Sources Sought
Sources Sought for Calcaiseu River Saltwater Barrier FRP Tainter Gate
Department of Defense · Department of the Army
AI summaryThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, posted a sources sought notice (market research, not a request for offers) for five replacement fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) Tainter Gates (large water-control gates) at the Calcasieu River Saltwater Barrier. The buy is design, fabrication and delivery only: two gates in the base bid and three more as an option, with the Army installing them. The response due date is November 4, 2026, 1:00 PM local time; the requirement may be set aside for small businesses or open to all. More in the summary
Market research, not a bid. Replying is free and tells Department of the Army who could do this work. Send a short reply to the contracting contact; no price is needed. See the contact
AI summary Beta
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, posted a sources sought notice (market research, not a request for offers) for five replacement fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) Tainter Gates (large water-control gates) at the Calcasieu River Saltwater Barrier. The buy is design, fabrication and delivery only: two gates in the base bid and three more as an option, with the Army installing them. The response due date is November 4, 2026, 1:00 PM local time; the requirement may be set aside for small businesses or open to all.
Who can bid
- Bonding will be required for the project, so bidders need bonding capacity (the notice asks for individual and aggregate bonding capability)
- Businesses of all sizes may respond, but each must state its business size in its capabilities statement
How to submit: Email to Taylor Brandon (taylor.h.brandon@usace.army.mil) and Karen Hargrave (karen.d.hargrave@usace.army.mil). What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (7)
From the version posted Oct 16, 2026.
- Serious: Bonding required for the project. The Corps says the project will require bonding, so a small firm needs bonding capacity or a joint venture partner.
- Serious: Two-Phase Design Build is planned. This notice is market research, before any phase. The notice gives no phase dates and does not say who may take part in the second phase.
- Worth checking: Set-aside not decided. SAM.gov shows no set-aside. The Corps may set the work aside for small businesses in full or in part, or use full and open competition, based on responses.
Show all 7Show fewer
- Worth checking: Davis-Bacon wages expected. The contract is expected to include work by labor categories covered by the Davis Bacon Act (federal minimum wage rates for certain trades), which affects labor pricing.
- Worth checking: Gates must match existing steel gates. The new gates must fit the existing structure and be interchangeable with the steel gates, so exact specifications matter.
- Minor: Not a solicitation. Responses are not offers, no award is promised, and no money is paid for preparing a response.
- Minor: No phone calls. Telephone inquiries are not accepted; questions go in writing to the contract specialist named in the notice.
Read from the notice and 1 attachment. Show which files.
- W912P8-27-SS-0001 Sources-Sought.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Design, fabricate and deliver five replacement FRP Tainter Gates: two in the base bid, three in an option bid
- Make each gate fit the existing structure and work interchangeably with the steel gates (bolted connection, seal locations, machinery lifting connections, similar weight and center of gravity)
- Deliver the finished gates by barge to the Calcasieu River Saltwater Barrier and Sector Gate facility, where they are off loaded
- No gate installation: USACE (the Army Corps of Engineers) will install them
- Respondents send a capabilities statement of no more than 20 pages that answers nine listed questions
- Contract type
- Anticipated firm-fixed-price (FFP: one set price, whatever the work ends up costing), Two-Phase Design Build contract
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- Offers due
- November 4, 2026, 1:00 PM local time (SAM.gov: 1:00 PM Central)
- How to submit
- Email to Taylor Brandon (taylor.h.brandon@usace.army.mil) and Karen Hargrave (karen.d.hargrave@usace.army.mil)
- Page limits
- Capabilities statement: 20 pages
What to include when you submit
- Give your organization name, address, email, website, telephone number, and size and type of ownership
- Send a tailored capabilities statement with documents that support your claims about company and staff capability
- If you plan to use subcontractors or teaming partners, describe how that arrangement will be managed
- Say clearly whether your firm is a small business (size standard 750 employees)
- Say where your fabrication plant is, where you would do field assembly, and the size limits of the fabrication site
- State your individual and aggregate bonding capability, and whether you would form a joint venture to qualify for larger projects
- Say whether you are interested in the Two-Phase Design Build process and can cover both design and fabrication, directly or through partners
- List your firm's capabilities and relevant projects
- Mark anything proprietary; marked data is protected from release outside the Government
Not in the notice text
- The solicitation itself is not out yet; if one is released it will be posted on SAM.gov (the government-wide point of entry), and its date is not given
- Whether the work will be set aside for small businesses, in full or in part, is not decided
- Dates for each phase of the Two-Phase Design Build process, and who may take part in the second phase, are not given
- Gate sizes, weights, delivery schedule, contract period and the Government's estimate are not given
- Place of performance (where design and fabrication happen) is not stated; delivery is to the Calcasieu River Saltwater Barrier and Sector Gate facility
- Whether there is a site visit is not stated
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside. Any business can reply: this is market research, and no bid is being taken yet.
- To respond, send a short reply to the contracting contact near the top of this page. No price is needed.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 16, 2026
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Office
- W07V ENDIST New Orleans, LA
- Product/service code
- 9330 · Plastics Fabricated Materials
- Business type
- Manufactured parts & equipment (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 326199)
- Versions
2 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 16, 2026 · Amendment 0001 (this version)Due Nov 4, 2026
- Oct 16, 2026 · Sources SoughtDue Nov 4, 2026
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
Terms on this notice: Sources sought notice
Full notice text from SAM.gov
Similar open opportunities
- Illinois River Basin, Brandon Road L and D, Joliet, Illinois, Flushing Lock and Dam Gates FabricationThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, wants to buy ten fiber reinforced polymer (FRP: a strong composite plastic) gates and valves for the Brandon Road Lock and…
- TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: SiloGetter
- TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: Extremely Light Foam (ELF)