The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to release a final request for proposals (RFP) for the Tank Closure Contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state within 45 days.
The final RFP will be posted at www.fedconnect.net
As DOE said last week, the closure contract that results from the solicitation will replace the Tank Operations Contract, held by AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and set to expire Sept. 30 of this year. The winning vendor will manage and subsequently close single-shell and double-shell tank farms that hold 56 million gallons of radioactive waste at Hanford.
The new contract will also cover finishing construction of equipment to pretreat and feed low-level waste to the Waste Treatment Plant being built by Bechtel.
The Energy Department plans to hold a presolicitation site tour with potential bidders on Jan. 24. The registration deadline is 2 p.m. local time on Jan. 17. Further details will be posted on a DOE Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center website for the procurement.
Last fall, the Energy Department gave tank manager WRPS a one-year extension, worth about $629 million, to its 10-year, $6.3 billion contract at Hanford.
In November, the Energy Department had penciled in mid-2020 for issuing the tank contract. Even if that date is not pushed out, it would still suggest the contractor could receive another extension.
As it gradually shifts from operation to closure of 177 underground tanks at Hanford, DOE is also gearing up to issue a future solicitation for operation of the WTP, which will turn the radioactive waste into a form of glass for disposal. No date has been scheduled for the WTP management procurement.
