Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
1/31/2014
Portage this week once again won the Department of Energy’s new $250 million contract to provide support services for the Office of Legacy Management, though it remains to be seen whether the lengthy procurement will now finally come to an end or if unsuccessful bidders will continue to challenge. Portage was initially declared the winner of the small business set-aside contract in April 2013, prompting two unsuccessful bidders—Navarro Research and Engineering and WAI-Stoller Services, LLC—to file protests with the Government Accountability Office (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 18). Last May, DOE chose to take corrective action in response to the protests by re-evaluating the bids submitted for the contract, leading to this week’s decision (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 22). DOE did not say this week why it had again chose Portage for the new contract. “Portage is very pleased that DOE, after taking corrective action that involved reevaluating all eight proposals submitted, arrived at the same outcome. We look forward to supporting this important program,” Portage Managing Director Harry Fugate said in a statement. Wastren Advantage Inc. (WAI) and Navarro both declined to comment on the new award this week.
The new Legacy Management contract is set to run for five years, consisting of a two-year base period and a three-year option period, according to DOE. Work to be performed under the new contract includes long-term surveillance and maintenance; information technology and records management; asset management; business; and program-wide support services. The procurement for the new contract stretches back more than three years, to October 2010, when DOE issues a sources sought notice to help determine whether the contract could continue to be set-aside for small businesses. The Department issued a Request for Proposals in November 2011, and bids were due by mid-February 2012.
The time DOE has taken in completing the procurement has benefited the incumbent, S.M. Stoller (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Huntingon Ingalls Industries), whose contract was initially set to expire in September 2012. Stoller had been unable to lead a bid of its own for the follow-on contract because it no longer met the size standard for the small business procurement, leading it to join the team led by WAI. The Department’s most recent contract extension with Stoller is set to expire March 31, though DOE has another option that could keep in Stoller in place until the end of June (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 33).
