Federal Contract Alert: W912WJ26BA020 — DEPT OF DEFENSE.DEPT OF THE ARMY.US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.ENGINEER DIVISION NORTH ATLANTIC.ENDIST NEW ENGLAND.W2SD END
W912WJ26BA020: Highway & Bridge Construction Services for Army Corps of Engineers
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Division North Atlantic, is seeking construction contractors for highway and bridge work across the New England region. This is a small business set-aside contract, meaning only firms meeting SBA size standards can bid. The work involves site preparation, structural construction, and related infrastructure tasks under NAICS code 237310 (Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction).
The contracting office posted this opportunity on August 18, 2026, with a deadline of August 25, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. That gives you one week to pull together a proposal. Read the full solicitation on SAM.gov before committing resources—some of these notices are genuinely competitive, but others are already locked in behind compliance requirements or geographic constraints that favor a known player.
Who Can Bid
You must be certified as a small business under NAICS 237310. If you hold a HUBZone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), or 8(a) designation, those certifications strengthen your position—but a straight small business status qualifies you to respond. Verify your size standard with the SBA; for this code, the threshold is usually $17.5 million in average annual receipts over three years.
This is a total small business set-aside, not a partial one. That means the government is reserving the entire contract for small firms. The practical takeaway: you will not compete against large primes, but you will face other small builders who know this region and may already have standing relationships with the Corps.
Key Deadlines and Proposal Content
Your proposal package must arrive by August 25, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. ET. Do not assume digital submission extends the window—submit at least one hour early. The government will evaluate your submission on technical merit, past performance, and price. Download the full solicitation package from SAM.gov, including the Statement of Work and technical specifications, before you estimate labor and equipment costs. Missing attachments or incomplete certifications will get you rejected before your bid is even scored.
Plan to include your CAGE code, proof of small business status, a completed SF-1408 (if required), and a detailed cost breakdown aligned to the contract line items in the SOW. If bonding is required—which it often is for Corps construction work—confirm your surety capacity now, not during proposal development.
CMMC & DFARS Compliance Checklist
Army Corps construction contracts routinely trigger DFARS clause 252.204-7012 (Safeguarding Unclassified Controlled Technical Information). Even if this project does not involve classified work, the Corps may require you to implement controlled unclassified information (CUI) handling procedures. Check the solicitation for explicit CMMC level requirements. Most highway construction contracts do not mandate CMMC Level 2—Level 1 or basic NIST SP 800-171 compliance is typically sufficient unless the work involves design files, survey data, or technical plans marked as controlled information.
Review clauses 252.204-7019 and 252.204-7020 in the FAR provisions section. These detail flow-down requirements for subcontractors and your obligation to flow security language down the supply chain. If you plan to subcontract portions of the work, each subcontractor will need to meet the same CUI handling standards you do.
Before you bid, confirm you can meet these requirements. If you do not currently have a System for Award Management (SAM) record with a SPRS self-assessment score, create one immediately. The government may not require it for this particular contract, but it signals compliance readiness and removes friction from the award process. Document your current cybersecurity posture, employee IT access controls, and incident response procedures in a simple compliance matrix. You do not need a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer for a small firm—one responsible person and written policies will suffice.
Three Actionable Tips
Tip 1: Call the Contracting Officer before you bid. Ask whether past performance on similar Corps projects in the region is weighted heavily. If you do not have that record, understand that you are likely bidding on price alone, and the incumbent probably has better pricing power and schedule risk mitigation than you do.
Tip 2: Verify bonding capacity now. Do not submit a proposal if your surety will not bond the full contract value. A bid without a firm bond commitment is a rejection, and it wastes your proposal cost.
Tip 3: Check the site conditions and logistics. New England weather, seasonal access limitations, and utility coordination can inflate costs fast. Your price estimate must account for these factors or you will bid unprofitably.
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