Prospective bidders on the Department of Energy’s multibillion-dollar Hanford Integrated Tank Waste Disposition Contract in Washington state need not submit proposals before Christmas after all, thanks to an extension announced recently.
The deadline for submitting bid proposals on the potential $45-billion contract is being extended by 17 days to Jan. 6, 2022, from Dec. 20, the DOE Office of Environmental Management said on its procurement website.
In answers to questions from prospective bidders published Nov. 18, DOE initially rejected the idea of extending the proposal submission date beyond Dec. 20.
But in a follow-up post Dec. 3 the DOE offices said it was changing the due date to Thursday, Jan. 6. No explanation for the change was provided.
The megabuck contract, which could run for 15 years, would effectively merge operation of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant being built by Bechtel with the contract for tank management and closure now held by the Amentum-Atkins team, Washington River Protection Solutions.
The DOE issued the request for proposals in October.
There are roughly 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford, the residues of decades of plutonium production for U.S. nuclear weapons. By the end of 2023, the Waste Treatment Plant is expected to start vitrifying some of the low-activity waste at Hanford into a stable glass-form for disposal.
