Sievert Electric Awarded $14.6 Million Army Contract to Rehab Bonneville Dam Crane
The Forest Park, Illinois, electrical contractor secured a firm-fixed-price award worth $14.6 million, with a cumulative face value of $21.6 million, to rehabilitate the Bonneville Spillway gantry crane in Cascade Locks, Oregon.
FOREST PARK, ILLINOIS — Sievert Electric Service and Sales Co., a Forest Park, Illinois, contractor serving the Chicago area since 1913, received a $14.6 million Army contract to rehabilitate the Bonneville Spillway gantry crane in Oregon, as announced on war.gov.
The firm-fixed-price award carries a total cumulative face value of $21.6 million, according to war.gov. The company competed against one other bidder after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers solicited offers over the internet, according to war.gov.
Sievert Electric traces its roots to C. A. Sievert, a German-trained electrical apprentice who launched the business in Chicago, according to sievertelectric.com. The company partnered with Yale Hoist after World War II and served as the authorized master distributor for Yale hoists and overhead material handling products in the Midwest and West, according to sievertelectric.com. That crane and hoist expertise, spanning more than 75 years, underpins the Bonneville project.
Crews will perform the work in Cascade Locks, Oregon, with an estimated completion date of August 3, 2026, according to war.gov. The award obligated fiscal 2026 Bonneville Power Administration capital funds of $14.6 million, according to war.gov. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Portland, Oregon, serves as the contracting activity.
The project shifts federal capital dollars to a hydroelectric asset on the Columbia River. The gantry crane hoists spillway gates that regulate river flow at the Bonneville complex, a system the Bonneville Power Administration relies on to move power across the Pacific Northwest. Ratepayers across the region carry the cost of such capital repairs through the federal power marketing structure.
The award marks the first federal contract recorded for Sievert Electric Service and Sales Co.in 2026 and ranks as the second Department of Defense contract awarded in Illinois this year. The figure sits far below the 2026 Army portfolio’s year-to-date maximum of $53.9 billion and above the year-to-date minimum of roughly $9 million. The award landed among 12 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on August 3, 2026.
For the average reader in the Pacific Northwest, the crane rehabilitation touches the reliability of the regional grid rather than a household bill line item. Bonneville Dam feeds electricity into a network serving millions of homes, and functioning spillway equipment protects both power generation and flood control on the Columbia.
This type of infrastructure award has happened before. Sievert Electric has completed government projects for the Corps of Engineers, including work at the Ozark Powerhouse and the Norfork Dam in the Little Rock District, according to sievertelectric.com. Dam and powerhouse rehabilitation contracts form a recurring part of the company’s public-sector portfolio.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Portland will oversee performance and any modifications to the contract. A date for the next contracting decision has not been announced.
Hydroelectric work along the Columbia has drawn federal money before, as happened during the New Deal. Construction of Bonneville Dam began in 1934, and the dam opened in 1937 as one of the first large federal projects on the river, according to war.gov. The Bonneville Power Administration formed that same year to market the power, and the agency grew into one of the largest wholesale electricity suppliers in the country. Contractors who built and maintained those structures helped set the template for the federal power system that Sievert Electric now serves.
This contract represents the 1st contract awarded to Sievert Electric Service and Sales Co., in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $14,620,737. It is also the 2nd Department of Defense contract awarded in Illinois during 2026. Because this is the first award to Sievert Electric Service and Sales Co. recorded in the database, it establishes the company’s initial benchmark within the Army portfolio. Specifically, it falls between the 2026 Army portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $9,051,490 and maximum of $53,859,843,289. Overall, this award was announced among 12 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on August 3, 2026.
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