A key part of the selection process for a new Idaho Cleanup Project contractor should happen in-person next month in Idaho Falls, according to the Department of Energy.
Barring an uptick in COVID-19 cases near the Idaho National Laboratory, vendors vying for the $6.4 billion remediation award should be ready for oral presentations at the site between Aug. 17 and Aug. 22, DOE said in response to a question submitted on the procurement.
The Energy Department believe it can safely hold small in-person gatherings in keeping with safety guidelines set out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It is imperative for DOE to provide industry the best opportunity to deliver their best team efforts while still also considering individuals’ health and well-being,” the agency said in questions and answers posted on the procurement website June 30.
Key personnel named in bid proposals submitted last month should be ready in the third week of August to show up for interviews and “oral problem scenarios” used to determine how management might handle a significant accident or crisis.
If in-person meetings prove unworkable due to coronavirus concerns, DOE would instead use its Zoom account for virtual sessions. Should the agency go that route, it would notify bidders by Aug. 3. Any virtual events would occur in late September.
In a similar vein, the DOE Office of Environmental Management does not plan to drop its requirement for submission of a hard copy of the bid proposal package, rather than an electronic version. Other federal agencies have modified their solicitation practices to require only electronic submissions, some prospective vendors said.
An industry source not involved with the Idaho procurement said the amount of proposal documentation companies must submit to the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center has shrunk in recent years.
Previously bidders would provide multiple large binders of information, but that is no longer the case — in part because they no longer must file detailed work plans in advance for the entire length of the project, the source said. Also, DOE typically now puts page limits on key documents, such as the biographies of key individuals.
“The process required to print multiple hard copies and gain wet signatures for originals involves a lot of close contact integration,” one potential bidder said in the online material. In addition, under current conditions, traditional overnight delivery services are not guaranteeing on-time delivery, the potential bidder noted.
The Energy Department said only it “does not anticipate changing” the hard copy requirement.
The Energy Department in late May issued its final request for proposals for the contract.
The new deal would replace two separate contracts set to expire next spring — Fluor Idaho’s nearly $2 billion, five-year environmental remediation award that runs through May 2021, and Spectra Tech’s roughly five-year, $45 million spent fuel management agreement that extends through March 2021.
The two vendors together employ more than 1,900 people, either directly or through subcontractors, with all but 92 working for Fluor Idaho. In response to a question, DOE attached a list of 33 current subcontractors.
Along with the two incumbents, which are believed to be seeking the next contract as part of separate teams, other vendors that took part in a virtual industry day briefing in February included Amentum, Bechtel, BWX Technologies, EnergySolutions, Jacobs, Navarro Research and Engineering, North Wind Group, Veolia, and Westinghouse.
The new award will be an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a 10-year ordering period, although the actual work could last 15 years, DOE has said.
