Navy Raises Tutor Perini-Nan's Guam Breakwater Contract to $563M

The USS Seawolf passes the end of the Glass Breakwater as it enters Apra Harbor.

*Photo by Zachary Grooman/U.S. Navy*

The U.S. Navy exercised roughly $232-million worth of options on its contract with a joint venture of Tutor Perini Corp. and Nan Inc. for the Apra Harbor Waterfront Repairs Project in Guam, the contractors announced. The added scope of work brings the contract’s total value up to about $563 million.

The project’s primary focus is the 3-mile-long Glass Breakwater, which bounds the northern side of Apra Harbor. Both Naval Base Guam and the Port of Guam are located in the harbor. The breakwater was damaged by Typhoon Mawar in 2023 and is now a failed structure at risk of breach in another storm, according to the Navy.

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Marianas selected the joint venture for an initial $330.6-million design-build contract last fall with a focus on the most severely damaged sections of the breakwater, and plans to add more repairs as contract options if funding was available. With the contract options now exercised, the contractors will repair the full length of the breakwater, as well as perform shoreline repairs within the inner harbor.

Design work is already underway, and Tutor Perini said in a statement that it expects to start in-water construction later this year. Substantial completion is scheduled for July 2029.

Tutor Perini is the managing partner in the joint venture, with its Guam-based subsidiary Black Construction Corp. executing its work. Nan is a 30% partner in the JV. They were one of five teams Navy officials selected in 2021 to compete for up to $8 billion in work via indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts under its Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program.

During a call with investors Feb. 27, Tutor Perini CEO and President Gary Smalley highlighted the Guam work as part of a slate of projects that helped the contractor reach a record $18.7-billion backlog.

“Our extraordinary backlog growth in 2024 was driven by $12.8 billion of new awards and contract adjustments,” he said.

James Leggate is an government news correspondent at ENR. He has reported on a variety of issues for more than 10 years and his work has contributed to several regional Associated Press Media Editors and Murrow award wins.