The Energy Department plans to take “corrective action” on concerns regarding its May award of a $13-billion long-term Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state to the BWX Technologies-led Hanford Works Restoration.
“Following our investigation and addressing other issues as appropriate, DOE will make a new award determination,” James Jurich, an attorney with DOE’s Office of the General Counsel, wrote in a July 22 letter obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
He did not discuss what that might involve, but sources say this could lead to the undoing of the contract award.
The letter, evidently a follow-up to a conference call earlier in the day, was addressed to Glenn Wolcott, an attorney for the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
As it reconsiders the contract award, the Energy Department requested the GAO dismiss protests by two contractor teams that lost out in the competition. The Government Accountability Office posted notices on its public website the following day saying it was dismissing the challenges.
On May 12, the Energy Department announced its award of the potential 10-year contract to the joint venture comprised of BWXT, Fluor, and two smaller firms, Intera and DBD. Protests were filed days later by two joint ventures — one comprised of Atkins, Amentum, and Westinghouse, and the other apparently consisting of Jacobs, Honeywell, and Perma-Fix Environmental Services.
In his letter, Jurich wrote the Energy Department would do “further investigation into whether Mr. Doug Shoop gave the awardee an unfair competitive advantage or created an appearance of impropriety.” Shoop retired as DOE’s manager of the Richland Operations Office at Hanford in February 2019. He is currently working with Richland, Wash.-based Independent Strategic Management Solutions Inc., according to the ISMS website.
Jurich did not indicate what role Shoop might have played in the tank contract procurement. Tank waste operations at Hanford are overseen by DOE’s separate Office of River Protection. Energy Department awards are typically made by a source selection authority, usually a contracting officer, based on a comparative analysis of proposals by a source evaluation board.
The Energy Department lawyer indicated DOE would notify proposal offerors once any corrective action is completed. The agency gave no indication how long that might take. The agency declined comment.
Sources said the action by DOE is significant because it opens the door to various possibilities, including rebidding the contract or awarding it to one of the other joint ventures.
Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions is the current tank manager at Hanford. It holds a $7.8 billion contract that began in October 2008 and is set to expire Sept. 30, although DOE has announced plans to extend it for up to another year.
Hanford’s 177 aging underground tanks together hold about 56 million gallons of radioactive waste, left by decades of plutonium production. The contracted work includes managing and closing old tanks and preparing low-activity waste for vitrification at the Waste Treatment Plant.
