Corps Awards Last of 13 Major Post-Sandy Contracts (USA)

Corps Awards Last of 13 Major Post-Sandy Contracts

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, has reached the milestone of awarding the final contract for the repair and restoration of previously constructed coastal storm risk reduction projects impacted by Hurricane Sandy in New York and northern New Jersey.

The late October award for the repair and restore of the Westhampton Coastal Storm Risk Reduction Project in New York was the thirteenth and final contract for the District to award as part of the ongoing effort to repair and restore previously constructed coastal storm risk reduction projects in New York and northern New Jersey.

The Army Corps of Engineers is moving forward on the repair and restoration of previously constructed coastal risk reduction projects in the region. The award of the final contract for this phase of our work is a significant milestone as we progress toward helping the region to recover and reduce the risks for future coastal storms,” said New York District Commander Col. Paul E. Owen.Even though project areas may have experienced impacts from Sandy, which was a massive and unprecedented coastal event, these previously constructed projects helped reduce risks and mitigated impacts that would have been much worse.

These thirteen contracts were awarded to various contractors and the base contract award amounts totaled roughly $230 million.

The contracts are primarily for sand placement, but also include repairs to project elements like levees, tide gates and outfalls. Of the thirteen contracts, 11 were primarily for sand placement, and include the placement of more than 16.5 million cubic yards of sand placement.

That includes the placement of roughly more than 7 million cubic yards of sand on previously engineered and constructed beaches in New York, which would be enough to build more than 5 sand castle Empire State Buildings (using a volume estimate of ~1.37 million cubic yards).

It includes roughly more than 9 million cubic yards of sand on previously engineered and constructed beaches in northern New Jersey, which would be enough sand to fill up MetLife Stadium roughly 4.5 times (using a volume estimate of ~2.04 million cubic yards).

Four of New York District’s repair and restore contracts have already been completed, which includes the placement of more than 3 million cubic yards of sand. Construction activities are also underway on three contracts. Construction is expected to begin on the remaining contracts over the winter.

The Corps’ focus is to finish repairing and restoring these coastal storm risk reduction projects as soon as possible so they’re in better condition than they were prior to Sandy’s landfall,” said Anthony Ciorra, New York District Coastal Recovery Program Manager. “At the same time, we are continuing to work with our partners in New York and New Jersey to design and construct new projects that will reduce risk to additional coastal communities in areas throughout the region where no Corps projects have previously been constructed.

Other District offices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are also carrying out similar work throughout the northeast, which involves placing a grand total of more than 26 million cubic yards of sand along previously engineered and constructed beaches from Virginia to New England that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Everything the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does must be tied to a statutory authority and repair and restoration of previously constructed coastal storm risk reduction projects that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy is the result of two statutory authorities, one previously existing and one new since Hurricane Sandy.

Through the Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies Act, PL 84-99, the Corps of Engineers is authorized to repair previously constructed projects after a large event like Hurricane Sandy. Put simply, this previously existing standing authority allows the Corps to return the project area to pre-storm conditions. For engineered and constructed beaches, through this legal authority, the Corps of Engineers is authorized specifically to replace sand lost from a project area during Hurricane Sandy.

Through the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (the Sandy Relief Bill, or PL 113-2), the Corps of Engineers is authorized to restore certain previously constructed projects impacted by Hurricane Sandy to their original design profile. Through this legal authority, the Corps of Engineers is authorized to place the additional sand at previously engineered and constructed beach projects to restore the projects to their original design profile. PL 113-2 also allocated the funds for the repair and restoration work.

[mappress]

Press Release, December 3, 2013