ICE Awards GardaWorld $313M Contract to Convert Surprise Arizona Warehouse Into 1,500-Bed Detention Center via DOD Procurement

On March 6, 2026, ICE awarded GardaWorld Federal Services a $313.4 million contract to convert a 400,000-square-foot industrial building in Surprise, Arizona into an immigration detention facility with capacity for up to 1,500 people. The federal government had previously spent approximately $70 million acquiring the 418,000-square-foot warehouse near Dysart and Cactus roads. The contract was awarded through a Department of Defense procurement vehicle — an existing DoD-administered multiple-award IDIQ (parent N0002325D0032) rather than a fresh ICE solicitation. It was NOT, however, awarded without competition: the award’s own FPDS record shows FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION with 6 offers received and fair opportunity given. ¹ GardaWorld, the Virginia-based US subsidiary of a Canadian private security and armored-car conglomerate, has no prior direct detention-facility operating history — though it manages guards at the “Alligator Alcatraz” site in the Florida Everglades.

This is part of the same WEXMAC-TITUS-linked pattern documented in the Tremont PA ($119.5M, Blue Owl), Williamsport MD ($102.4M, FRND-Hopewell), and Salt Lake City (Deutsche Bank, $145.4M) transactions: warehouse acquisition via bypassed procurement, retrofit contracts at extreme premiums, and selection of contractors without detention operational track records. Note the limit of that comparison here: whatever holds for Tremont, Williamsport, or Salt Lake City, this specific award was competed (6 offers). Do not carry the “bypassed procurement” characterization onto the Surprise contract — see the sourcing note below. Human Rights Watch’s April 9, 2026 report “Another Disturbing Surprise From ICE” connects the Surprise site to the broader documented pattern of detention abuses. Local officials say ICE is now considering scaling the planned capacity down to roughly 542 beds; the facility is expected to open by September 2026. Arizonans began organized protests of the facility in April 2026.