The U.S. Energy Department on Jan. 17 issued an updated draft request for proposals for the Hanford Site Central Plateau Cleanup Contract, which serves as a model for the agency’s end-state procurement approach for environmental remediation.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management issued the revision to better align the document with a special notice issued in December, which modified the end states contracting model. Interested vendors have until Monday to submit comments.
Prior to issuing the final RFP, targeted for the end of February, DOE will consider the comments received in response to the revised draft.
Among other things, DOE is seeking feedback on its planned master indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract approach, along with the fee structure for task orders within the contract.
Newly posted DOE documents indicate the Hanford Central Plateau Cleanup Contract would be worth a maximum of $10 billion, or $500 million annually from fiscal 2020 through 2030.
Under DOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the cleanup office is urging contractors to propose significant milestones to speed remediation and reduce the government’s environmental liability in exchange for fees of up to 15 percent, compared to typical fees of less than 10 percent. The new RFP, which revises the draft issued in September, is the first to reflect that approach.
“The contractor, in partnership with DOE, will use its best efforts to further the acceleration of cleanup activities and reduce DOE’s long-term liability,” according to the draft RFP’s schedule document.
The contract calls for a 60-day transition to the new vendor following a notice to proceed. Within 72 hours of receiving this notice, the contractor is required to identify any teaming partners and subcontractors and describe the experience each brings to the project.
The Energy Department also wants 100 percent of the contractor’s workforce provided with initial training within six months of the notice to proceed.
The Energy Department over the fall was swamped with questions about its end states approach. Industry expressed concerns that contractors “would be proposing different end states and potential regulatory frameworks,” according to DOE’s Dec. 12 special notice. Some in the contractor community disliked the idea, saying it resulted in a situation without uniform standards to gauge success.
The notice proposed using a single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with the ability to issue both cost-reimbursable (CR) and firm-fixed-price task orders at Central Plateau.
CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation in 2008 was awarded a 10-year contract worth roughly $6 billion. The incumbent received a one-year, $500 million extension in September 2018 for the work, which includes demolition of the former Plutonium Finishing Plant and shoring up the second PUREX Plant waste tunnel to keep it from collapsing.
A pre-solicitation conference and site tour in October 2018 attracted companies including AECOM, ARC Professional Services, Arcadis, Avantech, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, Envirocon, Fluor, Holtec, HydroGeo, Jacobs, Navarro, North Wind, Orano, Perma-Fix, SNC Lavalin, Total Site Services, Trade Wind Services, and Veolia.
The Energy Department’s November procurement schedule forecast award of the Central Plateau contract between December 2019 and February 2020.
