The U.S. Energy Department on Thursday issued an updated draft request for proposals for the Hanford Site Central Plateau Cleanup Contract, which serves as a model for the agency’s end-state procurement approach for environmental remediation.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management issued the updated draft RFP to better align the document with a special notice issued in December, which modified the end states contracting model. Interested vendors have until Jan. 28 to submit comments.
Prior to issuing the final RFP, which could take 30 days from the Jan. 28 comment deadline, DOE will consider the comments received in response to the revised draft.
Among other things, DOE is seeking feedback on its master indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, and the fee structure for task orders.
Documents recently posted by DOE indicate the Hanford Central Plateau Cleanup Contract would be worth a maximum of $10 billion, or $500 million annually from fiscal 2020 through 2030.
Under DOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the cleanup office is urging contractors to propose significant milestones to speed remediation and reduce the government’s environmental liability in exchange for fees of up to 15 percent, compared to typical fees of less than 10 percent. The new RFP, which revises the draft issued in September, is the first to reflect that approach.
The Energy Department over the fall was swamped with questions about its end states approach. Industry expressed concerns that contractors “would be proposing different end states and potential regulatory frameworks,” according to DOE’s Dec. 12 special notice. The notice proposed using a single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with the ability to issue both cost-reimbursable (CR) and firm-fixed-price task orders at Central Plateau.
CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation in 2008 was awarded a 10-year contract worth roughly $6 billion. The incumbent received a one-year, $500 million extension in September 2018 for the work, which includes demolition of the former Plutonium Finishing Plant and shoring up the second PUREX Plant waste tunnel to keep it from collapsing.
