Contract Awarded for New Walter Reed

The Navy reached an agreement with contractors to design and build the new $641.4 million Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., at the site of the current National Naval Medical Center. The new facility would replace the existing Walter Reed, located nearby in Washington, D.C., which is scheduled to close by 2011. The new facility will offer 345 beds, inpatient and outpatient treatment, and a full range of medical services, including care for service members who are seriously wounded in combat. It will also provide training and education for military physicians and medical professionals, and serve as a research center. The Bethesda site will gain roughly 2,200 employees once complete. As part of the project, Fort Belvoir, Va., some 30 miles away, will receive a new 120-bed medical treatment facility as well.