MTA Construction & Development opened four bids Feb. 12 on Contract HC-9C, Governors Island Pedestrian Bridge Repair and Fender Wharf Rehabilitation, marine work at the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel's ventilation building off Governors Island. Outfit M & J LLC was low on the evaluated number at $7,173,930.02, $476,069.98 (6.64%) under Navillus Contracting Inc. The bids are under review, and an apparent low is not an award. It is on our board as RFI-001899.

MTA C&D let this one A+B: the A number is the gross-sum price, the B number puts a dollar value on the milestone durations the bidder commits to, and the lowest A-plus-B total wins the evaluation. The contract price is the A number. Outfit's total is a $4,923,930.02 price plus a $2,250,000 B value.

The full field, evaluated total first with price and B in parentheses: Outfit M & J LLC, $7,173,930.02 ($4,923,930.02 price, $2,250,000 B); Navillus Contracting Inc, $7,650,000 ($5,850,000, $1,800,000); Trevcon Construction Company LLC, $7,789,480 ($6,289,480, $1,500,000); TDP Associates Inc, $8,835,240 ($6,435,240, $2,400,000).

The evaluated field was tight, with a 23.16% spread from low to high and a median of $7,719,740. The price side was not. Outfit's price was $926,069.98 (18.81%) under Navillus's, and the price spread was 30.69%. Trevcon committed to the shortest schedule, with the lowest B at $1,500,000, and Outfit's B was second highest. Price still won it. The contract-documents holders list C&D posted Dec. 29 showed seven firms and a Feb. 5 opening. None of the four eventual bidders was on that early list, which is a reminder that holders lists fill in late.

The MTA's 2025-2029 capital records carry the job as the Governor's Island Ventilation Building fender and pedestrian footbridge rehabilitation, with $8.54 million allocated. Outfit's price sits well inside that, and so does its evaluated total, though the allocation covers more than the construction contract. The building is one of four that ventilate the Carey tunnel. B&T says the two in lower Manhattan, one near the Brooklyn portal and the one just off Governors Island together change all the air in the tunnel every minute and a half. The tunnel opened in 1950 and is still the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in North America. The Governors Island building has had resiliency money before: the capital records show Sandy-era projects that raised its seawalls ($9.5 million) and added a standby emergency generator ($5.1 million), both closed out.

Why this matters. Fender and wharf work in New York Harbor is a small-field specialty. Marine access, tides and diving time decide the price, and only four firms bid. The 19% price gap between first and second shows how differently shops read marine access and staging on a job like this.

What to do next. Marine subs should price to Outfit M & J: timber and composite fender suppliers, pile and diving crews, steel repair and coating shops, and barge and crane owners. Watch C&D's awards page for the award.

Update, Sept. 28, 2026: MTA Construction & Development's 2026 awards list does not yet show an award for HC-9C. The next and larger job at the same building is on C&D's upcoming-opportunities list: rehabilitation of the Governor's Island Vent Building and Brooklyn Vent Building facades, a design-bid-build B&T contract in the $25 million to $100 million band. The capital records allocate $45.85 million to it.