DOE RELEASES MORE DETAILS ON PADUCAH DEACTIVATION PROCUREMENT

The Department of Energy has released more details on its deactivation contract for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, including plans for it to replace the work cleanup contractor LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky, LLC, when its contract runs out. The Department is developing the procurement in preparation for the imminent return of the facility to DOE by plant operator USEC, with the work available to holders of DOE’s nationwide unrestricted Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity cleanup contracts. The scope will include assisting “transfers/assignment of the structures, property or buildings from the current tenants to the Contractor (or other site contractors), perform S&M of these facilities, and preparing the facilities for future demolition. The Contractor shall perform Deactivation, Decontamination and Demolition in accordance with Section C.1.5.3 as approved by the CO if/when funding becomes available. ” according to a draft Performance Work Statement posted by the Department late last week. It adds, “Additional structures, property or facilities … supporting environmental remediation services shall be the responsibility of the Contractor after expiration of the Remediation Contract.”

Notably, the Department also noted an organizational conflict of interest regarding involvement by USEC in the procurement. “DOE has made a determination to exclude the USEC and any USEC affiliate from participating in the Paducah GDP Deactivation acquisition as a pre-award consultant or subcontractor. This determination is effective immediately,” the OCI states. “As the holder of all current technical data describing the PGDP status, USEC has exclusive access to information such as facility drawings, procedures and policies that would provide an EM IDIQ contractor an unfair competitive advantage. In addition, an EM IDIQ Contractor consulting with USEC would have an unfair competitive advantage because of USEC’s involvement in developing, updating, and revising PDGP facilities documents and the Contractor’s exclusive use of that information.”