The National Nuclear Security Administration is accepting bids for the new contract to provide protective force services at the agency’s Nevada National Security Site.
The contract would feature a one-year base period, from June 1, 2017, to May 31, 2018, followed by four single-year option periods through the end of May 2022, says the request for proposals issued on Dec. 1. The estimated cost and profit of each period is yet to be determined, according to the semiautonomous Department of Energy branch that manages its nuclear weapons and nonproliferation work.
Protective force strength is authorized at 180 security police officers and 24 duty officers, according to an earlier solicitation for the contract, and the deal is expected to be a performance-based fixed price/time and materials hybrid with a total five-year term worth approximately $270 million.
The Nevada National Security Site stretches over 1,375 square miles in Nye County, roughly 65 miles from Las Vegas at the installation’s southern tip. Once used for nuclear explosive testing, the site now under the Nevada Field Office supports the NNSA’s nuclear stockpile stewardship, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism operations, among others. Present operations encompass subcritical nuclear experiments, gas gun shots using special nuclear material, high-explosive test detonations, and nuclear safety criticality experiments.
The NNSA said it expects to issue one contract under this request for proposals by the second quarter of 2017. The selected contractor would provide uniformed personnel to provide security at the Nevada National Security Site; the Remote Sensing Laboratory at Nellis Air Force Base; and the North Las Vegas Complex, which houses NNSA and Nevada Field Office operations at the Nevada Support Facility; along with other locations as assigned by the NNSA. Security would operate on a 24-hour, 365 days per year basis.
The contract would involve a long list of additional duties. These include:
- Preparation of program strategies for physical protection of special nuclear materials; crucial equipment and information; government property, facilities, and personnel; and other components deemed “national safeguards and security interests.”
- Training protective force personnel “to the appropriate level prior to being assigned to duty,” along with ongoing training of the guards.
- Information security, including appointing a classified matter protection and control staffer to help ensure that sensitive data is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals.
- Assist in installation of the Argus Security System at the site’s Device Assembly Facility. Argus is the agency’s standard enterprise security system for defense of special nuclear materials.
- Conduct “force-on-force” drills to test the capabilities of physical protections and physical forces at the facility.
Questions about the RFP, along with proposals, can be submitted to the Nevada Field Office at [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is 4 p.m. Mountain time on Jan. 12, 2017.
The Centerra Group is the current security protective force services for the Nevada National Security Site, under a $234 million contract awarded in December 2011. In a notice posted on Nov. 23, the agency said it expected to award the company a six-month contract extension around Dec. 31 of this year.
Centerra had not responded by Friday to a request for comment on whether it intends to rebid for the contract.
