The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management will cut contractors some slack when it comes to work deadlines missed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a policy that became official last week.
The Energy Department “will continue to evaluate COVID-19 impacts on the ability of contractors to perform required work,” according to the formal “COVID-19 Remobilization Framework and Site-Specific Template.”
The 27-page document, signed Thursday by DOE Senior Adviser for Environmental Management William (Ike) White. directs managers at each of the agency’s 16 nuclear cleanup sites to prepare a list of missed contract milestones and a “path forward” for finishing required work on an adjusted schedule. The documents should lay out the impact of delays on contractor fees. No date for submission or approval of such plans is listed.
A similar site evaluation, absent the language on fees, is also required for all missed regulatory milestones or permit conditions, the Energy Department said.
Nearly all Environmental Management sites kept only skeleton crews on-site for about two months, from late March to late May, in order to slow the potential spread of novel coronavirus 2019 infections. During this period only minimal tasks, usually those necessary to protect public health, safety, and the environment, continued on-site. During this period, most employees stayed home, either working remotely or collecting unpaid leave.
The Environmental Management document is a more detailed version of the 14-page framework that DOE published in May. Both versions outline a four-prong plan for gradually returning employees to their jobsites while enacting changes – such as physical distancing, wearing face coverings, and routine temperature checks – designed to keep people safe. The process proceeds from Phase 0, planning and workplace modifications; to Phase 1, initial recalls; to additional recalls in Phase 2 if there is no spike in virus infections; finally to Phase 3, in which on-site staffing could return to near pre-COVID levels.
As of today, most DOE cleanup sites have started Phase 1 recalls, with Idaho National Laboratory cleanup operations beginning Phase 2.
