New Haven Harbor Improvement Dredging, New Haven, CT

The New Haven Harbor Improvement Dredging project in New Haven, Connecticut, is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers procurement under solicitation number W912WJ26BA012, managed by the W2SD Endist New England office of the Department of Defense. This unrestricted Invitation for Bid (IFB) targets commercial dredging contractors with a NAICS code of 237990 and a $37 million size standard, inviting any responsible bidder to compete for a contract estimated between $50 million and $100 million. The project involves mechanically dredging the federal navigation channel extending from Long Island Sound to the Quinnipiac River confluence to increase depth from 35 feet to 40 feet below mean lower low water (MLLW), with rock areas requiring removal to a minimum of 42 feet MLLW, allowing a 2-foot overdepth allowance. The channel will be widened to 600 feet at the entrance, 800 feet through the breakwater bend, and 500 feet along the main channel. Up to 3.5 million cubic yards of fine-grained silt and organic material, 850,000 cubic yards of medium- to fine-grained sand, and 60,000 cubic yards of rock are expected to be removed. Material will be transported via scows primarily to the Central Long Island Sound Disposal Site, with up to 1.5 million cubic yards designated for beneficial use at four local placement sites near the harbor. Dredging is planned over two seasonal windows—October 1, 2026, to March 1, 2027, and October 1, 2027, to March 1, 2028—with a minimum production rate of 300,000 cubic yards per 30 consecutive days required to meet operational timelines. Access to beneficial use sites may involve scow operations in water depths as shallow as 10 to 15 feet MLLW, and rock areas may necessitate blasting or other pre-treatment. The overall construction period is expected to last approximately nineteen months, with dredging and disposal operations spanning roughly nine to ten months across the two seasons. The place of performance is zip code 06501, and all proposals must be submitted exclusively through the SAM.gov portal by the deadline of July 1, 2026