With little fanfare, the Department of Homeland Security recently posted a notice seeking “surge parking” spaces in several U.S. cities on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Among those cities is St. Louis.
The “sources sought notice” was posted July 21 and seeks “to identify sources capable of providing surface and/or structured vehicle parking spaces in the vicinity of existing or planned ICE facilities.” It does not specify where in the metro area those should be located or provide other parameters, other than saying it wants 30 spaces. ICE previously had office space in the federal building on Spruce Street downtown, but that is not currently listed as a field office on its website.
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What we know
St. Louis was among 14 U.S. cities named in the notice in which ICE is seeking spaces for a five-year term.
The notice is not a call for proposals or a guarantee that ICE will be contracting for parking locally. Instead, it is a form of market research to see what is available in the area, Nicholas Golden, the contact for the notice, said.
The notice lists a deadline of Aug. 7 to submit information, but Golden says this is a mistake and the deadline is this Friday, July 31.
“Whenever you post those, you don’t leave them out that long. Generally, if somebody has something available, they’ll reach out to you,” Golden says. “It’s really tough to get deals done with ICE, so I don’t think that we’re going to get too much interest.”
If there are locations willing to accept 30 ICE vehicles in the area, the agency will decide whether it wants to pursue contract solicitations. If so, it will publish the solicitation and then potentially contract with a person or business for the five-year agreement.
Along with St. Louis, ICE is exploring its parking options in Dallas; Boston; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; New Orleans; Sacramento and Bakersfield, California; Englewood, Colorado; Roswell, New Mexico; Tukwila, Washington; and Oxford, Mississippi.
What we don’t know
Golden declined to say if any businesses in the region had shown interest in the request.
He also was unable to say why these specific cities were chosen, whether the parking spaces were sought for storage or an active operation, or whether ICE is planning to expand its operations in the cities listed.
ICE did not respond to our questions or requests for comment yesterday.
