A key part of the selection process for a new Idaho Cleanup Project contractor should happen in-person next month in Idaho Falls, according to the Department of Energy.
Barring an uptick in COVID-19 cases near the Idaho National Laboratory, vendors vying for the $6.4 billion remediation award should be ready for oral presentations at the site between Aug. 17 and Aug. 22, DOE said in response to one of the questions submitted on the procurement.
The questions and answers were posted on the procurement website last Tuesday. Key personnel named in bid proposals submitted last month should be ready in the third week of August to show up for interviews and “oral problem scenarios” used to determine how vendor management might handle a significant accident or crisis.
If in-person sessions prove unworkable due to coronavirus concerns, DOE would instead use its Zoom account for virtual sessions. Should the agency go that route, it would notify bidders by Aug. 3. Any virtual sessions would occur in late September.
The Energy Department in late May issued its final request for proposals for the contract.
The new deal would replace two separate contracts set to expire next spring — Fluor Idaho’s nearly $2 billion, five-year environmental remediation award that runs through May 2021, and Spectra Tech’s roughly five-year, $45 million spent fuel management agreement that extends through March 2021.
The two vendors together employee more than 1,900 people, with all but 92 working for Fluor Idaho.
Along with the two incumbents, which are believed to be seeking the next contract as part of separate teams, other vendors that took part in a virtual industry day briefing in February included Amentum, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, EnergySolutions, Jacobs, Navarro Research and Engineering, North Wind Group, Veolia, and Westinghouse.
The new award will be an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a 10-year ordering period, although the actual work could last 15 years, DOE has said.
