Wheatley Dam Dredging Services

Charles County, Maryland is soliciting sealed electronic bids from qualified dredging firms to provide wet dredging, hauling, and sediment disposal or beneficial reuse services at Wheatley Dam reservoir located at Gilbert Run Park (13140 Charles Street, Charlotte Hall, Maryland 20622). The scope of work includes mechanical dredging of accumulated sediment identified in the northern and eastern portions of the reservoir through bathymetric and sub-bottom profiling surveys conducted in December 2024, with a minimum of 3,000 cubic yards per service event. Deliverables include mobilization and demobilization, reservoir sediment dredging, sediment hauling with transport and dewatering, beneficial reuse or disposal at Maryland Department of Environment (MDE)-approved facilities, post-dredging bathymetric survey data upon County request, and optional barge usage. Qualified contractors must demonstrate at least five years of active dredging services experience and provide documentation of three completed comparable projects within the past five years involving freshwater dredging, wetland dewatered sediment hauling, and sediment disposal or beneficial reuse facility assessment. All work must comply with MDE permits for Wetlands and Waterways, Dam Safety, Water Quality, and Erosion and Sediment Control; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requirements; and OSHA safety standards. Dredging activities are restricted to daytime hours Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with all disruptive activities completed before Memorial Day or commenced after Labor Day to accommodate park operations. A non-mandatory pre-bid meeting is scheduled for February 10, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. via teleconference (registration required by 8:00 a.m.), with written questions due February 13, 2026, at 11:00 a.m., and sealed bids submitted electronically via Charles County's eProcurement Portal (https://secure.procurenow.com/portal/charlescountymd) by February 27, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. The contract will commence upon execution following a seven-day protest period and continue through March 31, 2027, with four optional one-year renewals at the County's sole discretion; unit prices shall remain firm through the base term with adjustments for renewal periods permitted based on Consumer Price Index changes.

This procurement is subject to Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) compliance requirements and Small Local Business Enterprise (SLBE) preference considerations for contracts valued under $500,000. A five percent bid bond from a Maryland-licensed surety is required with each submission, and the selected contractor must provide a $100,000 performance bond and labor and material payment bond at contract execution. Required insurance coverage includes commercial automobile liability ($1,000,000 per person/$2,000,000 per occurrence bodily injury and $500,000 property damage), workers' compensation per Maryland statutory requirements, commercial general liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate), employers liability ($500,000 per accident and per employee), pollution liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate), marine liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate), environmental insurance ($2,000,000 per occurrence/$3,000,000 aggregate), and cyber insurance ($1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate). All bidders must submit experience documentation, vendor disclosure forms, MWBE compliance plans, SLBE certifications, non-collusion affidavits, and bid bonds electronically with their proposals. The estimated project cost is $750,000, with 100 percent funding provided by Charles County through Fiscal Year 2026 budget allocations; the actual contract value will be determined based on competitive unit pricing for dredged material (per cubic yard), hauling, disposal or beneficial reuse fees, and ancillary services. No incumbent contractor has been identified, and the total volume of sediment dredged will be contingent upon the cost per cubic yard quoted and the County's financial resources and project priorities.