Construction Services for Watertown Yacht Club Retaining Wall in Watertown, MA

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District is issuing a Sources Sought Announcement for repair of a retaining wall at the Watertown Yacht Club (WYC), once part of the Watertown Arsenal, in Watertown, Massachusetts.  This announcement is to determine the interest, availability, and capability of 8(a), Women-Owned, Service Disabled Veteran-Owned, HUBZone and Small Business concerns for this project.  The NAICS code for this procurement is 237990  with a size standard of $45M.  The contract solicitation is planned to be issued in the fall of 2026 with construction to take place over a 4-month period beginning in the spring of 2027. The estimated construction cost is between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000.

The Watertown Arsenal was established in 1816 for the production and research of weapons and other military materials such as small arms maintenance and ordnance supplies; ammunition and pyrotechnics production; manufacture of guns and cartridges; and development of advanced metallurgical processes used in the casting, welding, and machining of artillery pieces. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts assumed responsibility for the care, management, and police jurisdiction for the WYC portion of the property in 1920. The Watertown Arsenal later became known as the U.S. Army Materials Technology Laboratory and its mission ended in the late 1980s when Congress recommended the closure of the facility in October 1988. The Watertown Arsenal was closed and decommissioned in 1995 as part of the Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program.

The work of this project includes repairs along the Charles River at the WYC.  The Army remediated portions of the site, to include the WYC property, by excavating up to two feet of soil, replacing with clean fill, and placing a marker fabric to delineate the boundary between potentially contaminated soils and clean fill. The existing retaining wall along the waterfront serves as part of the engineered cap system.

The specific work includes installing a steel sheet pile wall with concrete cap at the edge of the water to act as a new retaining wall in two areas of the site: an approximate 75-ft length of sheet in the vicinity of the WYC club house and an approximate 150-ft length at the eastern limits of the site.  The steel sheets shall be installed on the water side of the existing block retaining wall which shall remain in place.  The area between the existing block retaining wall and the new sheet pile wall shall be filled and compacted with gravel.  Additional work includes installing new wire fencing, removing and reinstalling exterior electric lighting and receptacles, and other related items.

The existing club house is setback approximately 25 ft from the water’s edge, resulting in limited space on-site for installation of the approximate 75-ft length of sheet piles. The contractor will be responsible for selection of appropriate equipment for installation of 16 to 19-ft lengths of sheet pile.  The contractor will also be responsible for disconnecting and reconnecting utilities in the vicinity of the project work, to include a fuel pump, water, marine sanitary pumpout, and electrical.

Some soils on the project site to be disturbed by the work may be contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals.  Special soil handling and stockpiling procedures and worker protection measures are required.

Interested firms should submit a capabilities package to include the following: business classification (i.e. HUBZone, etc.), type of equipment the firm might propose to use on the project, two (2) example projects performed by the firm in the last ten (10) years (including Points of Contact for those projects) showing experience with the project type and proposed equipment, and bonding capacity. Please indicate the team subcontractor(s) (if any), including their prior experience and qualifications meeting the same qualifications listed above, which will be used to support the bidder's effort. Firms may use subcontractor experience to demonstrate experience with the requirements, but the role and work performed by each team member (prime and subcontractors) on projects demonstrating that team member's experience shall be the same as the role for that team member for this project.  Proof of bonding capability is required. 

Responses are limited to twenty pages and due by 01 July 2026.  Responses should be emailed to:

Distephano Marcellus

Distephano.marcellus@usace.army.mil

The Government will not pay for any material provided in response to this market survey nor return the data provided.  This notice is for information purposes only and is not a request to be placed on a solicitation mailing list nor is it a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a solicitation.  The results of this survey will be considered to be in effect for a period of one year from the date of this notice.