NIGP 95965: Reef Construction Services Including Maintenance and Repair

NIGP 95965 Reef Construction Services Including Maintenance and Repair, an Item code, covers the supply, preparation, transport, and deployment of materials—primarily decommissioned vessels, manufactured reef structures, and related marine infrastructure—to construct or maintain artificial reef sites in state and local coastal waters. State and local governments procure this work through Florida and Gulf Coast county commissions and municipalities to support marine habitat restoration, fishery enhancement, and ecosystem development projects, typically funded through state grants or federal coastal conservation programs. The work involves specialized marine construction expertise: vessel acquisition and hull cleaning to remove fuels, oils, PCBs, and contaminants; precise GPS-guided deployment at designated seafloor locations; coordination with state environmental protection and Army Corps of Engineers permitting; and compliance with NOAA notification and state cargo manifest requirements. Issuing bodies are predominantly Florida county commissions—Brevard, Volusia, and Escambia counties have posted multiple opportunities in the past four months—conducting procurements through sole-source notices, competitive ITBs, and RFPs with response windows of 14 to 60 days.

Recent activity concentrates in Florida's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Escambia County, Florida issued two related RFPs (PD 25-26.077 in June 2026 and PD2526097 in August 2026, re-solicited) for large-vessel reef deployment at Escambia County Southeast and LAARS East Artificial Reef Sites with January–June 2027 performance, both requiring vessels exceeding 85 feet in length, three prior deployments at 90–200-foot depths, and comprehensive marine liability and pollution insurance. Volusia County, Florida released ITB 26-B-127JS in October 2026 (response due November 5, 2026) for artificial reef deployment services across 18 permitted sites and over 160 individual reefs positioned 1 to 33 miles offshore at depths from 50 to 130 feet, structured as a three-year initial term with two one-year renewal options at $300-ton load lump-sum pricing with 90-day deployment windows and local preference of up to three percent for vendors with six-month permanent locations in six specified Florida counties. Brevard County, Florida posted a sole-source notice for proprietary Spartan Reef Structures manufacture and installation by Southern Management LLC for Banana River habitat restoration, funded through a Coastal Conservation Association grant. Qualification thresholds emphasize prior marine construction experience, seaworthy vessel condition, full environmental compliance capability, and marine insurance portfolios rated at $1 million per occurrence minimum across general liability, pollution liability, and protection-and-indemnity coverage.