Army Corps Moves to Overhaul How U.S. Dredging Projects Are Awarded

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overhauling how it manages dredging contracts nationwide, moving toward a centralized approach intended to reduce costs, improve scheduling and make better use of the country’s limited dredging fleet.

The Corps handles approximately 190 dredging contract actions each year to maintain navigation channels at U.S. ports, harbors and inland waterways. Most have traditionally been managed by individual districts, an approach the agency says can lead to duplicated administrative work, competing schedules and inefficient use of available dredging equipment.

To address those problems, the Corps is establishing an Enterprise Dredging Delivery Center (EDDC), supported by an interim Dredging Evolution for Enterprise Production (DEEP) Team, to coordinate dredging requirements across the country.

The goal is to treat dredging as a national program rather than a series of largely independent projects, allowing the Corps to coordinate contracts, schedules and equipment needs across multiple waterways.

“For decades, we have approached dredging as a collection of individual projects—one district develops a contract, one gets awarded, and one dredge gets mobilized,” said Maj. Gen. Jason E. Kelly, while serving as the Corps’ deputy commanding general for civil and emergency operations.

“While that model built today’s system, it is insufficient for the challenges we face tomorrow. The American taxpayer is not paying us to award contracts; they are paying us to maintain navigation channels.”

Under the new approach, individual Corps districts will continue identifying dredging needs, handling engineering and environmental requirements, and coordinating with local ports and stakeholders. The centralized delivery center will provide contracting and planning support, with an emphasis on coordinating projects that compete for the same equipment and contractors.

The changes could have significant implications for the U.S. dredging industry, where vessel availability, mobilization costs and project timing play major roles in determining how much work can be completed.

By providing contractors with greater visibility into upcoming projects, the Corps hopes to reduce scheduling conflicts and give companies more certainty when planning vessel deployments, staffing and equipment investments.

The agency has already begun testing new contracting approaches.

In September, the Corps outlined plans to consolidate portions of its dredging workload into larger contracts and develop national procurement strategies. One initiative, called “Scope Dredge to Budget,” would allow contractors to compete on how much dredging they can accomplish within a predetermined budget, rather than simply bidding on a fixed quantity of material.

The Corps held an industry meeting on October 16 to discuss applying the approach to navigation channels in Texas, including the Houston Ship Channel, Sabine-Neches Waterway and Corpus Christi Ship Channel.

The broader restructuring is being introduced in phases, with the Corps previously identifying October 2027 as its target for establishing the permanent delivery center.

The agency says it will continue consulting with dredging contractors and port stakeholders as the program develops, particularly to ensure that larger procurement packages do not undermine competition or disadvantage smaller and specialized operators.

The initiative is part of the Army’s broader “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork” effort, which seeks to reduce administrative requirements and direct more resources toward infrastructure improvements.

For the Corps, the ultimate measure of success will be whether the changes translate into more dredging and more reliable access to the nation’s ports and waterways.

“The measure of success is not how many contracts we award; it is how many cubic yards we move,” Kelly said. “It is whether America’s navigation system is ready when the nation needs it.”