Solicitation
Maintenance Dredging of the Isle au Haut Thoroughfare near Isle au Haut, Maine
Department of Defense · Department of the Army
AI summaryThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New England District (Department of the Army) wants a small business to mechanically dredge about 3,355 cubic yards of sand, gravel and cobble from the Isle au Haut Thoroughfare channel near Isle au Haut, Maine. This is set aside for small businesses and requires a bid guarantee (a bond or similar security that backs your bid). The response due date is November 10, 2026, 1:00 PM Eastern, and bids are opened at 2:00 PM Eastern on a Teams call. More in the summary
AI summary Beta
The notice looks incomplete: The drawings, specifications and full solicitation were not in the text provided; only two amendments were read, so check the solicitation files on SAM.gov for the contract type, price schedule and contract duration. Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New England District (Department of the Army) wants a small business to mechanically dredge about 3,355 cubic yards of sand, gravel and cobble from the Isle au Haut Thoroughfare channel near Isle au Haut, Maine. This is set aside for small businesses and requires a bid guarantee (a bond or similar security that backs your bid). The response due date is November 10, 2026, 1:00 PM Eastern, and bids are opened at 2:00 PM Eastern on a Teams call.
Who can bid
- Small business set-aside: the award is expected to go to a small business
- Bid guarantee submitted with the bid, in line with the guarantee clause (RFO 52.228-1)
- A PIEE account to submit the bid electronically
How to submit: Electronically through the Solicitation Module in the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE), the Army's online submission system. 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 20, 2026.
- Serious: Small business set-aside. Only small businesses can win this award, so confirm your size under the NAICS code before spending time on a bid.
- Serious: Bid guarantee with wet-signed original. A bid without the original guarantee arriving by the bid opening time is rejected, so line up the surety or other guarantee before the response due date.
- Worth checking: Dredging window September 15 to April 1. Work is limited to the anticipated window to protect spawning shellfish and fish habitat, which can constrain scheduling and equipment.
Show all 7Show fewer
- Worth checking: Dredge must handle compacted sand, gravel and cobbles. The Corps requires a mechanical dredge able to dig highly compacted coarse sand and gravel with cobbles and small boulders.
- Worth checking: Limits on subcontracting apply. The limitations on subcontracting clause (RFO 52.219-14) caps how much of the contract price you may pay to subcontractors, with periodic reporting.
- Minor: Response due date extended by amendment. Amendment 0001 extended the due date and Amendment 0002 extended the bid opening due date; neither amendment text states the new date, so use SAM.gov's November 10, 2026, 1:00 PM Eastern.
- Minor: File naming example uses a different solicitation number. The instructions say to start file names with the solicitation number, but the example shows W912WJ26BA016 rather than W912WJ27BA003; ask the contracting officer if unsure.
Read from the notice and 2 attachments. Show which files.
- Amendment0001.pdf (read)
- Amendment0002.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Mechanically dredge about 3,355 cubic yards (1,183 cubic yards required plus 2,172 cubic yards overdepth) from a channel 75 feet wide and 1,200 feet long
- Dredge to -6 feet Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW, the average low-tide depth reference), plus 1 foot of one-time advance maintenance and up to 1 foot of allowable overdepth
- Use a mechanical dredge able to dig highly compacted coarse sand and gravel, with cobbles and isolated small boulders
- Place the dredged material at the Flake Island Disposal Site, about 1 nautical mile northwest of the channel
- Work within the anticipated dredging window of September 15 to April 1
- Contract type
- Not stated; bids are opened publicly and the apparent low bidder is announced
- Period of performance
- Not stated; the anticipated allowable dredging window is September 15 to April 1
- Place of performance
- Isle au Haut Thoroughfare Federal Navigation Project, between Isle au Haut, Maine and Kimball Island, Maine; SAM.gov leaves the place of performance blank
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- Offers due
- November 10, 2026, 1:00 PM Eastern
- How to submit
- Electronically through the Solicitation Module in the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE), the Army's online submission system
What to include when you submit
- Submit bids only through the PIEE Solicitation Module; paper, email, fax and other methods are not accepted
- Include a scanned copy of the original bid guarantee with the electronic bid
- Mail or deliver the original bid guarantee, with wet signature and raised seal if applicable, to Bid Opening Official - Contracting Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742, so it arrives by the bid opening time and date
- Start each file name with the solicitation number, then the firm's name, then a short file description
- Acknowledge receipt of each amendment before the due time
- Allow upload time; the PIEE-recorded upload completion time counts as the receipt time
Current contractor
No incumbent is named. The notice calls this maintenance dredging of an existing Federal Navigation Project.
