The Department of Energy Tuesday awarded a joint venture led by Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Navarro Research and Engineering a $389-million contract to run the 222-S Laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration is a team of Navarro, and Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International, wholly owned subsidiary of Planned Systems International, Inc., a small business supporting DOE, Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration.
Maryland-based Amentum is also affiliated with the winning team, a spokesman for that major DOE contractor said.
The new deal could potentially run for seven years, with a five-year base and two one-year options, and replaces two existing contracts. Laboratory analysis and testing is now done by Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal, which bought Wastren Advantage, under a roughly $53-million agreement that started in September 2015 and runs through Sept. 2021.
In addition, Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions currently directs laboratory operations under its $7.8-billion tank management contract that started in October 2008 and is scheduled to run through Sept. 30, 2021.
Both of these existing deals have out clauses allowing the contracts to end early in order to line up with the transition to the new contractor.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management decided early in the procurement process it wanted a single team in charge of the 222-S Laboratory, this time around.
The department issued its request for proposals for the new laboratory contract in February 2019, at around the same time it solicited proposals for Hanford site services and Hanford Central Plateau remediation. The latter contracts were awarded in December and, following unsuccessful bid protests by rivals, are now starting to transition from the current contractor.
The new 222-S Laboratory contractor will have the sole responsibility to run the facility located in the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site. The laboratory’s chief mission is providing analytical support for storage and treatment of tank waste leftover from decades of plutonium production at Hanford.
“Navarro is very pleased to have received this award, we look forward to providing excellence in services to DOE in support of the Hanford Mission,” said Navarro President Susana Navarro.
