The Department of Energy Thursday issued a draft solicitation for a new long-term mega-contract potentially worth $26.5-billion to both oversee tank closures and run the new Waste Treatment Plant being built by Bechtel National at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
In a press release announcing the new draft request for proposals (RFP), the DOE Office of Environmental Management dubbed the business the Integrated Tank Disposition Contract. From March 30 until April 1, DOE plans a virtual pre-solicitation conference for the Integrated Tank Disposition procurement, including site tour and industry one-on-one sessions. Details can be found on the procurement website.
In a separate but related announcement, the nuclear cleanup office said it plans to extend its current agreement with Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions, for up to two years, from Oct. 1, 2021 through Sept. 30, 2023, while the agency takes bids for the new integrated liquid tank waste contract. The incumbent started work on the existing contract, currently valued at about $7.8 billion, in October 2008.
The integrated tank work will be an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract with a 10-year ordering period and includes tasks such as single-shell tank waste retrieval and closure, design, construction, and operation of waste receiving facilities and pretreatment capabilities, plus operation of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
The plant is being built to solidify Hanford’s tank waste into more stable, easily disposable glass cylinders.
Interested parties have until April 12, to submit written comments about the draft RFP. The DOE contracting officer for the solicitation is Clare Rexroad. Questions should be emailed to [email protected].
The contract will include a 90-day transition period. The nuclear cleanup office will make its award based upon best value to the government considering key people, past performance, management approach, and cost.
In December, the DOE cancelled the $13-billion tank closure contract initially won by a BWX Technologies-led team, Hanford Works Restoration, last May. The agency had already put the tank contract award on hold in order to address issues raised by losing bidders before the Government Accountability Office.
But DOE said the reason for pulling the plug on the tank contract is the agency’s desire to combine that work with management of the vitrification plant that is supposed to begin converting low-activity waste into glass by the end of 2023.
In addition to a BWXT team, it’s a good bet that most other major contractors in the weapons complex will be lured into the competition by the size of the potential payoff.
Meanwhile, Bechtel has said it has finished building most facilities needed for the direct-feed low-activity waste portion of the waste treatment plant and will soon be entering the system testing phase. The $17 billion facility will be the largest waste vitrification plant in the world. It will turn much of the 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous waste now in 177 underground tanks into a glass form for final disposal.
