Bidders vying for a potential five-year $100-million contract for moving containers of transuranic material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico should inform the Department of Energy about all their recent vehicle accidents, even those where a truck hits a deer.
That is one of the takeaways from the questions and answers published Tuesday about the final request for proposals (RFP) for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Transportation Services contract released last month. CAST Specialty Transportation, the incumbent, has held the current contract with a maximum value of $112-million since June 2017, and the business is scheduled to sunset in May 2022.
One questioner, which under longstanding DOE practice is not identified, asked for specifics on what type of auto accidents that contractors must disclose in their bid proposals due July 26.
“For example, we have accidents that result from deer strikes, our drivers backing into trailers at truck stops and vice versa, accidents of private property, etc. Is there some criteria that we could apply such as ‘accidents on public roadways’ or ‘accidents over a certain dollar threshold,” said the commenter.
The DOE replied it seeks information both on all accidents over five years, including animal strikes and other run-of-the-mill mishaps. “Limited information would be required for incidents such as animal strikes, but the Government is interested in seeing a summary of all accidents that have occurred,” DOE said.
For bigger incidents listed in the database for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is charged with preventing injuries and fatalities involving commercial motor vehicles, the DOE Office of Environmental Management said it wants to see more detail. This includes the circumstances, who was found to be at fault and any corrective actions taken.
In response to another inquiry, DOE said the winning bidder will need from 11-to-26 tractors to haul containers of defense-related transuranic waste to WIPP.
