Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Wins $44.5 Million Fire Island Inlet Contract

The Houston-based dredging contractor will maintain the Fire Island Inlet navigation channel and nourish a Long Island beach under a firm-fixed-price Army Corps award, with work due by March 11, 2027.

First Published: August 7, 2026, 1:35 PM ET

HOUSTON, TEXAS — Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLCwon a $44.5 million Army contract to dredge the Fire Island Inlet channel and rebuild a Long Island beach with the recovered sand, as announced on war.gov.

The firm-fixed-price award carries a total cumulative face value of $46.3 million, with the current action valued at $44.5 million, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. Fiscal 2025 civil construction funds covering the full $44.5 million were obligated at the time of the award.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, based in Houston, Texas, is the largest provider of dredging services in the United States, according to Google. The company operates a diverse fleet of hopper, mechanical and hydraulic dredges and roughly 200 support vessels, and it is the only U.S. dredging contractor with a long record of major international projects, according to Google.

Work will maintain the federal navigation channel and deposition basin at Fire Island Inlet, with the dredged material placed as beach nourishment along the feeder beach west of the inlet. Contractors solicited bids over the internet and received three. Work will be performed in Babylon, New York, with an estimated completion date of March 11, 2027.

The project ties two public goods to one budget line. Deeper, clearer channels keep commercial and recreational vessels moving safely through the inlet, while the recovered sand rebuilds a shoreline that shields Long Island homes and roads from storm surge. Coastal residents and boaters stand to gain protection and access; taxpayers carry the cost through federal civil works funding.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker GLDD and carries a market capitalization near $1.14 billion, according to marketbeat.com. The stock closed at $17.00 on Aug. 6, 2026, and analysts hold a consensus rating of Hold, according to marketbeat.com. The company was founded in 1890 and moved its headquarters from Oak Brook, Illinois, to Houston in October 2020, according to wikipedia.org.

The award marks the third contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock in 2026, lifting the company’s total contract value for the year to $82.1 million. It ranks as the 70th Department of Defense contract awarded in Texas during 2026. The company’s largest contract on record stands at $219.1 million. The award landed among four Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on August 7, 2026.

Coastal maintenance work like this shapes daily life for shore communities. A dredged inlet reduces the risk of grounded boats and closed channels, and a nourished beach can blunt flooding that raises insurance costs and disrupts commutes. For the average reader far from Long Island, the project shows how federal dollars fund the routine upkeep that keeps ports and shorelines usable.

This has happened before. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has performed repeated beach and channel work along the Atlantic seaboard, including dunes and berms built along 22 miles of the Jersey Shore after Hurricane Sandy, according to wikipedia.org. That $185 million project drew on Superstorm Sandy appropriations, according to wikipedia.org.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, is the contracting activity on the deal, identified as W912DS-26-C-A018. The Corps’ New York district will oversee performance and any decisions on schedule or scope through the estimated completion date of March 11, 2027. A separate decision date beyond that completion target has not been announced.

Dredging on the New York coast has a long history of turning navigation into new ground. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock traces its origins to the 1890s, when the firm built shoreline structures for Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, according to wikipedia.org. Over the following decades the company reclaimed the lakefront land that now holds Soldier Field and the Field Museum of Natural History, according to wikipedia.org. That founding work established a contractor whose successors would spend more than a century reshaping American harbors and beaches.

This contract represents the 3rd contract awarded to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $82,128,971. It is also the 70th Department of Defense contract awarded in Texas during 2026. While this is not the largest contract ever awarded to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, whose record stands at $219,108,350, it is notable within the Army portfolio. Specifically, it falls between the 2026 Army portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $9,051,490 and maximum of $53,859,843,289. Overall, this award was announced among 4 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on August 7, 2026.