Due to potential conflicts of interest, the U.S. Energy Department has determined potential bidders for the $4 billion Hanford Mission Essential Service Contract should not be part of five other key contracts at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
The Energy Department issued a draft request for proposals for the 10-year contract in November, with a final document due this spring. The current contract is held by Mission Support Alliance and expires in May 2019.
Bidders for the support services prime contract “will be restricted to a company that is not currently part of a contractor team arrangement” for Hanford’s Plateau Remediation, Tank Operations, Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), Occupational Medical Services Contract (OccMed), and 222-S Laboratory Services contracts, according to a March 1 memo from Lori Sehlhorst, a contracting officer with DOE’s Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center.
CH2M has the Plateau Remediation contract; Washington River Protection Solutions, a partnership of AECOM and Atkins, is Hanford’s tank farm manager; Bechtel National is building the Waste Treatment Plant; and the occupational medical business is held by HPM Corp. Washington River Protection Solutions operates the 222-S Laboratory, with Wastren Advantage providing analytical services.
In the “organizational conflicts of interest” analysis, EMCBC said it wanted to avoid hobbling the Hanford Mission Essential Services prime with “impaired objectivity.” This can result when “a firm’s work under one government contract could entail its evaluating itself, either through an assessment of performance under another contract or an evaluation of proposals.”
The analysis was issued after the contracting officer finished reviewing the scope of work for the contract. Government rules require the contracting officer to act as early as possible in the RFP process to “avoid, neutralize or mitigate” potential conflicts, according to the memo.
The 11-page document says the contract will have a wide-ranging scope of work across the Hanford complex. This includes utilities, transportation, safeguards, cybersecurity, information technology, training, and other services.
The winning bidder “will be required to evaluate the work of one or more other Hanford Site contractors in these areas,” the EMCBC said. This conflict – in the event one of those contractors also has a role in the support services provider – is not easily fixed “through the use of an internal corporate firewall,” according to Sehlhorst.
In February, Jacobs Engineering sold its remaining stake in Mission Support Alliance to eliminate a potential conflict of interest following its purchase of CH2M. The merger made Jacobs the new parent of Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Plateau Remediation. Mission Support Alliance is now owned by Leidos and Centerra.
Under Government Accountability Office guidelines, agencies should avoid three types of conflicts: impaired objectivity, “unequal access to information,” and “biased ground rules.”
The procurement center was concerned about impaired objectivity if the next Hanford services provider is part of the other projects because it must monitor other contractors to ensure compliance with site-wide policies and procedures.
For example, the Hanford essential services contractor will serve as DOE’s subject matter expert for environmental regulatory management, according to the Sehlhorst memo. Also, when it comes to safeguards and security, the winning contractor would develop Hanford-wide policies and reviews. On information technology, the contractor would monitor records management by other site companies.
The Energy Department conducted its presolicitation industry day and site tour for the contract in mid-December. In addition to the incumbent companies, other familiar company names that signed up for the event included: Parsons, Perma-Fix, BWX Technologies, Merrick & Co., Pro2Serve, Navarro, Veolia, AREVA, Fluor, Booz Allen, and North Wind.
