available.