March 17, 2014

DOE IDAHO CLEANUP CHIEF DEFENDS PLANNED CONTRACT EXTENSION FOR CWI

By ExchangeMonitor

While the Department of Energy is having to slow the planned acceleration of the bulk of the remaining legacy cleanup work at the Idaho site, there are still significant benefits to moving forward with a planned multi-year extension for the site’s current cleanup contractor, CH2M-WG Idaho, a senior official in DOE’s Idaho Operations Office said yesterday. Although CWI’s contract is currently set to expire at the end of September 2012, DOE has been working for months to negotiate a three-year extension, in large part, as part of an effort to complete the bulk of the remaining cleanup work at the Idaho site by 2015. However, the ‘2015 vision’ had been based on an annual funding level of approximately $450 million, while DOE is currently projecting keeping the Idaho Cleanup Project at a relatively flat funding level of approximately $405 million going forward, Jim Cooper, manager for environmental management at DOE’s Idaho office, said during a House Cleanup Caucus briefing on the Idaho Cleanup Project in Washington. “The funding forced us to push out some of our work, but we’re still around the 2015 vision. With the achievements and efficiencies we’ve gained, even with the lower funding, we’re close to our vision. We’re very close.”

The “long pole in the tent” is completing targeted buried waste retrieval activities, which under previous schedules was set to be completed in 2024, according to Cooper. “Even completing it in 2017 is an acceleration of seven years,” he said.

While the Idaho cleanup work may take longer to complete than previously planned, Cooper defended DOE’s decision to continue to negotiate an extension with CWI—an extension likely to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. “CWI has accelerated work. They have cost savings to reinvest, which further accelerates our work which allows us to keep close to our 2015 vision. I think the community and [DOE’s Office of] Environmental Management believes CWI provides a value-added for the taxpayers,” Cooper said. “Going forward with a three-year extension is value-added, and we think with fair and reasonable negotiations on the scope and cost of that work there’s no reason why we couldn’t go forward with that extension,” he said.

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