MRL Environmental Mitigation Bank Credits - Bottomland Hardwood, CEMVN

NOTE: THIS IS A SYNOPSIS, NOT A SOLICITATION. SPECIFICATIONS ARE NOT   AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME; THEREFORE, NO QUESTIONS OF A TECHNICAL OR CONTRACTUAL NATURE WILL BE ACCEPTED OR ANSWERED UNTIL THE SOLICITATION IS ISSUED. INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS SYNOPSIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

MITIGATION BANK CREDITS, Mississippi River and Tributaries, Mississippi River Levees

Mitigation Project for Blackhawk Levee Slide Repair, Old River Seepage Berm, and Upper 5th LA Levee District Levee Enlargement Impacts to Bottomland Hardwood Habitats, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District

This will be an UNRESTRICTED procurement. All qualified business concerns may submit proposals.

The New Orleans District, US Army Corps of Engineers (CEMVN), seeks to purchase Bottomland Hardwood (BLH) Wet mitigation bank credits located in the Red River Basin (Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) 08040301). As specified below, the credits are needed to compensate for unavoidable habitat losses caused by completion of three Mississippi River Levee (MRL) projects:  Blackhawk Levee Slide Repair; Old River Seepage Berm; and Upper 5th LA Levee District Levee Enlargement.

As part of CEMVN’s plan to mitigate for unavoidable impacts to BLH-Wet impacts associated with the construction of the MRL projects, CEMVN will purchase BLH-Wet mitigation bank credits in the Red River Basin. The bank(s) from which credits will be purchased will be purchased through a competitive solicitation/award process. Any mitigation bank meeting the eligibility requirements and having the appropriate resource type of credits may submit a proposal to sell credits. CEMVN may enter into one or more contracts to purchase the number of credits necessary to meet CEMVN’s need at the time of purchase; however, CEMVN may purchase a lesser quantity of credits than it requires. A separate contract shall be executed for each bank credit purchase. Award will be made based on the lowest-price technically acceptable source selection process. Purchase is subject to funding availability and other USACE missions.

A mitigation bank must meet all the following qualifications to be eligible to sell credits to satisfy the Mississippi River and Tributaries, Mississippi River Levees, Blackhawk Levee Slide Repair, Old River Seepage Bern, and Upper 5th LA Levee District Levee Enlargement projects mitigation requirements. For the proposal to be considered responsive and for the Offeror to be considered responsible, the mitigation bank shall:

1. be approved by USACE and in full compliance with its Mitigation Banking Instrument (MBI), its other legal instruments (such as its conservation servitude and its financial assurances) and the standards set forth in 33 CFR Part 332; and
2. have available Bottomland Hardwood mitigation credits within HUC 08040301; and
3. provide the habitat type that matches the habitat type being mitigated (bottomland hardwood forest); and
4. have mitigation credits assessed using version 1.2 of the BLH-Wet Wetland Value Assessment (WVA) Community Model available to compensate for the impacts to the particular habitat to be mitigated; and have a duly recorded perpetual conservation servitude/easement.

If the Offeror fails to meet all the criteria above, the Offeror will be deemed technically unacceptable, and its offer will be considered non-responsive and ineligible for award.  

Habitat assessment models used for Civil Works projects are required to be certified by Headquarters, USACE Model Certification Panel and comply with the certification criteria presented in Engineer Circular EC 1105-2-412.  Version 1.0 of the Wetland Value Assessment, Bottomland Hardwood Community Model has been certified.  The current revision is designated Version 1.2.

To facilitate the solicitation process, USACE New Orleans District, in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has applied Version 1.2 of the WVA Bottomland Hardwood Model to the approved banks in HUC 08040301 that possess available Bottomland Hardwood credits/acres.  Credit availability is based on information provided through the USACE Regulatory In-Lieu Fee Bank Information Tracking System (RIBITS).  The Wetland Value Assessment Model results will be included in the solicitation package.

NAICS: 523910. A Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued on or about August 24, 2026, with a proposal due date established. Actual issue date will be shown when the solicitation is issued. The solicitation documents for this procurement will be posted on the www.SAM.gov website and can be accessed from the link located at https://www.sam.gov. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader for .pdf files (www.adobe.com) in order to open most files posted by the CEMVN. You are encouraged, for marketing purposes, to register as an Interested Vendor in SAM.gov.

NOTE: (RFO 52.204-7) Prospective contractors shall be registered in the SAM database under the NAICS code 523910 prior to award of a contract.  By regulation, no DOD contract can be awarded to any contractor that is not registered in the Department of Defense “System for Award Management” (SAM), formally the CCR database.  You will be required to provide your company’s unique entity identifier (UEI) issued by GSA. If you don’t have a UEI, one can be obtained by calling (866) 606-8220 or by going to http://www.sam.gov.

The Contracting Officer for this solicitation is Karen Hargrave, at Karen.D.Hargrave@usace.army.mil and the assigned Contract Specialist is Anedra Baldwin, at  Anedra.A.Baldwin@usace.army.mil.