FAA awards $4.3 million to design a replacement tower on Biorka Island

The $4,343,691 award, whose performance period begins Aug. 27, funds design work for a new Air Traffic Control Beacon Interrogator tower on Biorka Island, with an option for the same contractor to build it. The Federal Aviation Administration signed the firm fixed price contract that day. The island lies 13 miles south of Sitka.

The recipient is Kobo Utility Construction Corp., a family-owned heavy electrical utility contractor headquartered in Sandwich, Massachusetts. The federal record flags the firm a small business, which is how it competed: the FAA set the job aside for small business entirely and received three offers under solicitation 6973GH-26-R-00171.

The contract, identified as 6973GH26C00185, runs through Dec. 31, 2027. An interrogator is the secondary half of radar surveillance, prompting aircraft transponders to report identity, altitude, airspeed and direction, according to the FAA.

The FAA has been rebuilding the Biorka station for five years. It replaced the quarters for $3.2 million, ran a fuel cargo line for $1.4 million, drilled a well for $551,276, and paid Shannon & Wilson $220,919 to survey the ground at the beacon site itself, finished in May 2025. A separate $327,909 contract to investigate and remove another tower site runs through March 2027.

The contract as awarded buys drawings, not a tower. Whether the FAA exercises the construction option, and on what schedule, the award record does not say. The record carries no price for it: total potential value equals the amount obligated.