The Navy awarded nearly $300 million for new family barracks in Guam, after conditions with some of the barracks on the island left the Secretary of the Navy “shocked and dismayed.”
The Department of Defense announced last week that the Navy awarded Global Pacific Design Builders in Guam $297 million to design and build brand new family housing meant to replace existing structures at Andersen Air Force Base. The project is currently set to be completed by December 2028.
The decision to replace existing housing comes two months after a report from the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group. The report revealed internal Navy communications showing the extent of the disrepair at Andersen. Photos and internal emails noted extensive mold that had been painted over, corroded plumbing, water damage and multiple cases of exposed wiring. The Palau Hall barracks, in particular, was singled out, although the POGO report noted that other buildings were in similar disrepair. Vice Adm. Scott Gray, the head of Navy Installations Command, wrote in an email that the barracks were “clearly way outside any reasonable standard.”
POGO’s investigation and an inspection by Navy Secretary John Phelan sparked a service-wide review of the state of Navy barracks. The conditions at Andersen Air Force Base were so bad that Phelan ordered dozens of Marines and sailors living in those barracks to move into Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, located approximately a dozen kilometers west on the island, a month ahead of schedule.
The Air Force base houses airmen as well as soldiers and occasionally sailors and Marines. The Air Force told Pacific Daily News in May that the damage and conditions in the barracks stemmed in part from damage that occurred from Typhoon Mawar, which heavily damaged Guam in 2023, and the base was still cleaning up from in 2024. The Air Force’s statement added that the barracks “have no health or safety concerns.” However, the Navy’s inspection found that the buildings were “clearly neglected.”
“I actually thought the buildings were condemned,” Phelan told the Project on Government Oversight at the time. “When we pulled up to them and saw what shape they’re in, I was shocked.”
Several dozen Marines and Navy personnel from a helicopter rescue squadron were living there in the spring to be closer to a new hangar after their previous one was wrecked in Typhoon Mawar.
At the time of the report in late May, approximately 430 soldiers and airmen were living in the base’s barracks, according to the Air Force. Pacific Daily News reported last month that 77 airmen in Palau Hall would be relocated ahead of a multi-million dollar renovation of the barracks.
The new contract is being funded in increments, with the first $170 million given with the award.
Andersen Air Force Base is one of three major military installations on Guam, alongside Naval Base Guam and Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz. Roughly 21,000 military personnel and dependents live on the island, and that population is expected to grow. The Department of Defense has been expanding its presence on the island as part of its wider redevelopment of military capabilities in the Pacific.
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