Q&A’s Provide Insight into DOE’s Approach to University Consortium
Martin Schneider
GHG Monitor
5/2/2014
The Department of Energy this week issued a final Request for Proposals for Research and Development—Implementation and Support (RADIS) Services at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, surprising many potential bidders with a quick turnaround on the final RFP that was released a little over two weeks after comments were due on the draft. “It’s clear DOE wasn’t interested in making changes to the draft version and had this pretty much ready to go,” one industry official told GHG Monitor this week. “I thought we’d see a final version sometime this summer, but DOE and NETL clearly want to move on this.” Added another industry executive: “If you’re going to ask for comment and the industry puts time and effort into providing those comments, DOE should at least pretend to consider it. That’s clearly not what happened here.”
The final RFP includes only a handful of changes from the draft—most notably reducing the key personnel penalty from $500,000 to $300,000 for early departure of the program manager. DOE envisions a cost-plus award-fee contract with a five year base period and up to five years in additional award team. The potential for option years will be assessed every six months, with the contractor eligible to earn an additional six months of award term for an “excellent” rating and an additional three months of award term for a “very good” rating. Proposals are due by June 12 and comments or questions must be submitted by June 2. NETL’s current contract with incumbent contractor URS expires on Nov. 14, 2014.
This week, DOE declined to make public the Source Selection Official or membership of the Source Evaluation Board for the RADIS procurement.
Q&A’s Address RUA Concerns
While the RFP itself included few changes, a set of questions and answers released alongside the final RFP provide some insight into DOE’s response to a key concern raised by some potential bidders—the future role of the university consortium currently involved in NETL’s work—the Regional University Alliance. Four companies—Battelle, Fluor, Lockheed Martin and incumbent URS—have been considering leading bids to pursue the work, but the Battelle team is believed to have teamed with the RUA or its member universities in some fashion for the bid, raising questions from other potential bidders about whether they would continue with the competition.
Established in 2010, the RUA “is a unique partnership of academic, industry, and federal researchers with a diverse and exciting portfolio of answers to America’s energy questions,” according to NETL’s website. “The Alliance combines NETL’s fossil energy expertise in research, development, and demonstration with the diverse capabilities of industry member URS Corporation and five nationally recognized research universities: Carnegie Mellon University, the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and West Virginia University.”
In a question to DOE, one potential bidder, referencing the RUA, asked: “These entities appear to have entered into an exclusive teaming arrangement with a single bidder. How is NETL managing this apparent unfair competitive advantage?” DOE made no changes from the draft with regard to clarifying the role of the RUA, stating in its answer that: “Whether any members of the RUA will be involved with the new contract depends on the entities that submit proposals for the new contract and their proposed partners and subcontractors. NETL does not dictate the use of specific team members or whether team arrangements are necessary to provide services under a contract.” NETL acknowledged in its answer that “in order to fulfill the requirements of the new contract, some Offerrors may conclude that a team is necessary and therefore the RFP allows NETL to evaluate the capabilities and experience of an Offeror in combination with its proposed subcontractors. However, this should not be construed to be a requirement that a team arrangement is necessary to receive an award. NETL also cannot limit the ability of universities or other entities to enter into exclusive arrangements in order to submit an offer. The performance work statement included in this RFP does not require the use of any specific subcontractor or universities. Each offer will be evaluated based on the criteria listing in the RFP.”
Another questioner asked: “Can NETL provide information on the future role of the RUA with NETL and how the selected contractor is expected to retain, replace, or complement the role of the RUA?” DOE responded that NETL does not have a requirement that bidders continue the relationship between NETL and the RUA. “The RUA is an informal group of subcontractors to the current RES contractor, URS. The future role of any member of the RUA or of URS depends on what team arrangements—if any—are proposed by Offerors responding to the RFP. There is no requirement or expectation that the selected Offerrer retain, replace, or change the RUA.”
