Posted on April 22, 2024
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is now soliciting bids for phase one of the massive project to increase dock space and accommodate larger vessels at the Port of Nome.
The request for proposals was published at the end of February on SAM.gov, and the Corps will accept bids from contractors through late May.
The Corps has previously put the price tag of the overall port expansion at around $600 million, and in-water work is expected to begin in the summer of 2025. But once the contract for phase one is awarded, Nomeites will have a better idea of the actual costs the City will bear and the timeline for the project.
Contractors will have to include costs and construction schedules in their bids.
The City of Nome will be on the hook for 10 percent of the general navigation features—namely, the breakwaters and the dredging—and then 100 percent of its own local service facilities, such as the roads, docks and utilities.
Joy Baker, project manager for the port expansion, said that about two-thirds of the City’s costs under that arrangement will be associated with phase one, which will see the west causeway extended more than 3,400 feet. Then, about a third of the City’s costs will be incurred during phase three, when the east causeway will be demolished and rebuilt. Phase two will mostly involve dredging the harbor to be deeper and is the Corps’ responsibility.
Baker said the contract award for phase one is expected to be announced at the end of the summer. Though the City had been heavily involved with Corps in working out the design for this first phase, the local government won’t have a say in which bid gets accepted.
“When the Corps receives the proposals, we won’t be privy to what’s contained within until the Corps makes a selection,” Baker said. She explained that the Corps’ contracting office is in charge of the selection, and that not even the engineers who worked on the design will have any control over the process.
Baker said she also didn’t know how many contractors were planning to submit bids. The large construction corporation Kiewit has been advertising for subcontractors and suppliers to provide quotes for work and material related to phase one of the port expansion. This caused some confusion as some residents thought maybe Kiewit had already won the award, but Baker explained that this quote-gathering is a normal part of the work that goes into putting together a proposal.
“They can’t award [subcontracts] until they’re awarded, but if they don’t get numbers, then they’re throwing darts,” Baker said.
