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An existing vehicle known as the Worldwide Expeditionary Multiple Award Contract, or WEXMAC, which the federal government had been using to quickly procure support services for US military personnel around the globe, was modified in 2025 to include the United States itself as a region for vendors to provide services. <\/p>\n
Aspen Medical USA was among the businesses that secured eligibility<\/a> as vendor under the contract. But the company hasn\u2019t placed bids on any DHS task orders, and might never do so, Bond said. <\/p>\n Bond said in an email Thursday that his company regularly conducts \u201cviability exercises\u201d to \u201cmap market conditions\u201d in relation to the government\u2019s expected staffing needs. That\u2019s what led to the \u201cspeculative\u201d job postings based on DHS\u2019s plans in New Hampshire and other markets, he said.<\/p>\n The question of whether to actually partner with DHS and provide health care staffing services for ICE\u2019s sprawling new network<\/a> of detention facilities is \u201ca very touchy subject\u201d that\u2019s spurring serious conversations among business leaders, Bond said. <\/p>\n On the one hand, a company like Aspen Medical wants to ensure that vulnerable people receive great care, he said. On the other hand, there\u2019s a risk of being perceived as enabling an unpopular program with a less-than-ideal history. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the choice between trying to do good in a flawed system or boycott the system and risk that the only people who suffer as a result are the vulnerable that you could have helped,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n The plan to convert an industrial warehouse in southern New Hampshire into a regional ICE detainee processing center with 400 to 600 beds has sparked intense opposition from local, state, and federal leaders who object both to the plan itself, and the federal government\u2019s refusal to communicate openly about its intentions. <\/p>\n Even after the Globe published a story on Wednesday linking Aspen Medical\u2019s job listings to the proposed ICE warehouse in Merrimack<\/a>, an unnamed DHS spokesperson released a statement that didn\u2019t answer any questions about the facility. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have no new detention centers to announce at this time,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThese will be very well structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards.\u201d<\/p>\n The situation has repeatedly placed Governor Kelly Ayotte in an uncomfortable position. Ayotte, a Republican, has largely expressed approval of efforts to increase immigration enforcement activity. She signed legislation banning \u201csanctuary\u201d policies and encouraged state and local police to sign agreements to help make arrests on ICE\u2019s behalf. But a series of communication breakdowns, with the federal government<\/a> and also within her own administration<\/a>, have fueled questions and growing calls for her to actively oppose the ICE facility. <\/p>\n Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat, called on Ayotte last week to do \u201ceverything in her power\u201d to block ICE\u2019s warehouse on behalf of the entire region. Ayotte replied by blaming Healey and others in Massachusetts for creating \u201ca billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis\u201d in New England. <\/p>\n This is the tense political environment in which vendors are weighing which government contracts to seek and which to avoid. <\/p>\n Bond said any applications that Aspen Medical collected in response to speculative job listings are placed in an applicant pool. They won\u2019t be reviewed by a human unless the company decides to pursue a contract in the relevant market, he said. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile I don\u2019t want to deal in absolutes,\u201d he added, \u201cit is not looking likely that we will ever bid on any of these facilities.\u201d <\/p>\n Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @reporterporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n