{"id":22367,"date":"2023-06-20T01:50:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T05:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=22367"},"modified":"2023-06-20T01:50:16","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T05:50:16","slug":"exclusive-ocean-county-beach-replenishment-project-suspended-after-contract-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2023\/06\/exclusive-ocean-county-beach-replenishment-project-suspended-after-contract-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Ocean County Beach Replenishment Project ‘Suspended’ After Contract Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dune<\/a>

Dune crossover repairs completed in Ortley Beach, N.J., May 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

Shorebeat has learned that the anticipated northern Ocean County beach replenishment project that was supposed to have begun in 2022 may not see the light of day for some time. The project is considered \u201csuspended\u201d according to an update from the state Department of Environmental Protection that was sent to local officials last Friday and obtained by Shorebeat.<\/p>\n

The project is aimed at maintaining and improving dunes from Point Pleasant Beach to South Seaside Park along Ocean County\u2019s northern barrier island, with a significant portion of the work planned at re-engineering the dunes and beach berms<\/a> at \u201ctrouble spots\u201d such as Ortley Beach, which has continued to suffer significant \u2013 and costly<\/a> \u2013 erosion since the initial replenishment took place more than five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Manasquan [Inlet] to Barnegat [Inlet] Solicitation is currently in suspension,\u201d the DEP\u2019s communique said. \u201cArmy Corps received a bid protest which requires them to address the issues before they can proceed further with this solicitation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It had been known<\/a> that bids had either been rejected or otherwise problematic, but the reigning thought among officials was that the project would simply be re-bid with new specifications with a contract to be awarded soon after. That is no longer the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is expected to take a number of months to work though the required contractual process to resolve the protest,\u201d the notice said. \u201cAt this time they do not have a good estimate as to when the project will be able to proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company that lodged the protest was not named, however there are only two private firms that have the reasonable capacity, expertise and advanced equipment to perform a major replenishment project on the east coast: Weeks Marine, of New Jersey, and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company of Illinois. Both companies have worked on beach replenishment projects in Ocean County between the northern island and Long Beach Island, as well as other coastal communities statewide.<\/p>\n

\"Dune<\/a>

Dune crossover repairs completed in Ortley Beach, N.J., May 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Repairs<\/a>

Repairs underway before Memorial Day 2023 in Ortley Beach, N.J. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Repair<\/a>

Repair work gets underway in Ortley Beach, N.J. to restore access points and the beach berm, May 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, members of the public \u2013 especially in Ortley Beach \u2013 have been raising concerns about beach access for the 2023 summer season. While Toms River Township hired a construction firm to repair beach entrances, the beach berm itself \u2013 the portion of the sand in front of the dune where people sit and lay out their blankets \u2013 remains significantly smaller than in some past years<\/a>, and the entrances are steeper. Shorebeat will explore the beach access issues in a separate story. But notwithstanding the concerns of local residents, there is little municipal governments \u2013 or even the state \u2013 can do to intervene. Formal protests of federal contracts \u2013 especially when they technically involve defense procurement procedures \u2013 are notoriously complicated and lengthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all remain hopeful a resolution can be reached in the coming months and they will be able to award a contract before the end of the year,\u201d the state\u2019s notice to municipalities said. \u201cThe good news is there is still a plan to move forward once the protest is resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shorebeat has learned that the anticipated northern Ocean County beach replenishment project that was supposed to have begun in 2022 may not see the light of day for some time. The project is considered \u201csuspended\u201d according to an update from the state Department of Environmental Protection that was sent to local officials last Friday and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,20],"tags":[86,24,4484],"class_list":["post-22367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ocean-county","category-shore-environment","tag-beach-replenishment","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/brick_presidents_day_sunset_beach_iii_bayside_park_939-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-5OL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}