2016 AGC Merit Award: Public/Government/ Institutional Projects Under $5 Million Category

This project involved medium and high-voltage electrical upgrades at an Army Corps of Engineers-managed operation on an island (Poplar Island) in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay-a very unique and logistically challenging environment. Poplar Island involves one of the largest civil works projects in the Corps of Engineers Baltimore District; the Corps dumps material dredged from Chesapeake Bay shipping lanes at Poplar Island, within specially constructed dikes, and this dredge and dump effort helps keep (and is critical to keeping) shipping lanes to the large port of Baltimore open. This electrical infrastructure upgrade project was critical to maintaining this operation at Poplar Island.

A mentor-protégé joint venture between Herman Construction Group, Inc. (Herman), a small, 8(a), and service-disabled veteran-owned business, and the John C. Grimberg Co., Inc. (Grimberg), a large general and mechanical contractor, completed this project. The objective involved providing the government with an excellent, unique, and high-quality electrical infrastructure upgrade at a secure and remote location (few contractors were interested in performing this project for the government), while helping Herman, the protégé partner in the joint venture, develop its construction management and contracting capabilities.