Immigration and Customs Enforcement intends to award a sole-source contract modification to Akima Infrastructure Protection LLC for what the agency describes as a “temporary detention structure” capable of holding up to 100 detainees at the Buffalo Service Processing Center in New York, according to a notice of intent posted on SAM.gov. The agency did not open the work to competition.
Companies that believe they can also meet the requirement have until 5 p.m. Aug. 28 to make that case, though the posting states that whether to compete the procurement is solely within the government's discretion.
The sole source notice states that the structure will house detainees “of all security levels” within the existing property of the service processing center and will conform to ICE’s Performance-Based National Detention Standards. It does not state a dollar value for the contract, and the government says it reserves the right to cancel the award.
New York Focus reported in July that the Department of Homeland Security described the project as a new “hard-sided detention facility on federal property” but would not say what the phrase meant, a term former Homeland Security officials told the outlet could describe a conventional building, a prefabricated one, or a tent set on a concrete base.
New York’s Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, which bars counties from holding people on behalf of ICE, took effect Aug. 25. New York Focus also reported that DHS called the expansion necessary “due to New York State laws prohibiting counties from contracting with ICE to house illegal aliens.” The Justice Department sued the state in June over those statutes, and a federal judge declined to block the provisions barring 287(g) agreements, which deputize local officers to perform immigration enforcement.
Akima Infrastructure Protection operates the migrant detention facility at Guantánamo Bay under a contract that required the company to guarantee it could expand capacity to 400 people by building a tent city, the Guardian reported. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that ICE awarded the company roughly $18 million in April 2025 for temporary housing services at the Krome Service Processing Center in Miami.
ICE cited FAR 6.103-1, the provision permitting an award when only one responsible source can meet the requirement, as its authority for bypassing competition. Market research by the agency’s Office of Acquisition Management and by Enforcement and Removal Operations “determined that only Akima Infrastructure Protection, LLC can meet the requirement in the required timeframe without unacceptable risk to ERO operations,” the notice says. Awards made under that authority require a written justification and approval document.
A separate justification approving a different sole-source award shows ICE is also acquiring real property at the site, Project Salt Box previously reported. In June, Ice issued an award to First American Title Insurance Company for title abstract, escrow and settlement services covering property purchases at Batavia and at ICE processing centers in Florence, Ariz., and Krome, Fla. The existing centers “will be expanded to enable additional administrative, medical, training and detention facilities and space,” that justification says.
ICE valued that work at $240,000 and cited unusual and compelling urgency as a reason for the lack of competition. The agency wrote that the schedule was set by “seller-imposed closing deadlines” and that no other firm expressed interest in writing. Under the exemption ICE claimed, the requirement was never publicly advertised. The justification lists a period of performance ending Dec. 15, and states that market research ran from April 7 through May 7, 2026.
Batavia is New York's only ICE-run detention center. Akima has provided detention and transportation support services there since August 2025 under a separate contract that runs through July 2035 and has drawn $32.9 million across two task orders, according to federal spending records.
In February, the facility held 745 people against a rated capacity of 650, according to data compiled by TRAC Immigration and reported by WHAM-TV.
The detention standards the notice invokes require prescribed medication and timely medical care. A Homeland Security inspector general report published in June 2025 found that staffing shortages at Batavia delayed dental and off-site specialty care, and that ICE carried a backlog of 150 detainees awaiting outside appointments between September 2024 and February 2025. The Intercept and Investigative Post reported in November that the facility has no doctor or dentist on site.
ICE could not be immediately reached for comment.
A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul said the governor “has been clear: there is no need for DHS to move forward with expanding any detention facilities in the state.” The spokesperson said New Yorkers deserve transparency from the federal government and that Hochul would continue to demand answers.
In July, Hochul wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin seeking details about ICE construction in the state.
“So I ask: is your Department building or expanding immigration detention facilities in New York? If so, where, to what capacity, and under what authority?” Hochul wrote.
This article has been updated to include a quote from Gov. Hochul’s office.
Why do images of people shivering inside metal buildings spring to mind?
This cannot stand! NY must defeat this.