The Energy Department and Bechtel National Inc. (BNI), the contractor for the Y-12 site’s Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), late Monday afternoon released an expression of interest (EOI) for development of a Multipurpose Fabrication Facility and a 150,000-square-foot optional adjacent warehouse facility, which would both be part of UPF, according to an announcement on FedBizOpps. DOE is asking for interested companies to respond to the EOI by Sept. 9. For the fabrication facility, DOE wants a small business to work on a fully furnished 120,000-square-foot building 15 miles west of Y-12, where material fabrication and equipment testing would be conducted. The EOI says DOE would permit the contract winner to either build a new structure or convert an existing one for the fabrication facility. “After evaluating responses to the EOI, BNI will determine if an adequate number of qualified small businesses are interested to allow for a competitive Small Business Set-Aside,” the announcement states. “If so, BNI will issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to the qualified small businesses which responded to the EOI. If it is determined a sufficient number of small businesses are not available, BNI will issue a Request for Proposal to small and large businesses.” The small business size standard is no more than 500 employees.
Officials plan for the fabrication facility to include a 100,000-square-foot high bay fabrication area equipped with two 5-ton bridge cranes with 60-foot spans, along with 20,000 square feet of furnished office space, according to the announcement.
UPF is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Uranium Infrastructure Strategy, meant to aid in transitioning out of Y-12’s aging uranium processing facility Building 9212. DOE’s EOI for this UPF facility comes about 1 1/2 months after the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $5.89 million contract to Emerald-A&H Joint Venture for site infrastructure at UPF. UPS is expected to be completed by 2025.
