The Department of Energy is gathering information on firms interested in providing support services to the Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee, an organization of 20 federally-recognized tribes touched by shipments of nuclear waste.
The request for information notice was posted Tuesday on a federal procurement website by DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s Office of Integrated Waste Management.
DOE seeks to identify businesses available to provide staff support services to the tribal committee’s operations through a five-year cooperative agreement and includes tasks for both the Office of Integrated Waste Management and the Office of Packaging and Transportation within DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.
The work that could be included in any future request for proposals would include financial recordkeeping and administrative support, working with the tribal committee on policy papers, coordinating in-person meetings and virtual meetings and staying up to date on policy and transport issues relevant to radioactive materials.
While businesses of all sizes are welcome to respond, small businesses are particularly encouraged to respond to the request for information, according to the notice.
DOE works with tribes and state governments to develop plans and procedures for radioactive materials shipments, including ongoing transuranic-waste transport to the agency’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and repatriating U.S.-owned nuclear fuel from foreign countries through the Foreign Research Reactors program.
Responses to the request for information are due by 12 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on April 20 and should be emailed to DOE’s point of contact in its Idaho Operations Office, Marianne Boline at [email protected].
The Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee, formerly known as the Tribal Caucus, is meant to provide input and guidance based on tribal perspectives intended to inform federal agencies about radioactive materials “and occasional high visibility shipments that may affect federally-recognized tribes,” according to a website maintained by the National Conference of State Legislators.
The state legislators organization has, since 2010, provided staff support to the tribal committee through cooperative agreement with DOE. The tribal panel’s last meeting was a virtual one on Jan. 21, according to the website.
