DOE ISSUES DRAFT RFP FOR NEW 222-S LAB CONTRACT
WC Monitor
3/07/2014
The Department of Energy has released a draft Request for Proposals for a new small business set-aside contract to provide analytical services and testing work for five years at the Hanford 222-S Laboratory and operate the lab. DOE is proposing that the type of contract be changed from the cost reimbursement-type that is currently used for lab services to a hybrid contract. The proposed new contract will include a fixed price for services, and unexpected work would be covered through cost reimbursement. An incentive fee would be available for certain line items in the contract.
The current contract, held by Advanced Technologies and Laboratories, has been valued by DOE at $72.4 million for five years, which includes $10 million in American Recovery Act money. ATL is currently on the final year of the current contract, with a new contract planned to start in 2015. The draft RFP proposes a base period of two years followed by up to three one-year contract extensions. The proposed new contract would cover an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 laboratory analyses each year. The 222-S Laboratory in central Hanford analyzes inorganic, organic and radiochemical samples, the majority of them drawn from the site’s underground tanks. Comments and questions on the draft will be accepted until March 28 and then a Request for Proposals will be issued in the near future, according to DOE. Now DOE is seeking comments on potential barriers to competition, discriminating factors for contractor selection and whether descriptions of services to be provided and the pricing structure are clear.
ATL, which qualifies as a small business, has twice been awarded five-year contracts to provide service at the lab and before that the work was handled by Hanford’s tank farm contractor. In February ATL celebrated working three years without a recordable or lost work day due to a work-related injury. In 2013 it received the DOE Voluntary Protection Program Star of Excellence and was named one of the 15 safest companies in the nation by EHS Today magazine.
