Framaco International, Inc. has been trusted by the United States Federal Government contractors in around 80 countries to deliver highly engineered materials and architectural components and perform construction management, procurement, and logistics services—often in remote places and on challenging terrain. The result is a unique business contracting to a select few.
To illustrate, some of the company’s milestone commercial projects over the past 10 years include its subcontracting participation in Qatar, with a new, $15 billion airport, a $6 billion medical center, and a $8 billion downtown Doha revitalization project, to mention but a few.
Working around the clock to deliver unsurpassed procurement services within its niche, this company means business, and its hard work is paying off. The past four years have proven to be spectacular, with increased demand driving an expansion of the company’s staff and a double-digit growth trajectory—culminating in its best year ever in 2023. Framaco is currently distributing U.S.-engineered products and servicing U.S. contractors in over 24 countries this year alone.
Headquartered in Rye Brook, New York, the company also established an office in Turkey two decades ago. Today, its offices employ an impressive team that includes qualified architects, engineers, estimators, project managers, and logistics personnel, giving it the ability to support very large projects in the region. This strategy also affords the company a global presence, as no matter what time of day it is anywhere in the world, there are Framaco staff members ready to assist.
“Very few American distributors have that type of edge,” says Gilles Kacha, co-founder and CEO, who kindly took some time out of his busy schedule to speak with us.
Recently winning a contract in Japan has brought the number of locations in which Framaco has worked to 80 countries. “It is quite an achievement for us,” says Kacha. “The competition is very slim; many companies in America don’t have the capability, capacity, or international know-how which is years in the making,” he says. “They may have a fear of international work. We don’t. But once you fail, you’re out. And for that, we have a zero tolerance for failures,” he continues, underscoring the importance of using the drive for excellence, value engineering, and problem-solving skills to avoid error altogether by dealing with any issues that crop up fast.
The Kacha brothers, Gilles and Paul, established Framaco International, a U.S. entity, three decades ago. The enterprise was brought to life after the brothers collaborated with a contractor building military facilities for the U.S. forces abroad. In need of all the services the company supplies today, the contractor presented the brothers with a few requests. They stepped up to the challenge, establishing themselves today as leaders in delivering top-quality American manufactured materials anywhere in the world.
“Interestingly enough, our very first project was in Botswana, Africa. It was a Voice of America relay station,” Kacha says of the early days. “Fast forward to today, and we have participated and delivered over 300 projects globally, and have a team constantly scouting for work opportunities that the U.S. Government is soliciting.”
The company’s services now include providing customer engineered materials and architectural supplies to Navy, Air Force, and Army facilities through Department of Defense prime contractors; Department of State Overseas Building Operations on Embassies and Consulates; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and USAID’s construction projects abroad.
Since 2019, Framaco has also been working on several extensive projects in the Pacific Region for the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), where new naval facilities are planned to reach from Micronesia to Hawaii. Framaco has been working in locations such as the Marshall Islands, the Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii and others. Moreover, it is executing other NAVFAC projects in the Azores off the coast of Portugal and in Spain.
One of Framaco’s newest projects, for which it has received several contracts, is in the Spanish Naval Base in Rota in the province of Cadiz, Spain. The new NAVFAC buildings in all these locations are highly engineered to ensure optimum safety for service and Navy combat personnel, both from natural disasters and military attacks.
Framaco International, Inc. operates across two divisions. The first is its procurement, distribution, and logistics arm, headed by Gilles, who is responsible for earning new business and maintaining customer relationships while also handling aspects of the company’s non-classified project management department. The procurement, distribution, and logistics division is run by more than 30 industry experts ranging from administration staff to quality controllers, estimators, project managers, and logistics professionals—each with the skills it takes to run a high-stakes, high-energy organization such as this.
The company’s construction management division is headed up by Gilles’ brother, Paul. This division specializes in running the construction of classified and non-classified global facilities like U.S. Embassies and Consulates for the U.S. Department of State. To date, the team has completed nearly 20 such Design and Build projects. “The construction management division has so far completed more than $800 million in contracts for the U.S. Government, recently delivering the new $115 million Embassy in Port Moresby,” says Kacha.
Framaco’s industry is comparatively small and, therefore, news travels fast. “We have established a very reputable name over the years. Today, top contractors throughout the world come to us. They are constantly inviting us to partner on their projects,” he says of the rock-solid relationships he has forged with American manufacturers over the past 30 years. As an international distributor, Framaco offers its partners improved stability in their revenue by making it possible to expand their footprints without having to do the legwork themselves.
To fortify its own revenue base and in response to its customers’ evolving needs, Framaco continuously expands its offering and its presence in its ever-growing territories around the world. This drive was born of the struggle involved in supplying American materials to far-flung corners of the planet where standard infrastructure is often limited.
Another interesting aspect of this work is that Kacha often discovers clients’ secondary needs, making Framaco the obvious choice as its team already has access to a wide range of suppliers and represents a single point of contact. “We take full ownership of projects, moving procured products to the middle of the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. We have a team of in-house traffic and logistics professionals offering a complete single-source, full-service solution for these clients,” he explains.
Framaco’s clients typically require sophisticated materials that are not commonly available. Therefore, every project is a feat of precision in sourcing, planning, and execution. Following an extensive solution-finding phase, drawings are drafted, planning starts, and logistics strategies are charted. It is a tremendously complex process, with the finest details being of cardinal importance to a successful outcome. Sometimes, that means involving nearly 20 expert manufacturers to deliver a single contract, something most competitors would shy away from.
For Framaco International, Inc., the future is firmly rooted in its existing niche, so the team will continue pursuing contracts for the United States Government while doing everything in its power to support green initiatives and achieve the LEED certifications required for the majority of its projects. Alongside this, the company is committed to ensuring that its services remain current and cutting-edge, as it seeks the latest technologies in every field it covers. This drive is partly spurred by the often harsh realities of climate change.
With the constantly changing environment, one case in point is the need for radically high-security, blast-proof, and hurricane-proof building technologies and materials that support safety. As such, Framaco and its portfolio of vendors remain at the forefront of innovation to secure American defense forces with safe facilities everywhere on Earth.
“We want to continue to be the go-to for our clients. We want to continue to expand our international reach and partnerships,” Kacha says. Through nonstop improvement and a dedication to developing its growing team’s expertise, acumen, and prowess, Framaco International, Inc. will continue to make notable strides in the future of this construction niche globally through hard work and the determination to thrive.
