While the clock ticks down on 2019, the U.S. Energy Department Office of Environmental Management has yet to issue a draft request for proposals for a new remediation contract for the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
The agency said in a July procurement notice it planned to issue a draft RFP within 60 days, which translated to roughly Labor Day. More than two months after that target date has passed, the document has yet to be released.
In its online procurement spreadsheet, last updated in May, the Energy Department envisioned the draft RFP going out by Julym followed by the final version in November.
A new award would succeed the contract held by URS/CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), which expects to conclude decontamination and decommissioning of the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) by next summer. Remediation of the former home of the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant and associated uranium enrichment facilities is nearly complete. The site will eventually become an industrial park.
The incumbent’s nine-year, $3.2 billion contract at Oak Ridge ends in July 2020. Along with ETTP remediation, its primary responsibilities include tearing down buildings and cleaning up contamination at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex. The latter two locations will get most of the attention in the new 10-year contract, which could be worth up to $6 billion.
Industry speculation is that firms such as AECOM, Jacobs, BWX Technologies, and Veolia could be among those vying for the next Oak Ridge cleanup contract.
