HDR Schnabel Reclamation Joint Venture

HDR Schnabel Reclamation Joint Venture, a joint venture between HDR Engineering Inc. and Schnabel Engineering, operates as a prime contractor delivering water resources infrastructure engineering and dam safety services to the Bureau of Reclamation across the western United States, competing on full-and-open federal contracts with no set-aside designations.

The joint venture's capability portfolio centers on seismic hazard analysis, dam structural assessment, comprehensive rehabilitation and baseline reviews, construction management, and technical peer review services supporting the Bureau of Reclamation's dam safety and water infrastructure mission across its 17-state region. Recent representative work includes a $2.99 million delivery order for the Lahontan Basin Area Office Marble Bluff Dam extraordinary maintenance planning study (Bureau of Reclamation, September 2026), a $1.96 million order for cost estimating guides for maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation across the Bureau's portfolio (August 2022), a $413,370 seismic hazard analysis task for Altus Dam (October 2023), and a $368,030 order for seismologist and earthquake engineer technical support under Executive Order 14398 (September 2026). Smaller-dollar orders ($30,000–$300,000 range) address site-specific needs: load certification and rehabilitation reviews, as-built drawing updates, construction support, and feasibility studies at individual dam complexes including Kachess, Hyrum, Scoggins, Patillas, and Pueblo dams.

Customer concentration is absolute: the Bureau of Reclamation accounts for 100% of the joint venture's 18 recent awards and $53.1 million in combined potential value. All eighteen awards are delivery orders placed under a single parent vehicle — the Bureau of Reclamation's $45 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract 140R8121D0012 (awarded October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2026), which carries seventeen of the joint venture's task orders totaling $8.1 million in combined potential value. The concentrated customer and vehicle footprint reflects the joint venture's specialized focus: architect-engineer services for federal water resources and dam infrastructure.

Award activity has declined in volume: five task orders issued in 2022, four in 2023, then one to two per year in 2024, 2025, and 2026 through mid-September. Recompete exposure in the next twenty-four months includes five awards (combined potential value $1.4 million) with ultimate completion dates between October 2026 and September 2027, most notably the parent IDIQ itself, which expires September 30, 2027. SCI-reportable service contract invoicing totaled $1.5 million across fiscal years 2022–2025 (prime contracts only), with peak SCI activity in FY2024 at $780 thousand and $2.4 federal FTEs. Government-paid hourly rates on prime SCI contracts ranged from $46.16/hr (10th percentile) to $285.54/hr (90th percentile), with a median around $167/hr, reflecting a mix of technical staff and senior engineering labor. The joint venture does not use subcontractors on SCI-reportable contracts (0% sub-hours share across prime records), though named subcontractors including Lettis Consultants International Inc., Fugro USA Land Inc., and Trojanowski Dam Engineering Limited appear on individual delivery orders for specialized geotechnical and seismic analysis support.