Pre_Bid_Galveston_Harbor_W9126G-16-B-0006.pdf

Pre‐Bid Conference

Galveston Harbor Channel Hopper Dredging, Galveston County, Texas

Solicitation No. W9126G‐16‐B‐0006

February 16, 2016; 11am CST

Galveston District Corps of Engineers (SWG) Call in info: 877‐336‐1280, access code: 3719439, security code: 1234

MEETING MINUTES:

1. Participants:

a. Tricia Campbell (Galveston District, Operations Manager),

b. Ed Morgan (Galveston District, Resident Engineer, Galveston Resident Office)

c. Brandon Smolinsky (Galveston District, Design Engineer for contract, Resident Engineer, Houston

Resident Office),

d. Richard Thorson (North Atlantic Division)

e. Patrick Chambers (Mississippi Valley Division)

f. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock: Andy Funke, John Whitehead, Paul LaMourie

g. Manson Construction: Henry Schorr

h. Weeks Marine: Chuck Broussard, Keith Lindsey

2. Brief Overview of project:

a. Maintenance dredging of Galveston Harbor with placement at Galveston ODMDS.

i. ‐46+1, and portions at 43+1 and 42+1 in order to maintain the different templates of the harbor.

ii. Hopper dredges have worked in the Galveston Harbor several times over the past 10 years due to insufficient capacity at the upland placement areas.

3. Discussion: Plant availability concerns

a. Government concerns:

i. Galveston District looks at Pommer Hopper Dredge Status report. Galveston Harbor Contract has been in DIS for a year and a half as well as other contracts such as Corpus Christi Ship

Channel (Feb 2016 Advertise), Freeport Entrance Channel (May 2016 advertise), and the Sabine

Outer Bar and Bank Contract (June 2016 Advertise).

ii. DIS call in November 2015 and the Galveston District Dredging meeting in December 2015 and

SWG didn’t receive any feedback regarding plant potentially not being available for this job.

Galveston District realizes that plant may shift frequently due to requirements but appreciates feedback before solicitation as well.

iii. Galveston District is willing to discuss concerns regarding the plant availability, but is constrained as well.

1. Due to limited funding, we’ve already had to delay our bid opening once after initial advertisement in order to prepare an amendment to reduce the scope of the job because of additional quantities that have shoaled in the channel.

2. Delayed the bid opening further in order to conduct this pre‐Bid conference.

3. If we delay the job any further, then we will likely have to further decrease the scope of the job due to our funding constraints.

4. Further de‐scoping the job jeopardizes not meeting the needs of the channel users.

5. Even if we award the job, but delay NTP, we would potentially still have to further de‐ scope because material will be shoaling in the channel while waiting on the dredge to arrive and before Govt conducts BD surveys.

b. Contractor Plant Availability concerns/questions:

i. Pommer report fairly representative. The more flexibility put into the contract will allow more opportunities for receiving plant.

ii. Question: Can the Government provide interim shoaling rate? Answer: Govt can provide an estimated shoal rate, but the rate varies by cycles based on the last time the channel was dredged and the Contractor cannot hold us to that rate.

iii. Suggestions of delaying NTP or removing requirement to start work within 15 days: due to aforementioned shoaling issues, Govt cannot continue to further delay NTP. Potential for removing requirement for starting within 15 days is possible, provided Govt perform BD surveys within a specified amount of days after NTP. Galveston also would have to work through some contracting challenges associated with the Contractor’s period of performance since the clock starts at NTP.

iv. Question: can scows be used on this project? Answer: the Government isn’t sure if scows have the clearance to be used. SWG will check into it, but project will likely remain hopper.

c. Other concerns: All parties are working under constraints with timing. SWG works to time the projects so that they don’t conflict with the East Coast Turtle Window, so the Government is already constrained on the timing of its contracts.

4. SWG appreciates everyone participating in this call and we appreciate the feedback so that we can work to minimize potential issues. Galveston District has a history of partnering with the Hopper dredging community to meet our missions, and takes Contractor feedback into consideration. We appreciate feedback and encourage the industry to continue to contribute on the national calls and provide us any input to help us better schedule our contracts.

5. Follow up: SWG will internally discuss the concerns identified during today’s meeting. Meeting minutes will be distributed via an amendment (or a special notice in the FedBizOps system). Any changes to the solicitation, if determined necessary, will be addressed via an amendment.