USACE modernizes national dredging delivery through enterprise execution

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is changing how it delivers one of the most consequential civil works missions-keeping the nation's ports, harbors and inland waterways open and navigable.

The United States is a maritime nation. U.S. ports and waterways support commerce, supply-chain resilience, energy movement and national defense. Dredging makes the marine transportation system work by maintaining the channels vessels depend upon to safely reach ports and navigate inland waterways.

USACE annually executes approximately 190 dredging contract actions across the country. Although these contracts support distinct local missions, many compete for the same limited industry resources and involve similar technical requirements, acquisition processes and administrative effort. Managing each dredging requirement principally as an individual acquisition can result in duplicative work, conflicting schedules and missed opportunities to obtain greater value for the nation.

USACE is addressing dredging delivery challenges by establishing the Enterprise Dredging Delivery Center (EDDC) and its interim Dredging Evolution for Enterprise Production (DEEP) Team. Together, they will help USACE manage dredging as an integrated national program while preserving the local knowledge and relationships essential to successful project delivery.

The effort advances the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works' Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork initiative, which challenges USACE to reduce administrative burden, improve delivery and focus its resources on infrastructure outcomes.

"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 USACE 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.

"The measure of success is not how many contracts we award; it is how many cubic yards we move. It is whether America's navigation system is ready when the nation needs it."

The objective of the EDDC is straightforward: deliver a more predictable, efficient and responsive dredging program-and obtain greater mission value from every taxpayer dollar.

USACE districts will remain central to mission delivery. District teams understand local projects, waterways and regional conditions. Districts will identify mission requirements, provide engineering and technical expertise, coordinate with sponsors and stakeholders, navigate environmental and real-estate requirements, and support execution in the field.

The EDDC will augment-not replace-USACE district capabilities. The EDDC will pair enterprise-level production and acquisition resources with district knowledge of local conditions and operational needs. This partnership will reduce repetitive effort, improve consistency and allow technical teams to concentrate more of their time on project delivery.

Ahead of the EDDC's full establishment, the interim DEEP Team is beginning national execution of the dredging program. Team members gathered in Mobile, Alabama, in August for an initial kickoff to align expertise from across the dredging, engineering, cost, construction and contracting communities.

The modernization effort will be implemented deliberately and informed by continued engagement with USACE districts, divisions, industry, ports and other stakeholders. Engagement will help USACE understand market capacity, evaluate acquisition concepts, preserve competition and avoid unintended effects on regional or specialized dredging markets.

For the dredging industry, greater visibility into future requirements can improve workload predictability and help companies plan vessel schedules, crews and capital investments. Better coordination across projects will reduce avoidable scheduling conflicts and allow available industry dredging capacity to be used more effectively.

For USACE, the enterprise approach is expected to produce several important benefits:

• Earlier and more coordinated acquisition planning
• Reduced administrative duplication and greater consistency
• Better alignment of requirements with available dredging capacity
• Increased competition and stronger consolidated buying power
• Improved schedule reliability and national program visibility
• More flexible acquisition strategies tailored to project and market conditions.

The USACE EDDC represents more than a new organizational structure. It marks a shift in how USACE views and delivers the national dredging mission-from a collection of separate contract actions to an enterprise portfolio serving a connected marine transportation system.

By combining national visibility and dedicated production capacity with the expertise of districts, USACE intends to deliver more dredging, make better use of the nation's dredging fleet and strengthen the infrastructure on which the American economy and national security depend.