ENDIST Chicago

The Department of the Army Corps of Engineers Engineering District Chicago is a sub-agency within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that procures construction, maintenance, environmental monitoring, and facility-management services across the Chicago District's portfolio of locks, dams, waterways, and ecological restoration projects. The District has awarded 1,485 federal contracts cumulatively since 1997, with combined potential value of $1.36 billion and combined dollars obligated of $1.54 billion, indicating heavy reliance on small-value task orders, modifications, and below-threshold purchases alongside larger definitive awards.

Recent award activity has accelerated sharply. The District closed 3 awards in 2022, 8 in 2023, 21 in 2024, 50 in 2025, and 31 year-to-date in 2026. This upward trajectory reflects increased operational and maintenance demand across the District's civil-works portfolio. Roen Salvage CO. dominates recent award concentration by count, holding 6 awards totaling $49.6 million in combined potential value over the last five years; Midwest Construction Co and RTI Laboratories Inc. follow with 5 awards each. Across the last five years, the top five primes account for 19 percent of awards by count but only 6 percent of combined potential value by dollar, indicating a fragmented competitive structure where dollar value is spread across a long tail of mid-sized contractors and specialty vendors. The District transacts heavily through below-threshold purchase orders and RFQs; recent awards with no reported potential value are common.

Set-aside activity reflects a traditional small-business emphasis for construction and services work. Sixty-nine percent of all awards carry no set-aside designation and compete under full and open competition; 24 percent are small-business set-asides (unrestricted competitive or sole-source); 3 percent are 8(a) sole-source; and the remaining 4 percent are split among HUBZone, WOSB, and SDVOSB designations. The District has not awarded grants; all activity is contract-based.

Recent solicitation activity is heavy and diverse. The District is in market research phase for two high-voltage power supply procurements serving the Electric Fish Dispersal Barrier system on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) — one for Barriers IIA and IIB near Romeoville (W912P627MR569570, sources-sought due November 4), the other for barrier maintenance and repair services as a small-business IDIQ (W912P626QA021, due September 11). Infrastructure maintenance dominates the open pipeline: solicitations cover sewer rehabilitation in Chesterton, Indiana (W912P627RA003, small-business set-aside, RFP planned for November); Chicago Harbor Lock environmental sensors and telemetry equipment (W912P626QA031, unrestricted, due September 11); diesel fill-tube and emergency-vent installation at Roush Lake (W912P626QA030, small-business set-aside, due September 11); asphalt sealing and striping at Mississinewa Lake (W912P626QA022, small-business set-aside, due September 9); and site-wide handrailing replacement on the CSSC (W912P626BA029, small-business set-aside, due October 14). A competitive 8(a) embankment repair project for Thomas J. O'Brien Lock in Chicago (W912P626BA028) is planned for Q4 FY26 award. The District also solicited human factors safety analytics and psychological health program evaluation (W912P626QA032, small-business set-aside, awarded to TOR INTELLIGENCE LLC as a sole-source determination under FAR 12.202(a) after an initial competitive RFQ). One high-voltage power supply IFB (W912P626BA027) was cancelled effective September 30 after receiving no responsive bids; the District intends to revise and resolicit.