A week after the Department of Energy awarded a Jacobs-led joint venture remediation business potentially worth $6.4-billion over 10 years, no contract challenges had been announced on the Government Accountability Office website.
The Tennessee-based winner, the Idaho Environmental Coalition, comprises Jacobs and North Wind Portage along with three teaming subcontractors: Navarro Research and Engineering, Oak Ridge Technologies and Spectra Tech. Spectra Tech is already an incumbent on a small contract for management of spent nuclear fuel licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The team, which would start a 90-day transition period from Incumbent Fluor Idaho after receiving the green light from DOE, beat out four other bidders, the agency said in its May 27 press release.
As of late Thursday afternoon, none of the parties has filed a contract challenge with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
A protest challenging the award of a federal contract must be filed within 10 days of when a protester knows or should know of a potential problem with the award, according to GAO rules. With DOE contract awards, challenges typically come after bidders have been debriefed by the agency.
One source said Wednesday to expect debriefs next week.
Fluor Idaho’s current $2.2-billion contract began in June 2016 and is set to expire Sept. 30. The pact includes transuranic waste shipment and completion of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit to clean up sodium-bearing waste. The sodium bearing waste is left over from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center.
A February 2020 meeting on the Idaho cleanup request for proposals attracted a crowd, including some of the most active players in the DOE market: Amentum, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, EnergySolutions, Jacobs, Navarro, North Wind Group, Veolia, and Westinghouse to name a few.
