PHOENIX, Ariz. — In the aftermath of a successful bid protest, the Energy Department expects to “re-award” a 10-year liquid waste contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina in late summer or early fall, a DOE procurement official said Wednesday.
Norbert Doyle, DOE’s acting deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and project management, offered the schedule during a panel discussion on Energy Department procurement at the annual Waste Management Symposia here. Doyle said he could offer no further details given DOE policy not to discuss active procurements.
The Government Accountability Office in February upheld one of two protests over the $4.7 billion contract issued in October to Savannah River EcoManagement, a partnership of BWX Technologies, Bechtel National, and Honeywell. In sustaining the protest from a team comprised of AECOM and CH2M, the GAO said DOE failed to adequately verify the winning technical approach for liquid waste processing.
Energy Department officials met with representatives of those two teams and the third bidder, a Fluor-Westinghouse venture, last week in Aiken, S.C., to discuss a “Revised Final Proposal Revision” to their earlier contract bids.
Sources have said DOE could conceivably award the contract to any of the three original bidders after receiving additional information.
Meanwhile, DOE appears likely to extend the management and operations contract for the Savannah River Site, which is set to expire at the end of July. Doyle did not say how long the extension might last. A draft request for proposals on the M&O contract is not expected until May 1. The $9.5 billion current contract is held by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), a partnership of Fluor, Honeywell, and Stoller Newport News Nuclear.
Management and operations contracts require approval from the secretary of energy “and we’re going through that process right now,” Doyle said.
