Essex River Maintenance Dredging

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District will be issuing a Small Business Set aside Invitation for Bids (IFB) procurement for maintenance dredging of the Essex River Federal Navigation Project (FNP) located in Essex, ME. The NAICS code for the work is 237990 (size standard of $37M). Construction is expected to take approximately 3 to 4 months to complete. The estimated construction cost is between $1,000,000.00 and$5,000,000.00.

Any responsible source meeting this standard may submit a bid to be considered by the New England District. The proposed work consists of mechanically dredging approximately 17,500 cubic yards (cy) of sand and silty material from the 4-foot channel and 4-foot anchorage (below Mean Lower Low Water) and placing at two geographically different locations.

Sandy shoal material dredged from the project will be hauled approximately 2 miles from the entrance of Essex River to the Ipswich Bay Nearshore site while the silty material from the head of navigation will be dredged and hauled approximately 29 miles from the mouth of the river to the Isle of Shoals North placement site.

Of the 17,500 cy project total approximately 7,000 cy is required dredging with the remaining 10,500 cy considered 1-foot of allowable over depth to bring the project back to its authorized dimensions. The work in this area will require significant coordination around the tide as the Essex River sees tide ranges as high as 9 feet during normal tide cycles. Dredging and disposal operations will be performed between October 1, 2024 and March 23, 2025 to meet environmental time of year (TOY) restrictions.

In order to accomplish all dredging requirements within the specified dredging window it is expected that the Contractor will need to meet a production rate of 8,000 CY per 30 calendar days. Environmental coordination and permitting has been completed by the U.S. Army of Engineers, New England District