ICE Adds a Temporary Detention Facility at Port Isabel, Texas, on a Sole-Source Contract

A September 10 contract with Akima Infrastructure Protection is coded 8(a) sole source, with one offer: $13.75 million obligated and $87.9 million potential value through November 2027. The record gives no bed count. Four construction awards followed at the same site the same month.

By E. Lawrence Anderson, Yellow Jacket Initiative

On Thursday, September 10, 2026, ICE signed a contract with Akima Infrastructure Protection LLC "to provide a temporary detention facility and detention support services at the Port Isable [sic] Detention Center." The award number is 70CDCR26C00000011. The figures below are from the federal spending record as of its last modification, Wednesday, September 23, 2026.

The strongest innocent reading. Port Isabel is an existing ICE detention center near Los Fresnos, Texas. A temporary facility there adds short-term capacity at an established site rather than opening a new one. Sole-source awards to participants in the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program, including firms owned by Alaska Native Corporations, are authorized by statute and are common. Only about one sixth of the contract's potential value has been committed so far, and ICE may never exercise the options.

What the record shows (as of October 24, 2026).

Type: a definitive contract, not an order under a larger vehicle. Awarding office: ICE Detention Compliance and Removals.
Place of performance: Los Fresnos, Cameron County, Texas.
Term: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 through Tuesday, November 30, 2027.
Money: $13,753,594.38 obligated; $87,892,104.87 potential value with all options, as of September 23, 2026. No outlays reported yet.
Competition, exactly as coded: extent competed "NOT AVAILABLE FOR COMPETITION"; solicitation procedure "ONLY ONE SOURCE"; authority "AUTHORIZED BY STATUTE (FAR 6.302-5(A)(2)(I))"; set-aside "8(A) SOLE SOURCE"; offers received: 1. Firm fixed price.

That coding is the record's, not our finding. It is also a different kind of award from the WEXMAC task orders we have covered, which were coded full and open with four and six offers.

What else is happening at the same site. In the same month, ICE's construction office made four more new awards at Port Isabel: a design-build secure housing unit (70CMSW26FR0000082, Burrow Global JV, $21.4 million obligated, starting Monday, September 21), and three starting Wednesday, September 23: dorm roofing ($2.6 million), a lift-station rehabilitation ($1.1 million), and painting and wastewater-plant work ($4.2 million). Akima has held the site's annual support order since at least December 2023; the current one (70CDCR26FR0000007, $49.4 million obligated, from Monday, December 1, 2025) covers detention and transportation support.

Why we are reporting it. A temporary detention facility is capacity. This one adds to an existing site that received four construction awards in the same month. That is consistent with what the spending record has shown since June: the buildout has been concentrated, not cancelled.

What is not established. The record does not say how many beds the temporary facility holds, whether it is soft-sided, or where on the site it sits. We did not check for a public notice or solicitation. Federal contract reporting can lag by weeks. Obligated money is a commitment, not money spent.

Sources: USAspending.gov, award record 70CDCR26C00000011 and award search for Port Isabel, first retrieved October 21 and re-checked October 24, 2026.

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