Changes in the Corps’ water resources policy, environmental restrictions, procurement procedures, funding, and legislation directly impact the viability and profitability of U.S. dredging contractors. Proactive planning is required to ensure the industry is able to meet all the Corps’ dredging needs, but also to counteract actions or trends that would have a negative effect on the market.

The Corps’ contracting policy affords equal opportunity and equal access to information for all dredging and construction contractors. Accordingly, it is difficult for individual contractors to bring policy issues of importance to the Corps in a way that ensures progression and change. Therefore, DCA’s role is to act as the instrument by which dredging contractors may have an effective dialogue with their primary client(s). This collective voice adds  gravitas  to the issues that generally affect the industry and helps to direct  the necessary changes that would be impossible for individual companies to achieve on their own.

Since the last century, the Corps of Engineers and the dredging industry have had a successful means of addressing hopper dredge issues through an organization known as the Industry/Corps Hopper Dredge Management Group (ICHDMG). The overall objective of the ICHDMG has been to address pressing dredging matters in an open forum and on a regular basis with wide representation from both industry and the Corps, in order to proactively resolve issues and avert crises.