ForConstructionPros.com

Located in scenic Frederick County, Md., Fort Detrick is a 1,200-acre Army base housing a complex of biological laboratories and communication facilities. The fort was originally a research center for the United States biological weapons program and today is considered among the world's most important biomedical research facilities.

The fort is home to USAMRIID (U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases), a research facility tasked with developing vaccines, drugs, diagnostics and information to counter biological threats. Several of the United States' highest profile biomedical research activities have been conducted at Fort Detrick, including the search for the Ebola vaccine and the examination of the 2001 letter to Sen. Tom Daschle containing spores of Anthrax.

Ft. Detrick is one of only two facilities in the country officially permitted to handle the most dangerous biological agents on earth, inside biosafety-level-5 biocontainment labs (the other is at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta). In addition to its research activities, the fort is also an important federal communications center, housing numerous vital satellite and fiber optic links, including a major bulk data link directly connecting Fort Detrick to the National Security Agency, the White House and the Pentagon.

Given the nature of its mission and its critical role in providing information to the federal government for its ongoing fight against terror, Fort Detrick is a facility that requires a high level of protection against physical threats. In 2005, The Army Corps of Engineers awarded a design-build, force protection and security improvement project at Fort Detrick to ESA Environmental Specialists Inc. that included concrete work around the security checkpoint. Maryland-based PCM was subcontracted by ESA for the concrete work.

Founded in 1992, PCM is a full-service provider of facilities maintenance and concrete services. Its concrete offerings include fabrication and repair of sidewalks, loading docks, ramps, stamping, sealing, epoxy injections, curbing, Dumpster pads, steps and landings, patching, spall and soffit repair, and expansion joints. Given its strong list of client references and geographic proximity to Fort Detrick, PCM was a natural fit for the job.