New Orleans Levee Repairs: Contracts, but No Work

Katrina’s surge swept barges into St. Bernard Parish floodwall (Photo by Andrew G. Wright for ENR) Critical levee repairs in New Orleans are on hold because parishes can't come up with money needed to match the federal contribution, local sources tell ENR.

On October 12, the Corps of Engineers awarded the third contract under Task Force Guardian, whose mission is to restore the federal levee system to pre-Katrina level performance by June 1, 2006. But the contractor, Manson Gulf LLC of Houma, still hasn't received the notice to proceed on the $11.7-million contract to rebuild a portion of the St. Bernard Parish Hurricane Protection Levee.

"Apparently, the Corps is trying to get a waiver for local participation money," said Mike Mayeux, manager of Manson's bucket dredging division. "All these contracts in the past paid 35% of local participation money, and all of the local governments don't have that kind of money."

Although it's unclear why Manson hasn't received a NTP, "Public Law 8499 allows us to go back in and make repairs to the federal levee and floodwall projects," said Alan Dooley, public affairs specialist with the Corps. He didn't know whether those can proceed without the financing issues being resolved.

It may be that Manson's NTP is simply waiting on Dean Equipment, the Harvey, La., contractor that won the first $630,000 award for foundation levee repair in the same area, to finish. Dean won the first two contracts let by the Corps under Task Force Guardian. The foundation repair contract was let September 23 and the contractor should be finishing up on that project this weekend, Dooley said. The second contract, for equipment rental, was also awarded to Dean, but the company has received no NTP on that.

Whatever the reasons for the delays, Mayeux is hoping the Corps resolves them soon so he can get to work. "I told them, a day of good weather this month is worth a week in December. We promised them this thing and they want it finished by the 15th of March," Mayeux said. "We need to get going. I'm dead serious. One day in this month is worth a week in December." Manson's contract includes land clearing, removal of damaged sheet pile, excavation and levee reconstruction, Dooley said. The contract will also include seeding, fertilizing and mulching, as well as other incidental work along the approximately six-mile stretch of the levee from Bayou Bienvenue to Bayou Dupre, which was damaged when it was overtopped by storm surge. In the meantime, other contractors are hustling to submit bids on other projects, which Dooley said will be let daily by Task Force Guardian. "Right now we're letting contracts for a whole slew of things from repairing levee scouring to control structures," Dooley said. "We're trying to package contracts in a manner than makes sense."

The Corps has divided the repair work to be done in five reconstruction areas. Plaquemines and St. Bernard comprise the first two, and Orleans will be divided into three areas of concentration - the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal, Orleans East Bank and New Orleans East. "The Inner Harbor Navigational Canal, or the Industrial Canal, may be broken into four, five or six contracts because you've got three major breaches to deal with," Dooley said. The Orleans East Bank area covers repairs from the IHNC westward, including the London Avenue canal and ending with the 17th St. canal. The New Orleans East area will include repairs to the system from the Industrial Canal along Lake Pontchartrain to Lake Borgne.

"Consider that 43 days after the storm we actually have contracts being let on construction," Dooley said. "It's a deliberate process. We are following the rules but we are really pushing. The operative word is 'go.'"

..I think this may be the same company that is own by the LA DNC chairman......guess the Haliburton chorus can't sing the familiar tune.

Doogle

"Apparently, the Corps is trying to get a waiver for local participation money," said Mike Mayeux

A bad guy will be found. Which will it be?

1) The Corp for not immediately breaking the rules and spending money it's not supposed to spend.
2) The local organizations which won't pay for the repairs they desperately need.

I'm guessing that this will be transmuted into a racist plot at the federal level to deny flood protection to poor people.

It seems to me that the locals who want to stay there must, at some point, scare up the money to fund their governments. They stand to profit in ways that those who have moved away do not.

The second best use of federal money in NO would be use on a top to bottom audit of the city's financial operations. That would fill all the prisons in Louisiana.

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