Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
2/20/2015
The long-drawn-out search for a new support services contractor for the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management hit a new roadblock this week, with DOE now facing two challenges to its latest award decision. Portage and a team led by Wastren Advantage each filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office this week over DOE’s decision in late January to award the new Legacy Management support services contract to Navarro Research and Engineering. WAI, whose team includes incumbent Stoller, declined to comment this week on its decision to file a new protest. Portage did not respond to requests for comment. DOE declined to comment this week.
DOE’s latest choice of Navarro marks the third time the Department has attempted to make an award decision for the new Legacy Management support services contract, which has been set aside for small businesses and has been valued at approximately $250 million. DOE had twice before selected Portage as the winner of the contract, but both times the decision was met with protests from the WAI team and from Navarro. To date, DOE has not publicly commented on why it shifted course and selected Navarro as the latest winner of the contract.
GAO Expects to Make Decision on Protest by Late May
According to the GAO’s website, decisions on the two new protests are expected by late May, further extending a procurement that has become infamous for the time it has taken so far to complete. DOE’s efforts to compete the new Legacy Management support services contract stretch back to the fall of 2010, when the Department began conducting market research to determine if the contract could continue to be set-aside for small businesses. DOE issued a Request for Proposals in November 2011, and bids were due by mid-February 2012, with reportedly eight companies submitting offers.
DOE initially awarded the contract to Portage in April 2013, and in response to the protests from the WAI team and Navarro, chose in May 2013 to take corrective action by re-evaluating all eight bids. In early 2014, DOE again chose to award the new contract to Portage, leading to a second round of protests from Navarro and the WAI team. In the spring of 2014, the GAO sustained Navarro’s protest but denied WAI-Stoller’s, and in response DOE again re-evaluated the bids submitted for the new contract, leading to last month’s latest award decision.
Yet Another Extension Appears Likely for Incumbent
The new GAO protests mean another contract extension is all but certain for incumbent Stoller (now known as Stoller Newport News Nuclear). The contract held by SN3 was initially set to expire in September 2012, and the company was unable to lead a bid of its own for the follow-on contract because it did not meet the size standard DOE used for the procurement, leading to SN3’s decision to team with WAI. Since September 2012, though, SN3 has received a number of extensions to its contract in various increments, with the latest extension running for three months to the end of March at a value of approximately $16.8 million. DOE declined to comment late this week on possible plans for another extension for SN3.
