The U.S. Energy Department intends to extend the current contracts for both radioactive-waste tank operations and Central Plateau cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington state for up to one year while it readies new awards.
The current contract extensions for AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Jacobs subsidiary CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation are due to expire the end of next month, the Energy Department said in an internal email circulated Tuesday.
Both incumbent contractors could stay on the job through Sept. 30, 2020, following publication of formal procurement notices on the FedBizOpps website. But the extensions would last only as long as needed after award of new contracts and transition periods to the follow-on providers, DOE said in the email.
The Energy Department has not formally posted either notice as of early Thursday morning.
Under its current $6.8 billion business, tank contractor WRPS manages 177 underground tanks that hold 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste at Hanford. After its initial decade-long contract expired in September 2018, WRPS has operated under a one-year extension from DOE.
The same situation exists for CH2M Central Plateau’s $5.8 billion worth of business for work that includes demolition of facilities and remediation of highly radioactive areas, including old reactor buildings, near the Columbia River.
The new Hanford Tank Closure Contract could be worth between $10 billion and $15 billion over a decade. Likewise, the new Central Plateau contract would also last up to 10 years and be worth $7 billion to $12 billion.
When it posted its last public procurement timetable in May, the Energy Department predicted both contracts could be issued by the end of August. However, recent speculation had already predicted schedule slippage for at least one of these contracts.
