The Energy Department on Tuesday issued a draft request for proposals for the potential 10-to-15-year, $6.4 billion contract for the Idaho Cleanup Project.
The work at the Idaho National Laboratory includes operation of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, management and disposal of both low-level radioactive and transuranic waste, decommissioning old facilities, and spent fuel management of Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSI), including one away from the lab at the Fort St. Vrain power plant near Platteville, Colo.
The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract will be issued to the bidder that provides the best value to the government based on a combination of cost, key personnel, management approach, and past track record on federal contracts. The Energy Department seeks a vendor that can minimize environmental risk and reduce its financial liability at INL through timely remediation.
The contract includes a 90-day transition period to the new vendor. Within the first 14 days the winning vendor must file a formal “transition plan” with DOE, according to the draft RFP materials.
With the exception of the spent fuel management, Fluor Idaho is the incumbent vendor under a five-year, $1.9-billion contract due to expire on May 31, 2021. “We are proud of our performance on the Idaho Cleanup Project and are reviewing the details in the draft RFP before we determine a path forward,” company spokesman Erik Simpson said in a Tuesday email.
Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Spectra Tech is the current spent fuel vendor. Its four-year base period on a $45 million five-year contract is set to end March 30. The Energy Department holds the option for an additional 12 months. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it will seek to continue managing the spent fuel pads.
An Energy Department spokesperson said by email said Thursday a complete work scope of 15 years is envisioned. While there is a 10-year ordering period, there is an additional five years beyond that to complete work. That would explain why the potential contract would seemingly amount to more than triple the value of the combined current contracts held by Fluor and Spectra Tech.
The presolicitation conference, site tour, and individual meetings for interested vendors is scheduled for Feb. 25-28 at INL. Potential bidders have until 2 p.m. ET Feb. 19 to register for the event at [email protected].
Interested parties will have until March 6 to submit written comments on the draft RFP also by emailing [email protected].
One industry source contacted Thursday said he expects most of the major Energy Department environmental contractors to be among the bidders for the Idaho business. Representatives from BWXT, Bechtel, and others said Thursday they don’t typically comment on potential market opportunities.
The $1 billion IWTU was essentially constructed by 2012 to convert 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing waste into a more stable granular substance that can be stored in canisters. But the facility has never worked as intended. The Energy Department has been testing IWTU for much of the past year and expects to start operations in late 2020.
Much of the cleanup work at INL is governed by a federal facility agreement and consent order issued via the 1991 Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). In short it regulates remediation of contaminant releases to the environment at the lab, according to the statement of work. There is also the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement (ISA) between Idaho, DOE and the Navy, which governs removal of transuranic waste, spent nuclear fuel, and high-level radioactive waste from the state.
