S&ME to Provide National Regionalized A/E IDIQ Design Services for the Southeast Region of the USDA-NRCS
December 14, 2017
S&ME was on the winning team of Kenall-Freese and Nichols to provide National Regionalized A/E IDIQ Design Services for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). This contract covers the Southeast region of the USDA-NRCS and includes the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. NRCS will administer this important national contract from its Lafayette, Louisiana location, which will be advantageous to S&ME’s local Gulf Coast initiative and NRCS’s special focus on coastal restoration within its Southeast region.
For the submittal, two Texas-based firms, Kenall, Inc. and Freese and Nichols, Inc., formed an 8(a) Mentor-Protégé Joint Venture. On the team, S&ME has a significant role on the contract which includes geotechnical and civil engineering; environmental planning and engineering; survey and public planning, landscape architecture, and construction management services. Additionally, S&ME has 5 key personnel serving in QA/QC and Task Management positions.
S&ME actively maintains a close national strategic relationship with Freese and Nichols professionals in both the Southeast and Gulf Coast and continues to pursue mutually beneficial opportunities together.
“This is an important milestone in our continuing effort to position S&ME along the Gulf Coast.” said Jerry Hauske, Principal Engineer. “This further solidifies a long-term, strategic relationship with Freese and Nichols which began with the Summit Bechtel Family National Scouting Reserve project in 2009 under the leadership of Matt Moler and has continued with our Gulf Coast Initiative through other recent contract awards, the Texas General Land Office and the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program for coastal, geotechnical, and environmental services.”
A key part of our strategic success was S&ME’s depth of technical expertise. S&ME’s multi-disciplinary dam services experience including civil, structural, and geotechnical assessment and design, construction management, and environmental permitting. This help set us apart from other teams.
Another key factor was our regional geographic footprint. S&ME will serve as the primary office in over 30 locations. This was a case where our companywide strength working in tandem with our local offices achieved a huge win!
About the USDA-NRCS
The NRCS and its predecessor was established over 80 years ago with the goal of forming “close partnerships with farmers and ranchers, local and state governments, and other federal agencies to maintain healthy and productive working landscapes.” With a budget of over $4 billion, the NRCS offers technical and financial assistance and support a number of regional conservation efforts.