Bidders for the new prime contract at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., are getting two more weeks, until Aug. 3, to submit their proposals.
In a notice published on a procurement website Tuesday the DOE Office of Environmental Management said it plans to extend the submission deadline for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Management and Operation Contract to Aug. 3 from July 19.
A formal amendment to the potential 10-year, $3-billion request for proposals will be issued shortly, DOE said, along with answers to questions the agency received in response to publication of the June 1 solicitation.
The incumbent is Nuclear Waste Partnership, which has been in place since October 2012 under an agreement currently valued at $2.7 billion. The current team is a partnership of Amentum and BWX Technologies with Orano as a key subcontractor.
The contract is currently set to expire Sept. 30, which would seem to point toward an extension by DOE. The new contract to run the underground disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste will also include a 90-day transition period.
