Move Comes Ahead of Next Week’s Industry Day
Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
2/27/2015
In advance of next week’s industry day on future Los Alamos cleanup contracting, the Department of Energy this week released a sources sought notice seeking companies interested in competing in the upcoming procurement. DOE announced last fall plans to shift management of legacy cleanup at LANL to the Office of Environmental Management from the National Nuclear Security Administration, and will hold an industry day March 3 near Los Alamos on its post-Fiscal Year 2016 cleanup strategy. The Department is seeking capability statements from companies interested in participating by March 30, according to this weeks’ notice.
At this point in time there is no performance work statement for the procurement. “The anticipated number of procurements, types of contracts, periods of performance, amount of funding, or set aside possibilities are to be determined,” the notice states. Major elements of the scope include completing legacy waste disposition and complying with a state order to isolate and treat the nitrate salt-bearing waste drums believed to have contributed to the radiological release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. It also includes decontamination and decommissioning of facilities, environmental restoration steps such as characterization and remediation, and operating necessary waste management facilities. Small and disadvantaged businesses are asked to apply to see if either all or a portion of the work can be set aside.
Cleanup activities at Los Alamos had previously been overseen by the NNSA Los Alamos Field Office while being funded by EM. But DOE’s approach for managing the Los Alamos cleanup fell under new scrutiny in the wake of findings that issues with transuranic waste processing at Los Alamos were a factor in a radiological release that occurred in February 2014 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. In September, the New Mexico Environment Department listed having EM in charge of the legacy cleanup work at Los Alamos as one of the state’s conditions for restarting operations at WIPP, and later that month, DOE officially announced it would move forward with developing a plan for the management shift. EM is currently establishing a field office at Los Alamos, and in the next month, EM plans to offer a 12-to-24 month bridge contract to current LANL contractor Los Alamos National Security, LLC, to support cleanup activities during the procurement period.
