A federal courthouse in Butte is getting a seismic retrofit with low-embodied-carbon procurement rules bolted onto it, which makes it one of the more closely watched $24 million jobs in the country.
GSA awarded the design-build contract for the Mike Mansfield Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse to Swank Enterprises of Valier, Montana, in May 2025. The roughly $24 million allocation comes through the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean construction program.
Project Scope
Seismic upgrades are the core. Around them sit facade and historic preservation repairs, full HVAC replacement, accessibility improvements and building pipe system upgrades. The roof is being replaced with low-profile solar panels on it, and a geothermal heat pump system is under consideration.
Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson holds a $2 million construction management and commissioning contract. The IRA funding carries a materials condition: concrete, steel, asphalt and glass bought for the project have to clear low-embodied-carbon thresholds. That is a procurement discipline most courthouse retrofits have never had to run.
GSA projects the work cuts annual maintenance costs by at least 20% and extends the building’s operational life by roughly 50 years.
Why It Matters
Most seismic retrofits of historic federal buildings are invisible by design. The point is that the building looks the same afterward. What makes this one worth following is the paperwork. GSA ran a formal public input process on the retrofit scope in July 2024, unusual transparency for a courthouse, and the IRA reporting requirements mean the embodied-carbon numbers get published rather than estimated in a vendor deck.
A Montana contractor winning a federal courthouse design-build is also worth noting. These packages usually go to national firms with dedicated federal groups and standing bonding capacity.
The building is named for Mike Mansfield, the longest-serving Senate Majority Leader in U.S. history and a Butte native who started work in the mines as a teenager.
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Project Team & Details
| Owner / Client | U.S. General Services Administration |
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| Consultants | Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (Construction Management and Commissioning) |
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| General Contractor | Swank Enterprises |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Delivery Method | Design-Build |
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| Funding Source | Public (Federal) |
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