Construction Services for Maintenance Dredging of the Milford Harbor, Connecticut Federal Navigation Project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District is issuing a Sources Sought Announcement for maintenance dredging of the Milford Harbor Federal Navigation Project (FNP) located at Milford, CT.  This announcement is to determine the interest, availability, and capability of Small Business and Large Business concerns as described below.  The NAICS code for this procurement is 237990 with a size standard of $32.5M.  The contract solicitation is planned to be issued on or about May 2023.  The construction will occur in the late fall/winter of 2023/2024, with a portion that may commence in the summer. Work is expected to take approximately three months to complete.  The estimated construction cost is between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000.

The Milford Harbor FNP consists of a 10-foot deep Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW), 100-foot-wide entrance channel, an 8-foot-deep MLLW, 100-foot-wide inner harbor channel, and 8- and 10- foot anchorages of varying width.

The proposed work consists of dredging up to appropriately 65,000 cubic yards (CY) of material from shoaled areas of the FNP.  All areas of the FNP, aside from the upstream portion of the 8-ft inner harbor channel, will be dredged to the authorized project depth, plus one foot of allowable overdepth.  A mechanical dredge will be used to remove material from the shoaled portions of the channels.  The plan includes dredging of approximately 5,000 CY of sandy material from the 10-foot entrance channel for placement at the Bayview Beach Nearshore Site, located approximately 1.5 miles east of the FNP. The remaining 60,000 CY of silty material will be dredged for placement at the Central Long Island Disposal Site (CLDS). The CLDS is located 11 miles southeast of the FNP in the Long Island Sound.

The anticipated allowable dredging windows are as follows: The dredging of the sandy material in the 10-foot entrance channel for nearshore placement at Bayview Beach would be conducted between June 1 and January 31. Dredging of silty material in the 10-foot entrance channel, 8-foot inner channel and the 8- and 10-foot anchorages for placement at the CLDS would be conducted between October 1 and January 31.

In order to accomplish all dredging requirements within the specified dredging window the Contractor will need to meet a production rate of up to about 20,000 CY per 30 calendar days.  Environmental coordination and permitting is being completed by the U.S. Army of Engineers, New England District.

Interested firms should demonstrate their project experience by providing two (2) projects within the last ten years which meet the following requirements:

• Dredging by mechanical means in tidal waters with depth of 10 feet or more, demonstrating a minimum production rate of 20,000 CY in one consecutive 30-day period
• Experience with transportation and placement of dredged material in both a coastal environment and at an offshore ocean disposal site during the months of October through December.

Interested firms should submit a capabilities package to include the following: business classification (i.e. HUBZone, etc.), type of equipment the firm is proposing to use on the project, and two (2) example projects performed by the firm in the last ten (10) years (including Points of Contact) for projects showing experience with the proposed equipment at the production rates listed above. Please indicate the team subcontractor(s) (if any), including their prior experience and qualifications meeting the same qualifications listed above, which will be used to support the bidder’s effort. Firms may use subcontractor experience to demonstrate experience with the requirement, but the role and work performed by each team member (prime and subcontractors) on projects demonstrating that team member’s experience shall be the same as the role for that team member for this project. Bid bond will need to be provided with the bid.

Firms may use subcontractor experience to demonstrate experience with the requirements.  Bid bond will need to be provided with the bid when the solicitation is issued. 

Responses are limited to twenty pages and due by February 24, 2023.  Electronic responses should be addressed to Ahmed Ismael at ahmed.ismael@usace.army.mil.  The Government will not pay for any material provided in response to this market survey nor return the data provided.  This notice is for information purposes only and is not a request to be placed on a solicitation mailing list nor is it a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a solicitation.  The results of this survey will be considered to be in effect for a period of one year from the date of this notice.