The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - St. Paul District requires a real estate appraisal and a UASFLA (Yellow Book) compliant appraisal report with market value and highest and best use analysis for a 331.33 acre site known as Lower Grey Cloud Island in the City of Cottage Grove in Washington County, Minnesota. The property is located just a few miles from St. Paul, MN. The appraisal will require an in person site inspection. The property is privately owned and has been used for sand and gravel mining for over 50 years. The Government is interested in acquiring the designated portion, a flooded, depleted gravel pit, for use as a placement site for materials dredged from the Upper Mississippi River (i.e. sand) during maintenance of the navigation channel. The lessee of the property, that Aggregate Industries - MWR Inc., filed for permits to expand mining operations into adjacent submerged tracts in the Mississippi River in 2022. A copy of the Environmental Assessment Worksheet is included with the solicitation for informational purposes. In the EAW, the filer stated that without the expansion, the mine will exhaust its current minable reserves in approximately five years given the current rate of mining, market trends, and geologic variations at the site. The current lessee of the property, Amrize Midwest, withdrew the application in February 2026. It is recommended that interested parties read the story Amrize drops plan for gravel pit expansion in Mississippi River bed by Mary Divine in the 13 February 2026 edition of the Pioneer Press for more background information. ----- This solicitation is 100 percent set-aside for small businesses under NAICS 531320, Offices of Real Estate Appraisers, with a SBA small business size standard of $9,500,000. ---- This solicitation is a Request for Quotes (RFQ), with the contract recipient being selected on the basis of Best Value to the Government. The best value determination will be made using factors that include qualifications of key personnel, recent and relevant experience writing UASFLA-compliant reports for Government entities, regional sand, gravel and aggregate mining property appraisals, past performance and price. Please see solicitation provision 52.212-2 (and addendum) and the Basis for Award attachment for more information. ---- There will be an online information session for interested parties, which will include a Question and Answer time with Government real estate and contracting personnel, held on Monday, 27 July 2026 at 10:00 AM (CDT). Please email Contract Specialist John Riederer at John.P.Riederer@usace.army.mil at least one full business day in advance (i.e. no later than the morning of Friday, 24 July 2026) to receive an invitation with the Microsoft Teams meeting link. The Government does not assume any responsibility for connectivity issues. Any information disclosed during the session that is not already in the solicitation will be added by amendment. ---Offerors must be fully registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), including FAR and DFARS Representations and Certifications, to be eligible for contract award. Registration in SAM may take up to several weeks to fully process. --- Please note the contract will be structured with multiple milestones at which the Contractor may invoice the Government. Please see the Continuation of Inspection and Acceptance section of the solicitation and the Notes to Offerors attachment for further information. It is expected that the Contractor will have determined an acceptable strategy for Highest and Best Use, with at least preliminary supporting evidence, at 60-90 days after contract award. The draft of the appraisal report will be due 150 days after the inspection of the site. The Government review and revision process will take no more than 30 days and request no more than three revisions before final acceptance of the report, no later than 180 days after site inspection. --- It is requested that offers be submitted through the PIEE module, which will enable users to securely upload large files and receive confirmation. Offers that do not include key personnel qualifications and at least one example of a UASFLA-compliant report prepared for a Government entity (redacted confidential or proprietary information is ok) may be treated as non-responsive.
