DOE SEEKS FIRMS FOR TRU SLUDGE BUILDOUTS PROJECT
WC Monitor
3/21/2014
The Department of Energy issued a notice this week seeking qualifications from firms interested in providing architect and engineering services for design of the Sludge Processing Facility Buildouts Project at the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center. The procurement is being competed on an unrestricted basis, and DOE plans to issue a cost-reimbursable-type contract that will run approximately three years for design services, with services to continue to provide assistance for construction oversight, according the notice. Qualifications will be evaluated based on four criteria—1. Professional Qualifications; 2. Specialized Experience; 3. Past Performance and 4. Capacity and Contract Management , with criteria 1 and 2 “considered most important and equal among themselves”; and criteria 3 and 4 “slightly less important and equal between themselves,” the notice states. Responses are due by April 16, and a solicitation is set to be issued after the responses are evaluated.
The Sludge Processing Facility Buildouts Project is intended to address approximately 2,000 cubic meters of remote-handled transuranic waste sludge and associated supernate. DOE is seeking a firm to design and build a test facility “for purposes of advancing the technical maturity level of the equipment and systems and completion of the design for SL-PFB,” as well as to complete the final design for the project and provide support during the construction and operational readiness review phase of the project, the notice states. DOE plans to conduct a separate procurement for a contract to build and operate the Sludge Processing Facility Buildouts Project. “The Sludge Design to be completed by the A-E contractor will be provided to the Construction Contractor for Construction/Operations. No construction contract may be awarded to the firm that designs the project,” the notice says.
WEST END PROTECTED AREA REDUCTION ON HOLD AT Y-12?
WC Monitor
3/21/2014
The West End Protected Area Reduction (WEPAR) project, once a sub-component of the Uranium Processing Facility project, has apparently been put on hold at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The purpose of WEPAR was to shrink the size of the plant’s high-security Protected Area by relocating the PIDAS fences on the west end and reducing the security requirements around some of the plant’s old production facilities that are now inactive and need cleanup.
The project was supposed to give a jump-start to some environmental projects, particularly efforts to characterize the extent of mercury contamination in the plant’s interior and make plans for eventual cleanup or projects that will keep the toxic mercury from recharging in the groundwater. WEPAR was supposed to greatly reduce the cost of cleanup activities at Y-12 by eliminating the need for workers with security clearances in certain areas of the plant.
Funding Stripped Out for FY 2015?
According to newly released budget documents, however, funding for WEPAR has been removed from the administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 request. The request notes, “Scope of work is being reevaluated.” Those documents show the FY2014 funding for WEPAR at $24 million, but it was not immediately clear if those funds are still being used for the security rearrangement or if they’ve been rotated to other projects. Future funding is now listed as TBD (to be determined). The NNSA did not immediately respond to requests for information.
