UNSPSC 81102100: Ocean engineering

UNSPSC 81102100 Ocean engineering (Class) encompasses coastal protection and marine infrastructure design, permitting, and construction support services that state and local governments procure for shoreline restoration, beach nourishment, seawall replacement, and related waterfront resilience projects. Recent state and local solicitations show coastal engineering firms providing professional services spanning feasibility assessment, regulatory coordination with USACE and state environmental agencies, bathymetric surveys, sediment analysis, construction administration, and long-term monitoring for erosion control and storm damage recovery across multiple project phases. Sarasota County, Orange County California, and Florida municipalities dominate recent activity under this code, with county governments and special-purpose districts (ports, airport authorities) issuing the bulk of opportunities. Representative recent solicitations include Sarasota County's RPS for the Casey Key Resiliency Project (due August 19, 2026) covering design, permitting, and construction support for beach restoration and 45 coastal structures along a 4.5-mile shoreline involving approximately 1,005,800 cubic yards of sand placement, and Sarasota County's South Siesta Key and Manasota Key beach restoration RPS solicitations (due January 15 and January 13, 2026, respectively) each requiring comprehensive coastal engineering for storm recovery and scheduled maintenance across 2.1 and 4.4 miles of shoreline. Additional work streams include the Port of Port Orford's seawater delivery system design-build procurement (due March 11, 2026) and the Town of Palm Beach's Mid-Town Seawall Replacement Owner's Representative services (due February 27, 2026) and progressive design-build seawall replacement project ($20 million budget, due April 30, 2026).

Recent activity concentrates in Florida and California, with secondary activity in Oregon, Connecticut, and Georgia coastal zones. Florida procuring bodies—Sarasota County, Orange County, and municipalities including Palm Beach, Sebastian, Guilford, and Union City—account for the plurality of recent opportunities, followed by California public works departments and flood control districts in Orange County. Coastal engineering work is highly specialized and capital-intensive; qualification thresholds typically require minimum five to ten years of experience, Florida or California professional engineering licensure, relevant project references from public-sector coastal restoration, and substantial insurance (professional liability $1–5 million per claim, marine liability up to $1 million where applicable). Prevailing wage compliance applies to federally funded projects, particularly those receiving FEMA, FAA, or state coastal management grants. No set-aside designations are standard in the recent opportunities, though some solicitations note SBE or DBE preferences or good-faith effort pathways where federal funding requires participation goals. Many opportunities are structured as Request for Professional Services (RPS) or Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for on-call task-order pools rather than single fixed-scope contracts, with compensation negotiated per deliverable on time-and-materials or cost-plus-fixed-fee bases.