The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is “very close” to awarding a new $2.3 million contract to complete the dredging of the Scarborough River.

Work was suspended in the spring after the original contractor failed to meet the initial deadline, according to Mike Walsh, project manager for the corps.

Walsh could not say who the new contractor is until the paperwork is signed, but said that “the goal is to get work started by Nov. 1. The contractor is eager to get started and so are we.”

He said the contract for the dredging project would be signed by the end of the month in order to keep the project within the federal government’s 2014 fiscal year.

The new contractor would have until the end of March 2015 to complete the dredging, which consists of removing about 100,000 cubic yards of sand from the choked up mouth of the Scarborough River and the area around the harbor used by the town’s commercial fishing fleet, Walsh said.

He said the former contractor, North America Landscaping & Dredge Co., from Maryland, was only paid for the work it completed prior to the April 1 deadline. Walsh said in all, the dredging company removed about 14,000 cubic yards of sand prior to packing it in this past spring.

The overall goal of the dredging project, according to Walsh, is to dig out an 8-foot-deep shipping channel at the mouth of the Scarborough River, as well as a 6-foot-deep anchorage area around the town pier at Pine Point.

Walsh said what while the new contractor would have five months to complete the dredging process, which must be scheduled around when the federally endangered piping plover shorebirds begin returning to Maine’s beaches, he hopes the company would “put the petal to the metal” and get the project done as soon as possible.

However, he also noted that how much dredging gets accomplished this fall and early winter will depend on the weather and the capability of the contractor to get crews and equipment on site before the snow and cold set in.