The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday began compiling a list of potential vendors for an upcoming contract worth up to $50 million for design, planning, and construction management for environmental remediation of the Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS) in Lewiston, N.Y.
The eventual cleanup job will be carried out under the Army Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), according to a procurement notice.
Bids are not yet being accepted. Instead, architectural and engineering firms can provide input on their capabilities to carry out the requested work. “All responses will be used to determine the appropriate acquisition strategy for a potential future acquisition,” the notice says.
The Army Corps expects this year to both issue the request for proposals and award the contract, which with option periods would extend for up to a decade. There is a $25 million to $50 million award range for the deal.
The 191-acre Niagara Falls Storage Site was employed starting in 1944 for storage of radioactive materials including uranium ore produced during the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. In the 1980s the Department of Energy built the Interim Waste Containment Structure for storage of what is now 278,072 cubic yards of contaminated material.
The main job once actual cleanup begins will be extraction, partial treatment, and off-site disposal of waste held in the containment structure. The remediation contractor might also be required to deal with contaminated soil, concrete, and groundwater in what is the called the Balance of Plant operable unit on the NFSS outside of the storage facility.
Responsibilities of the hired design firm will include: refining the full “scope, sequence, schedule, and quality objectives” for remedial design; completing design drawings for remediation of the Interim Waste Containment Structure, with expense projections; revising a 2004 evaluation of off-site transport of waste from the site; and submit a detailed inventory of the containment structure.
