Staff Reports
WC Monitor
9/25/2015
The Department of Energy expects to have a new contractor operating the Hanford Site’s 222-S Laboratory by Nov. 21 after starting a 60-day transition period this week. The Government Accountability Office this week denied a protest against the May award of the $44.6 million contract to Wastren Advantage of Piketon, Ohio. The protest came from the incumbent contractor, Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International, which filed documents in June and again in August. The protest is covered by a protective order and the GAO has yet to redact information to allow public release of the documents.
The contract is for a base period of three years with one two-year option. It includes firm-fixed-price, labor hour, and cost reimbursement elements. Any surges of additional work approved by DOE will be covered through a reimbursement of costs. Pension and benefit costs also will be reimbursed. An incentive fee will be available for certain line items in the contract, according to the request for proposals. The primary firm-fixed-price nature of the contract will allow the department to shift cost risk from the government to the contractor during execution of the work included in the contract, DOE said.
Wastren will operate, manage, and maintain the 222-S Laboratory, a 70,000-square-foot facility with 11 hot cells that allow remote handling of highly radioactive waste while minimizing radiation dose to workers. The contract is expected to cover 15,000 to 25,000 analyses annually, including organic, inorganic, and radio-chemistry analysis. Many of the samples are expected to come from the Hanford tank farms, where high-level radioactive waste is stored. Analysis of those samples is used to determine how to combine waste in various tanks and to help plan how to best protect workers performing tasks at specific tanks.
Advanced Technologies and Laboratories has held the 222-S Laboratory contract since 2005, after DOE split the work out of the Hanford tank farm contract to create a small-business opportunity. Under the leadership of Jou Hwang, it has earned four consecutive DOE Voluntary Protection Program Star of Excellence Awards, which recognize facilities with outstanding occupational safety and health management systems. “ORP thanks ATL for their outstanding support and Jou for his leadership,” said Kevin Smith, manager of the DOE Office of River Protection, in a statement.
Much of Wastren Advantage’s work across the nation is for the DOE Office of Environmental Management. At Hanford it is the managing partner of WAI Stoller Disposal Operations, a subcontractor to Washington Closure Hanford. WAI Stoller manages and operates the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility, a lined landfill for mixed low-level waste in central Hanford.
