HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Department of Public Health and Social Services confirmed for senators that the site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Lab will be in Mangilao.
The medical complex plan included the construction of a CDC Lab and, according to Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, the grant to construct the lab is set to expire in August 2026. Given that, the Committee on Health, Land, Justice and Culture held an oversight meeting Thursday to discuss the requirements of the grant.
The CDC Lab would span 35,000 square feet. It would serve DPHSS and also have the potential to provide confirmatory biosafety level 2 and 3, or BSL-2 and BSL-3, analytical testing capability for clinical human specimen and workforce development, according to Public Health.
The project is funded by a $32 million grant to the governor from the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation under the U.S. Department of Defense.
“The current site now is a vacant lot in Mangilao near the (University of Guam) campus between the Guam Cultural Repository and the building that houses Ron’s Diner,” said Sabino Flores, senior engineer with the Community Defense Liaison Office under the governor’s office.
According to Flores, the lot is 7 acres and “sufficient to meet the 5-acre requirement stipulated in the grant.”
“The status right now with that site is we are in the design and development phase. The purpose of that phase is to ensure the needs of Public Health are considered and addressed in the development of the design prior to going to the construction documents phase, which would involve detail drawings for bidding purposes,” Flores said.
Engineering and architecture design firm HDR was awarded the $5 million contract for the design by the subrecipient of the grant, the Association of Public Health Laboratories and Department of Public Works. The construction agent receives $27 million.
“The grant has stipulated milestones. The first milestone was to complete the design ready for bid by Dec. 31, 2023. The expected start date of construction is June 1, 2024 and the completion June 30, 2026,” Flores said.
He said that, because of delays and the recent selection of the site, an amendment to the grant is being prepared to extend the deadlines.
Flores said completion of the design is targeted for April 2025, followed by construction to start in November 2025, with completion of construction of the CDC Lab by November 2027.
“There are a lot of moving parts we have to go through the environmental phase and that’s required under the grant. We are adhering closely to the grant to ensure that the … process is completed prior to disturbance of any ground at the site,” Flores confirmed.
Flores confirmed that there are no impediments to construction on the lot identified.
Public Health confirmed that because the site in Mangilao has been selected for the CDC Lab, the plan for the medical complex can be modified to remove the CDC Lab from its footprint.
Public Health has been renting a space for its CDC Lab since the 2019 electrical/smoke incident at the Mangilao Public Health facility, which resulted in the agency vacating the building. But the lab has been limited as a result.
“Currently, we do perform with best practices for biosafety level 3, but even the biosafety the (Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories) CDC requires a BSL-3 facility for us containing these pathogens that I just mentioned, which is anthrax, so we are not able to handle anthrax,” Guam Public Health Laboratory director Ann Marie Santos said.
The new facility would be able to handle BSL-3 pathogens, she said.
“But also for unknowns and also for training, we have a training room that will be part of this building. So we’re hoping that the building will support everyone and anyone in the Pacific region,” Santos said.
The vacant lot between the Guam Cultural Repository and the F&J Building is pictured Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, along Route 32 in Mangilao.
