W A Ellis Construction CO.

W A Ellis Construction CO., doing business as Missouri Rock, operates as a small business prime contractor (100% prime footprint) specializing in riverbank stabilization, navigation channel maintenance, and rock materials procurement for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers across the Missouri River corridor. The company is headquartered in Independence, Missouri, and competes predominantly under total small business set-asides on definitive contracts and delivery orders within the heavy civil engineering and construction materials space (NAICS 237310, 237990).

Customer concentration is extreme and singular: the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers accounts for 100% of combined potential value across the vendor's footprint. Within USACE, work splits between the Kansas City Engineering District (50 awards, $131.2 million combined potential value) and the Omaha Engineering District (4 awards, $102.3 million combined potential value), with the Kansas City District dominating recent activity. The vendor operates as the sole or primary contractor on Missouri River-specific programs with no subcontractor relationships in the source data.

Missouri Rock holds two active multiple-award IDIQs with USACE Omaha District: a $49 million indefinite delivery contract awarded August 28, 2025 (BSNP River Structure Maintenance), set aside for total small business and running through August 26, 2030, and an earlier $49 million IDIQ awarded July 21, 2023 (Missouri River BSNP MATOC), also total small business, expiring July 20, 2028. Both vehicles support task order issuance for navigation channel maintenance, stone placement, excavation, and construction of revetments, dikes, and chevrons. The vendor also operates under legacy IDICs with the Kansas City District (DACW4182C0204 with 18 task orders and DACW4179C0114 with 11 task orders) and performs work under the USACE KC Missouri River Bank Stabilization Navigation Protection program (11 task orders, $33.4 million).

Representative recent work includes a $51.8 million definitive contract from the Kansas City District awarded October 1, 2022 (total small business set-aside) for stone placement along the Missouri River between River Miles 360–498 near Napoleon, Missouri, with completion targeted for October 27, 2026; a $4.3 million definitive contract awarded May 26, 2026 (total small business set-aside) for navigation obstruction removal at River Miles 90–91, completing December 7, 2027; a $3.577 million definitive contract awarded July 11, 2025 (total small business set-aside) for obstruction removal at River Miles 67–69 near Washington, Missouri, completing December 17, 2026; and a $4.322 million delivery order from the Omaha District awarded July 31, 2023 for North Chute repairs on the BSNP MATOC, completing September 23, 2025. The vendor also supplies bulk rock materials—a $217,020 BPA call awarded September 20, 2024 for 3,000 tons of Type 1 rock, 300 tons of road rock, and 2,740 tons of shot rock.

Activity has declined from a single award in 2022 to averaging fewer than two per year since 2023 (2023: 4 awards; 2024: 1 award; 2025: 3 awards; 2026: 1 award to date). The vendor faces a recompete cliff of three awards (combined potential value $59.7 million) with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months, representing material exposure on its Kansas City District definitive contracts. Combined potential value across all 207 awards in the source spans $479.3 million, with $259.7 million obligated to date (54% of ceiling).