Late Thursday, the Department of Energy awarded Tennessee-based Navarro Research and Engineering the new Technical Assistance Contract at the Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico potentially worth $100-million over five years, a move with implications for the agency’s ongoing search for a new operations manager at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
Barring a bid protest, Oak Ridge-based Navarro will succeed incumbent North Wind Portage, the incumbent on the job through Aug. 31, according to a DOE press release.
The contractor will provide the Carlsbad office with technical assistance in areas such as project management, engineering and technical reviews and nuclear safety and quality assurance.
The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with task orders is Navarro’s second big new pickup in the past year. In April a Navarro-led group completed its transition and became the new manager of the 222-S laboratory at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Small businesses had worried that delays in DOE’s award of the Carlsbad Field Office set-aside for technical services would their odds of sharing in the $3-billion Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) prime contract, according to procurement documents released this week.
If DOE had further delayed the five-year, Carlsbad Technical Assistance Contract (CTAC), the competitors worried the could find themselves navigating conflicts of interest as they pursued the 20% small business pie included with the next WIPP prime contract, commenters said.
DOE released the final solicitation for the CTAC contract in October 2020. Bids were due in December. The contract calls for technical assistance to the Carlsbad office as it oversees WIPP. The final solicitation for the next WIPP prime contract hit the streets last month, with the bid deadline just extended to Aug. 3.
“Several small businesses are bidding on the CTAC ” with the understanding from DOE that the contract would be awarded by April “or at least, before” the solicitation for the WIPP prime contract, one commenter wrote in 10 pages of questions and answers posted online Wednesday by the Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center.
Many small firms “relied on this guidance because, if they were not awarded CTAC, they could still be able to pursue subcontract work” from the prime, the same commenter said. But small businesses that are actively pursuing the technical assistance contract could face an organizational conflict of interest if they also try to land a subcontract with the prime.
Other comments voiced similar concerns.
In response, DOE said this is one reason it is extending the deadline to bid on the WIPP operations contract by two weeks, until Aug. 3. The current $2.7-billion WIPP prime contract is held by Nuclear Waste Partnership, an Amentum-BWX Technologies team. The incumbent is on the job until at least September.
With the Carlsbad technical services contract now awarded, it could make it easier for other small businesses to turn their attention to pursuing subcontracts with teams bidding for the new WIPP management and operations contract. Bids on the prime contract were due Aug. 3.
Elsewhere in the comments, DOE agreed to increase the total maximum fee for management capital projects at WIPP under the prime contract to 7% from 5%
Meanwhile, proposals are due July 26 on a third WIPP-related deal, the $100-million Transportation Services contract solicitation. The small business set-aside for WIPP waste haulage is currently held by CAST Specialty Transportation.
Feds Hesitant to Restart In-person RFP Meetings
“Now that COVID-19 restrictions are lifting, and vaccines are prevalent, is WIPP considering an in-person site tour?” one commenter asked in DOE’s list of questions about the new management and operations solicitation. “It would be very helpful to the contractor to see this site in person.”
The DOE reply is, basically, no, for both on-site tours and in-person site tours and in-person interviews.
“The Department’s paramount concern is the health and safety of all Federal employees, on-site contractors, and individuals interacting with the Federal workforce,” the agency said.
The WIPP Management and Operation Contract procurement website has virtual tour links and background materials, DOE said. Citing “the complexities of demonstrating and documenting compliance with U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)” and state health requirements, DOE does not anticipate doing in-person oral interviews at this time.
Most DOE cleanup sites in May and June waved indoor mask requirements for individuals who have been vaccinated.
