Third Evaluation of Bids Underway
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
10/24/2014
The Department of Energy’s search for a new support services contractor for the Office of Legacy Management continues to drag on, as DOE asked bidders this week to again extend their proposals’ expiration dates, this time by another six weeks to mid-December. DOE did not respond to requests for comment as to why it is seeking the extension, or when it estimates making a new award decision for the contract. DOE is currently in the midst of a third evaluation of the eight bids submitted for the new contract, which was set aside for small businesses, with previous award decisions having been challenged to the Government Accountability Office.
The new Legacy Management support services contract has been valued at approximately $250 million over five years. The procurement for the new contract stretches back to the fall of 2010, when the Department began conducting market research to determine if the contract could continue to be set-aside for small businesses. The Department issued a Request for Proposals in November 2011, and bids were due by mid-February 2012. DOE initially awarded the contract to Portage last April, leading to challenges from Navarro and the team of Wastren Advantage-S.M. Stoller. In response, DOE chose last May to take corrective action by re-evaluating all eight bids, and then chose again early this year to award the new contract to Portage. Both Navarro and the WAI-Stoller team again protested DOE’s decision, and this spring the GAO sustained Navarro’s protest but denied WAI-Stoller’s.
Incumbent Extended Till At Least End of This Year
As the procurement for the new contract has stretched on and on, the incumbent Legacy Management support contractor, S.M. Stoller, has received a number of contract extensions. Most recently, Stoller (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries) received an extension through Dec. 31, with an estimated value of $18.1 million. Stoller’s contract was initially supposed to expire in September 2012, and the company had been unable to lead a bid of its own for the follow-on contract because it did not meet the size standard employed for the procurement.