Not in the notice text
- The drawings, specifications and full solicitation were not in the text provided; only two amendments were read, so check the solicitation files on SAM.gov for the contract type, price schedule and contract duration
- Whether there is a site visit, and whether it is required, is not stated
- Which wage rule applies (a Davis-Bacon wage determination, the federal pay rule for construction workers) is not stated
- The bid guarantee amount and whether performance and payment bonds are required are not stated
- How the award is decided is not stated beyond the apparent low bidder being announced at bid opening
- The bid opening date is not written in the amendments; the bid submission time is 1:00 PM Eastern and the bid opening time is 2:00 PM Eastern
Eligibility and how to respond
- Set aside for small businesses: only a business that counts as small under this notice's NAICS code can bid as the prime contractor. More open small business set-asides under NAICS 237990
- How to submit, from the AI summary: Electronically through the Solicitation Module in the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE), the Army's online submission system. Check it in the notice before you send anything.
- Construction contracts over $2,000 pay at least the local Davis-Bacon wage rates, from the wage determination in the solicitation. Price your labor from it: How to price a government contract, and how Davis-Bacon differs from the Service Contract Act.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 20, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Office
- W2SD ENDIST New England, Concord, MA
- Product/service code
- Y1QA · Construction of Restoration of Real Property (Public or Private)
- Business type
- Construction & renovation (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 237990)
- Versions
6 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 20, 2026 · Amendment 0005 (this version)Due Nov 10, 2026
- Oct 20, 2026 · Amendment 0004Due Nov 10, 2026
- Oct 19, 2026 · Amendment 0003Due Nov 10, 2026 (changed)
- Oct 6, 2026 · Amendment 0002Due Nov 5, 2026
- Oct 6, 2026 · Amendment 0001Due Nov 5, 2026 (changed)
- Oct 5, 2026 · SolicitationDue Nov 2, 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
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
- Set-aside contracts explained
Terms on this notice: Solicitation, Set-aside
Full notice text from SAM.gov
The Isle au Haut Thoroughfare Federal Navigation Project, located between Isle au Haut, Maine and Kimball Island, Maine on the outskirts of Penobscot Bay, about six miles southeast of Stonington and 25 miles east of Rockland. The Federal Navigation Project consists of a -6-foot Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) deep by 75-foot wide extending 1,200-foot in length through the shoal in the thoroughfare.The proposed work consists of mechanically dredging approximately 3,355 cubic yards (cy) (1,183 cy required, plus 2,172 cy overdepth) of shoaled material consisting of highly compacted coarse sand and gravel, with areas of cobbles and isolated small boulders from the channel. Due to the material type, a mechanical dredge with the ability to dig highly compacted coarse sand and gravel will be required. The proposed action is to dredge to the authorized depth of -6-foot MLLW plus an additional 1-foot of required advance maintenance with an additional allowable 1-foot of overdepth (e.g. -7-foot MLLW required + 1-foot allowable OD). One-time, advanced maintenance is approved for the entirety of the 1200-foot long authorized channel. The dredged material will be placed at the Flake Island Disposal Site (FIDS) which is approximately 1 nautical mile northwest of the FNP. Placement of the dredged material (sand, gravel and cobble) at Flake Island Disposal Site will benefit both juvenile lobster habitat and juvenile cod by increasing the areas habitat complexity.The anticipated allowable dredging window is between September 15 and April 1 to avoid impacts to spawning shellfish, benthic resources, Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) of federally managed species, threatened and endangered species and interactions with mobile fishing gear.
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