The U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday it will begin the bidding process for the new Savannah River Site management and operations (M&O) contract by May 1.
In an online announcement, DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center said that, within 30 to 60 days, it would issue a draft request for proposals (RFP) to kick off the procurement. That will allow potential bidders to review and suggest changes to the contract documents before submitting their bids to manage SRS, a 310-square-mile facility located near Aiken, S.C.
The Energy Department has not yet released any details on the contract length or value.
The current management and operations contract is held by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), a partnership of Fluor, Honeywell, and Stoller Newport News Nuclear. The $9.5 billion deal is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2018.
That leaves DOE with just five months to issue the draft and final RFPs, accept bids, make a decision, and put its new team in place. The agency did not state if it will extend Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ contract, and a site official said he could not comment on an ongoing procurement.
Most any contract of this size can be expected to draw interest from companies with experience in managing DOE operations, though no one as of Thursday was ready to publicly commit to bidding on the Savannah River Site.
BWXT Technologies “continuously evaluates opportunities at DOE and NNSA facilities like SRS where our experience aligns with the sites’ missions,” company spokesman Jud Simmons said by email Thursday.
Bechtel is also believed to be interested in the SRS contract.
Fluor did not respond to a request for comment, while AECOM declined to comment.
BWXT, Bechtel, and AECOM are partners, with CH2M, in the Savannah River Site’s current liquid waste management contractor, Savannah River Remediation. Bechtel and BWXT also teamed with Honeywell in Savannah River EcoManagement, which in October secured a $4.7 billion follow-on waste contract – which now faces a bid protest from an AECOM-CH2M bidding team that in February was upheld by the Government Accountability Office.
Savannah River Site management encompasses missions for both DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
These include general site cleanup, building deactivation and decommissioning; tritium production for nuclear weapons; and operation of the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). The department said the new contractor will be responsible for processing nuclear materials; reducing the costs of continuing operations, surveillance, and maintenance; and remediating the site’s surface water, groundwater, and contaminated soils.
The Energy Department plans to host a presolicitation conference for potential bidders in April. No specific dates have been posted. The conference will include site tours and one-on-one sessions for the interested companies.
