Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
4/04/2014
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said this week that DOE is looking to award the new contract for deactivation services at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in September. During a joint House subcommittee hearing this week, Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) questioned plans for the contract given USEC’s upcoming return of the facility to the Department, and Moniz said they are moving ahead. “We are working to try and speed up the contract discussions. Typically these large environmental management contracts, they’re complicated, they’re very long term, they have very very large contract amounts, they are 12 to 14 months. We are hoping to get that down to a little bit shorter so that we can have that turnover early in the fall,” Moniz said at the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing, adding: “September is what we are trying to push for to get that contract concluded.”
DOE is currently evaluating two bids—one from a team led by Fluor and one from a team led by AECOM—for the Paducah deactivation contract. The new contract, which is being competed under the Department’s set of national indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity cleanup contracts, is set to run for three years and be worth several hundred million dollars. The September time frame suggests that follow-up talks with the teams may be necessary. According to DOE’s acquisition forecast, an award could be made as early as June 2014 without discussions and October 2014 with discussions. “The Department intends to make an award consistent with its published forecast,” DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said when asked about the procurement.
USEC: Return Unlikely Before October
USEC, the current leaseholder at the plant, ceased enrichment operations at Paducah last year and is in ongoing talks with DOE about the return of the plant. USEC has pushed for a quicker return of the plant to cut down on the company’s costs. “We anticipate being ready to complete the return of leased premises and to terminate the Paducah GDP lease as early as July 2014,” USEC said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week. “However, based on our current discussions with DOE, the return of the leased premises appears unlikely before October 2014 and we have not reached agreement on a lease termination date prior to August 1, 2015. DOE has indicated that its ability to agree to such an earlier date will depend on its ability to award a contract for deactivation services and be prepared to assume responsibility for the leased areas.”
If DOE insists on holding USEC to the August 2015 term in the lease, USEC plans to partially return leased facilities it no longer needs. “While DOE has stated that it continues to be willing to work with us to develop a transition plan and schedule for the safe and secure return of the Paducah GDP, DOE has taken the position that we are foreclosed from invoking our rights to a partial return of facilities under the lease. While we strongly disagree with this DOE position, we believe we will be able to reach agreement with DOE on a mutually acceptable date to return the leased areas.”
