Pentagon Awards $500 Million for Corps of Engineers Dredging Work

On Wednesday, the Department of Defense announced it has added C.F. Bean to a list of 12 other contractors that are recipients of a $500 million firm-fixed-price, multiple-award contract to conduct "miscellaneous dredging projects." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be responsible for the projects, the locations of which will be "determined with each order."

All projects are expected to be complete by Jan. 14, 2014.

This award relates primarily to ongoing work the Corps is conducting in the Jacksonville, Mobile, Savannah, Charleston, and Wilmington regions of the South Atlantic Division in the U.S. and is designated as a multiple award task order contract, or MATOC. Districts outside the South Atlantic Division may, however, draw on the MATOC funds "for emergency work."

Curiously, for an award with an estimated "completion" date of one year from now, the contract in question anticipates extension for up to four additional one-year periods. The total length of the work is not to exceed five years, and the $500 million sum is to be the maximum amount spent across all 13 contractors and all five potential years. Individual "task orders" are expected to be worth between $1 million and $25 million apiece, on average.