Our Work

U.S. Embassy Additions - Kabul

Project Scope

The work at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan was Caddell’s largest and most complex contract to date. Building an $800+ million project anywhere is a major achievement, but mobilizing the manpower, materials and equipment to build a secure diplomatic facility of this size in a landlocked country at war took the very best in project management, coordination, creativity and innovation. With logistical roadblocks at every turn, an intense security environment and a workforce speaking nine different languages, the challenges were daunting. The Caddell team responded with resiliency and excellence, met all project objectives and successfully completed 14 new buildings–totaling more than1.3 million SF–on an active diplomatic facility whose mission-critical wartime operation could not be interrupted. In fact, two entire buildings were Tier 3, fully redundant, N+1 mission critical facilities.

On September 30, 2010, Caddell was awarded its largest contract to date—the $416,029,000 Design/Build Additions to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. An enormous undertaking at the outset, scope additions over time would nearly double its size, and the contract that was to finish in four years ultimately took 10. The initial contract award encompassed the State Department’s Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) scope of work that included design and construction of four buildings totaling 816,000 SF. Prior to Caddell’s FY10 contract award, there had been an FY09 scope of work awarded to another contractor. By mid-2011, it was clear this other contractor’s lack of progress was negatively impacting the FY10 project, and the State Department was compelled to terminate that contract. Based on Caddell’s solid performance up to that point, the FY09 scope was added to Caddell’s contract. This monumental $222.5 million change added design and construction of 10 more buildings totaling 510,000 SF. The record-breaking initial contract had instantly grown to $638.5 million. Over the course of the next eight years, as the U.S. Government’s mission in Afghanistan evolved, another $167+ million in scope additions, including an entire additional building, amounted to a total contract value of just under $806 million—in a landlocked country in the middle of an active war zone.

FY10 D/B scope of work: 

  • Two new, 8-story, 679,000 SF diplomatic staff apartments (SDAs 2 and 3). These are considered one building due to a shared common foundation and lower level community center—including a gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, fitness center, grocery store, cafeteria, library, TV/media room, meeting rooms, and a courtyard. This is the largest single building ever built by the U.S. Department of State.
  • New, 6-story, 131,000 SF totally secure office building (known as the NOBX) with connectors to the adjacent existing office building at each floor
  • 5,500 SF expansion of the existing Marine Security Guard residence.

FY09 D/B scope of work added after original contract was underway: 

  • Additional 7-story, 226,000 SF new office building (known as the NOX)
  • Additional 8-story 228,000 SF diplomatic staff apartment building (SDA 1)
  • New 16,700 SF utility building
  • New 20,200 SF warehouse addition
  • New compound perimeter walls
  • New guard towers
  • Three new compound access control buildings
  • Three new water treatment buildings

Additional scope added during the project: 

  • Renovation to convert existing office space to controlled access space
  • Physical security upgrades compound wide
  • Power Plant additions
  • Underground fuel storage expansion
  • Utility Building 3
  • Reconfigure diplomatic staff apartments from 1-bedroom to 2-bedroom units.

“Navigating extreme logistical challenges, a multi-national workforce, and an ever-evolving security environment were all uniquely amplified in this project, all while working on an active post whose critical mission could not be interrupted. The Caddell team did all of this and achieved the project’s objectives. Congratulations on a job well done!”

- Chrissie Fields, Department of State Contracting Officer