The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Galveston District has announced that RLB Contracting, Inc., was the apparent low bidder in the amount of $33.9 million for emergency dredging of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.
“This emergency project funded by FEMA involves the removal of 1.8 million cubic yards of material within 270 days ,” said Curtis Cole, a contracting official with the USACE Galveston District’s Contracting Division.
Cole said that there will be a bid and pre-award verification phase with the awardee prior to officially awarding the contract.
“Pre-award verification allows us to exercise due diligence to verify awardees can meet the scheduling, production and resource requirements ,” said Don Carelock, a USACE Galveston District Chief of Construction . “ Once we perform our analysis, a recommendation will be announced to our contracting officials.”
Carelock said this process is expected to take between 10-14 days.
During the public opening, three bids were received: CrowderGulf submitted a bid in the amount of $108.8 million and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company bid totaled $69.8 million. RLB Contracting, Inc. was announced as the apparent lowest bid of $33.9 million.
Under provisions of the Stafford Disaster Relief Act of 1988, FEMA responded to a request from the State of Texas and directed the Corps to begin the initial assessment for the Emergency Project.
Corps survey teams from the New Orleans District began collecting data in April to determine the level of shoaling and silt accumulation within the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.
A six-phase value engineering study was completed in May.