Mechanical Dredging, Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) St. Paul District intends to issue an Invitation for Bid (IFB) for mechanical dredging services on the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri.

Project work includes, but is not limited to, furnishing all plant, labor, material, and equipment necessary for dredging with a backhoe, dragline, or other mechanical equipment on marine plant, and transporting dredged material to designated placement sites. Contractor shall furnish, deliver, and operate dredge and attendant plant for maintenance dredging between Upper Mississippi River Miles 614.0 and 857.6 and between Minnesota River Miles 0.0 and 14.7 in the St. Paul District and between Upper Mississippi River Miles 614.0 and 300.0 in the Rock Island District.

This procurement is a total small business set-aside. The Government intends to award an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type contract consisting of a base period and four option periods. The estimated price range for the base period is between $1 million and $5 million. The appropriate NAICS code for this procurement is 237990, Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction (Dredging and Surface Cleanup Activities), with a small business size standard of $25.5 million.

To comply with the Small Business requirement set forth at note (1) of Small Business Size Standard 237990, Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction (Dredging and Surface Cleanup Activities), the small business prime contractor must perform at least 40 percent of the volume dredged with its own dredging equipment or dredging equipment owned by another small dredging concern. The SBA has interpreted the 40 percent rule to apply only to equipment involved in the act of excavation and not to "auxiliary equipment" involved in other functions, such as the transportation of excavated sediment from the dredge site to the disposal site (see Size Appeal of American Construction Co. Inc., SBA No. SIZ-5420 (2012).