PHOENIX, Ariz. — The head of the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management said Monday she intends for the new end-state contracting approach to halt “ever-extending site closure dates” for cleanup of Cold War-era nuclear sites.
The Energy Department cannot “simply keep treading water,” but must drive these sites toward completion, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management Anne Marie White said during the kickoff session here of the 2019 Waste Management Symposia.
The Energy Department’s cleanup office will issue billions of dollars in procurement awards in the next couple years, and it is vital that the work create meaningful and concrete progress toward final remediation, White said. Just last month, DOE issued final requests for proposals for two major contracts at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The Tank Closure Contract and the Central Plateau Cleanup Contract together represent a potential $23 billion worth of value.
Those documents, along with the smaller Nevada Environmental Program Services RFP, are the first such EM solicitations to use the end-state contracting model. The Energy Department describes this approach as a single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with the ability to use both cost-reimbursement and firm-fixed-price task orders.
White believes this approach will afford Environmental Management needed flexibility to negotiate with contractors and accelerate the pace of work toward ultimate completion.
Since being established in 1989, Office of Environmental Management has completed remediation of 91 of 107 DOE properties within the complex. But the remaining jobs are the largest and most complex. Government data indicates the cost of cleanup for the remaining 16 could amount to $377 billion.
