The Government Accountability Office should by the end of April rule on challenges to $14 billion worth of Energy Department contract awards at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
With the deadline now passed for additional challenges, the GAO has single protests on its docket for each award: the 10-year, $10-billion Hanford Central Plateau cleanup contract issued Dec. 12 to an AECOM-led team; and the potential 10-year, $4-billion contract issued Dec. 5 to a venture headed by Leidos.
The Project W Restoration partnership, comprised of Bechtel National, Tetra Tech, and EnergySolutions, filed a protest Jan. 21 over the award to Central Plateau Cleanup Co., a team consisting of AECOM, Fluor, and Atkins. The work includes protecting against contamination of the Columbia River, deactivation and demolition of facilities at the former plutonium complex, and remediation of waste sites. Given its 100-day timetable, the GAO is expected to adjudicate that protest by April 30.
The third and final bidder, a team including Jacobs, which through subsidiary CH2M holds the existing $6.4 billion Central Plateau cleanup contract, did not pursue a bid protest.
A joint venture headed by Huntington Ingalls Industries on Jan. 13 protested the award to Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, a group comprised of Leidos, Centerra, and Parsons. Leidos and Centerra are partners in the incumbent vendor, Mission Support Alliance. The congressional auditor should rule on that one by April 22.
The site support services business includes a variety of tasks including road maintenance, emergency services, information technology, and complex security. A third and final group, which some sources said was led by Virginia-based government contractor PAE, did not protest.
There are no public filings available at this stage regarding what parties are claiming in their protests. Those details typically come up when the GAO issues its written decision, although some specifics are withheld to protect corporate competitive information.
The GAO will consider protester written arguments that the agency that awarded the business violated government contracting standards.
At the Energy Communities Alliance conference Thursday in Washington, D.C., some participants expressed concern the two bid protests will delay other procurements awaiting action in the cleanup office pipeline.
In the past such protests have caused DOE to pause the pace of future bidding while it considers if all its processes can withstand challenge.
At the same time, industry sources acknowledge that it can take upward of $5 million to prepare a bid package for a $1-billion-plus contract. As a result, losers are reluctant to throw in the towel, they add.
