Construction of new I.T. building underway

Construction crews are building the new Nye County Information Technology (I.T.) building behind the sheriff’s department at 1520 E. Basin Ave., as the ambitious, county building program nears an end.

Nye County commissioners authorized $700,000 for the building in February 2013. Pac-Van was awarded a $664,151 contract to build the I.T. structure, which will be a 3,415-square-foot modular building with space for a computer server room, work room and office space.

It will also have a dedicated backup generator and backup heating and air-conditioning unit. The county is taking leftover funds from the $25.5 million in bonds used to construct the new Pahrump jail.

The county I.T. director’s office building was displaced when the new jail was constructed at the Ian Deutch Government Complex. The county has been paying $1,000 per month to house the five I.T. department employees in office space at a strip mall on East Basin Avenue.

Once it is completed, computer servers in Tonopah will be brought to Pahrump. The building will have a stucco and stone exterior finish.

The I.T. building project was funded at the same time as $850,000 for the One Stop Shop modular buildings that will house the planning, public works and building and safety departments on the Calvada Eye.

Those modulars, however, are still standing after Pac-Van received the $195,375 contract to set the buildings in June 2013. County Manager Pam Webster said the county will be awarding a contract soon to design the One Stop Shop.

The One Stop Shop buildings were acquired at an auction from the Yucca Mountain project. Plans haven’t been announced for the old planning department complex at 250 N. Highway 160.

County Manager Pam Webster has talked about putting it up for sale. Commissioner Butch Borasky suggested asking the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to locate their Pahrump Field Office there instead of in Las Vegas.

County officials said they didn’t have to seek competitive bids in awarding the I.T. building contract to Pac-Van, a vendor listed with the federal government’s General Services Administration. Pac-Van has received numerous county contracts; they were awarded a $1.4 million contract in August 2009 to build the 11,000-square-foot county administration building.

Before that, the company set up modular buildings for the county treasurer, assessor and recorder behind the courthouse. In 2012, Pac-Van received a $544,850 contract to build the health and human services building on the Calvada Eye.

A $16.6 million contract was awarded to Layton Construction to build the new county jail in 2011. It ended up costing $17.5 million after design changes and a sheriff’s impound yard were added.

Pac-Van is a nationwide company that provides mobile offices, office trailers and other portable buildings that are used for construction offices, special events and other uses.