Maintenance Painting for Bourne Bridge, Cape Cod Canal, MA

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District is issuing an unrestricted Issue-For-Bid solicitation for the Maintenance Painting of the Bourne Bridge located at the Cape Cod Canal, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. The project is planned to be issued in May 2024.  The period of performance will be approximately 600 days.   The estimated magnitude of this project is between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000.

The project involves maintenance painting of below deck structural steel members that have been exhibiting varying degrees of paint loss and/or corrosion.   Bourne Bridge is a seven span structural steel vehicular traffic truss bridge spanning across the Cape Cod Canal with a total length of about 2,400 feet.  The bridge carries four lanes of vehicular traffic, two lanes in each direction into and off Cape Cod.  Center span arch truss is over water while remaining six spans are mostly over land.  The corroded steel surfaces and/or surface areas of paint loss are found at various locations and on all parts of the bridge framing. 

Several major group of painting areas included in the project scope are as follow:

• Paint steel framing surfaces either side of the bridge deck expansion joints.
• Selective removal of 500 SF of bridge deck Stay-In-Place (SIP) forms that are corroded and loose posing potential hazard to the public below.
• Selective painting of corroded structural steel surfaces for bridge spans 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Surface preparation on areas to receive painting shall include solvent cleaning to remove grease, dirt, and salt, as well as the elimination of large or loose particles of paint and rust through wire brushing, light

tapping, and scraping. The surfaces will then receive one coat of epoxy rust-penetrating sealer, and one compatible final overcoat from same manufacturer of the sealer. The overcoat color shall closely match the color of the existing bridge paint. Areas to be painted shall be jointly coordinated and determined by the Contractor and the Government prior to start work.

The bridge was completely repainted in 2006, which involved the removal of the original paint system to bare steel and the application of a new system. The original paint system consisted of two coats of red lead and linseed oil and a finish coat of white lead and linseed oil. Although the existing paint systems were removed, minor areas of lead primer/paint may still exist under the current coating system, and the bridge shall not be considered a de-leaded structure. Some residues may contain remnants of the original lead-containing primer/paint, necessitating debris containment. Full containment is not required for this project; however, the Contractor is required to follow best management practices for the collection and off-site disposal of cleaning residue and particles, and adhering to all applicable Federal, State, and local laws and regulations. Special care shall be taken to minimize the potential for debris or other residue from migrating to nearby properties or waterways.

Significant steel repairs were conducted throughout the bridge in 2012. In 2022, all bridge bearings underwent cleaning, greasing, and painting. These recently painted bearing areas are Not In Contract (NIC). 

The Bourne Bridge shall remain fully operational throughout the contract.

There is no time of year restrictions for work on this project. However, exterior painting is highly dependent on the ambient temperature for its application.  Contractor shall strictly adhere to the written surface preparation and application instructions and recommendations published by the approved paint manufacturer.

Please note that this pre-solicitation is an unrestricted Issue-For Bid document. This is not a request for proposals at this time; the solicitation requirements and contract documents which will include instructions for submission and the response date will be available on or about May 2024.  Neither telephonic, mailed, nor faxed requests for hard copies of this solicitation will be accepted.  The solicitation will only be available online; in order to view the solicitation offerors must access the System for Award Management website (www.sam.gov).   In order to download the solicitation, offerors must access the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (https://piee.eb.mil/).   All responsible sources may submit a bid which shall be considered by the USACE New England District.   Additional questions may be emailed to the Contract Specialist Kyle.K.Hall@usace.army.mil.