Construction Services for Confined Aquatic Disposal Cell Construction and Maintenance Dredging of the Providence River Federal Navigation Project, Providence, Rhode Island.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District is issuing a Sources Sought Announcement for the upcoming dredging project located in Providence, Rhode Island. This announcement is to determine the interest, availability and capability of Small and Large Business concerns as described below. The NAICS code for this procurement is 237990. The solicitation for this project is anticipated to be issued on or about 15 March 2027.  The construction will begin in September 2027 and is expected to take approximately 2 years to complete.  The estimated construction cost is between $80,000,000 and $100,000,000. 

The Providence River Maintenance Dredging project involves two major sequences of dredging and disposal activities. The first work sequence will be the construction of a new Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) cell adjacent to the Providence River. The second work sequence under this contract will include maintenance dredging of the Providence River and Harbor Federal Navigation Project (FNP) to its authorized depths and dimensions. The proposed work consists of mechanically dredging approximately 5,500,000 cubic yards (cy) of material using closed clamshell buckets for both major sequences of work over the course of two years.

The new CAD cell will be in the Edgewood Basin area located adjacent to the Providence FNP (hereafter the “Edgewood Shoals North (ESN) CAD cell”). To access the CAD cell area, an access channel will be dug between the Providence FNP and the CAD cell area. The access channel will be approximately 100 ft wide and -25 MLLW deep. The CAD cell will have surface dimensions of approximately 1000 ft. by 1000 ft. and be dug to a depth of -60 MLLW. The material excavated to build the access channel is generally a mix of sandy silt and shell fragments. Within the CAD cell area the material is generally described as soft grey to black organic silt with some layers of firm sandy silt and some shell fragments and coarse-grained material. Material excavated from the access channel and CAD cell area will be placed at four locations: Port Edgewood Basin, the Fox Point Reach CAD cells, Prudence Island Disposal Site, and the Rhode Island Sound Disposal Site. This work consists of mechanically dredging approximately 3,200,000 cy to construct thew ESN CAD cell and its access channel, which must be completed before maintenance dredging of the FNP can begin.

The maintenance dredging proposed work consists of mechanically dredging the Providence River FNP to the full -40 MLLW depth plus 2-feet of allowable overdepth. 2,300,000 cy (1,200,000 cy required depth, with up to 1,100,000 cy overdepth) of shoaled material consisting generally of poorly graded medium to fine sand with silt. The dredge material from this maintenance portion of work will be placed in the ESN CAD cell.

Environmental coordination and permitting is being completed by the U.S. Army of Engineers, New England District. All dredging and disposal activities for this project have prescribed work windows that incorporate environmental and recreational time of year restrictions. Refer to the Draft Specification Section provided with this announcement for specifics on the time of year work 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 300,000 CY per 30 calendar days.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District is requesting responses to the questions below from both small and large businesses[MC1] . Draft drawings showing a concept design plan and draft Specification Section of 01 11 00 SUMMARY OF WORK have been provided with this announcement to help provide more context for the contract work and responses to these questions.

1. Considering the different disposal locations, are there suggestions on a bid structure that will provide for the most accurate costs of different disposal locations?
2. Any draft restrictions that may impact dredging and/or disposal operations?
3. Any concerns on the period of performance of September 2027 to September 2029 considering the environmental windows and amount of work? If so, why?
4. Any comments about the bed leveling planned in the Fox Point Reach? Are there concerns about this part of the plan, if so, why?

Interested firms should also demonstrate their project experience, by providing two (2) projects within the last ten years, which meet the following requirements:

• Dredging by mechanical means demonstrating a minimum production rate of 300,000 cubic yards in one consecutive 30-day period.
• Experience with placement of dredged material at an open water placement site in New England during the fall/winter months of October through March.

Interested firms should submit a capabilities package to include the following: business classification (i.e. HUBZone, etc.), type of equipment the firm is proposing to use on the project, and two (2) example projects performed by the firm in the last ten (10) years (including Points of Contact for those projects) showing experience with the proposed equipment at the production rate listed above. Please indicate the team subcontractor(s) (if any), including their prior experience and qualifications meeting the same qualifications listed above, which will be used to support the bidder's effort. Firms may use subcontractor experience to demonstrate experience with the requirements, but the role and work performed by each team member (prime and subcontractors) on projects demonstrating that team member's experience shall be the same as the role for that team member for this project. Bid bond will need to be provided with the bid.

Responses are limited to twenty pages and due by December 03 , 2026. Responses should be addressed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2751, ATTN: Kyle Hall, or electronically to Kyle.K.Hall@usace.army.mil. The Government will not pay for any material provided in response to this market survey nor return the data provided. This notice is for information purposes only and is not a request to be placed on a solicitation mailing list nor is it a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a solicitation. The results of this survey will be considered to be in effect for a period of one year from the date of this notice.

Government Agency URL: www.nae.usace.army.mil

Government Agency URL Description: New England District, Corps of Engineers