With one day left to spare, the U.S. Energy Department announced Monday that it would extend by one year the contract for the Savannah River Site’s management and operations provider.
The initial contract for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), a 10-year deal worth $9.5 billion, was set to expire on July 31. In its press release, the Energy Department said the contractor would now stay on the job through July 31, 2019.
“This extension enables SRNS to continue to provide management and operating (M&O) services at SRS while DOE fosters competition for award of a follow-on competitive M&O contract,” the department said. Toward that goal, DOE on Wednesday hosted a “technical workshop” for potential bidders on the next contract.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is a partnership of Fluor, Honeywell, and Stoller Newport News Nuclear. It will continue to manage 5,300 employees, who conduct nearly all aspects of site operations, minus security and liquid waste work covered under separate contracts. Specifically, the SRNS mission encompasses general site cleanup, building deactivation and decommissioning; tritium production for nuclear weapons; and operation of the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL).
The follow-on contract will include nuclear materials processing; reducing the costs of continuing operations, surveillance, and maintenance; and remediating the site’s surface water, groundwater, and contaminated soils. However, DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration has indicated it might move its tritium processing operations to the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee after a federal court temporarily blocked the agency from turning the Savannah River Site’s unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility into a factory for fissile nuclear-weapon cores.
The Energy Department has anticipated for months it would need to extend the contract, since it had not yet selected a successor to SRNS. The agency said in March it would open the bidding process by May 1, and that in April it would issue a draft request for proposals for those interested in managing the 310-square-mile site near Aiken, S.C. The draft solicitation is now expected in the next few months.
Following the contract extension, DOE hosted a technical workshop in nearby Augusta, Ga., for companies interested in acquiring the new contract. In attendance, according to the agenda, were DOE Savannah River Site Manager Michael Budney and officials from the NNSA and the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, which oversees cleanup at the site. Attendees heard about the work the contractor will provide for the two offices, along with its role at the lab, cybersecurity, and other programs.
More than 100 people attended the workshop. The Energy Department as of Friday had not released a full list of attendees. Still, some SRS contractor parent companies confirmed their attendance or possible interest.
BWX Technologies did send representatives, spokesman Jud Simmons said. However, it has no comment on whether it is interested in bidding for the follow-on contract. The company is one of the parent companies to Savannah River Remediation (SRR), the site’s liquid waste contractor.
Another SRR parent company, Betchel National, did not confirm if it had anyone at the workshop. But spokesman Fred deSousa said via email, “We do evaluate many opportunities over the course of the year. Bechtel has had a presence at the Savannah River Site and the Aiken region for 40 years. It’s important work in a great area and we hope our relationship continues for years to come.”
The three SRNS parent companies offered little detail on workshop attendance. A spokesperson for Newport News said Thursday he would look into whether the company attended, but did not confirm by press time. A Honeywell spokesperson said the company does not comment on prospective opportunities, and Fluor did not return a request for comment. CH2M and AECOM, the two other parent companies to Savannah River Remediation, also did not respond to requests for comment.
In October, the Energy Department issued a 10-year, $4.7 billion liquid waste contract to Savannah River EcoManagement, a joint venture comprised of BWX Technologies, Bechtel, and Honeywell. Formal protests from the other two bidding teams quickly followed; one, filed by an AECOM-CH2M team, was upheld by the Government Accountability Office. Savannah River Remediation remains on the job, under a $450 million extension to March 31, 2019.
