The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office sent a valentine to prospective contractors Thursday, issuing two major requests for proposals at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
In releasing final procurement notices for the Central Plateau Cleanup Contract and the Tank Closure Contract, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) met a 45-day deadline it set for itself in January. The RFPs represent the first multibillion-dollar procurements to employ EM’s much-touted end-state contract approach.
The department describes its end-state method as featuring a single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, which can include both cost-reimbursement and firm-fixed-price task orders. The setup provides the agency flexibility to have contractors take a risk-based approach to speed cleanup and reduce environmental liability, according to DOE. End state proponents say this is a nimbler approach which is better able to address unexpected complications than the current management and operations contract method.
The Energy Department has essentially developed the Central Plateau and Tank Closure contracts in tandem, using much of the same draft RFP materials for both projects. The most recent procurement schedule published by the cleanup office in November listed both Tank Closure and Central Plateau contracts being awarded in the second half of 2020.
Tank Closure Contract
At stake is a potential 10-year, $13 billion master IDIQ award to replace the contract now held by AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions, under an extension set to expire at the end of September. The contractor first started work on its $6.3 billion contract in October 2008.
While continuing to cut risk posed by 177 underground tanks holding 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste at Hanford, the new vendor will increasingly focus on tank closure. The contractor will also be responsible for preparing at-tank cesium removal facilities prior to delivery of pretreated low-activity waste to the Waste Treatment Plant. The WTP, being built by Bechtel, will convert waste into a safer glass form for disposal.
Big names represented at a January industry on tank closure included AECOM; Bechtel; Booz Allen Hamilton; BWX Technologies; Fluor; Honeywell; Jacobs; and Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Services.
In its cover letter, from Contracting Officer George Champlain, DOE said it considered industry comments submitted by Jan. 28 on draft RFP documents. Bid proposals are due by 5 p.m. ET on March 18. Questions on the tank contract should by submitted to DOE by Feb. 24 to [email protected].
Central Plateau Cleanup Contract
Central Plateau Cleanup would be a master IDIQ contract worth up to $10 billion over 10 years. The current contract is held by Jacobs subsidiary CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation, which is working on an extension through September of this year. The current vendor began work on its original 10-year, $5.8 billion contract in September 2008.
Questions are due on the Central Plateau Contract on the same Feb. 24 deadline and should be sent to [email protected]. Likewise, the actual bid proposals are due on March 18. LeAnn Brock is the contracting officer for the tank contract.
The contract involves cleanup of the Central Plateau at the Hanford Site, demolition of facilities, and remediation of highly radioactive areas, including old reactor buildings, near the Columbia River. The contractor would also retrieve, treat, and store transuranic waste, certifying it for ultimate disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
Jacobs has indicated it could bid on both the Central Plateau and Tank Closure contracts. Likewise, industry sources expect AECOM will pursue both.
While AECOM and Jacobs are among the “usual suspects” associated with big DOE environmental remediation projects, one source also expects some names like IBM and Honeywell to emerge as team members on bid proposals for these two contracts. The procurements should draw some interest from vendors now doing work for DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
