Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
9/5/2014
A final Request for Proposals for the new contract to operate the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center is set to be released within the next month, the Department of Energy said late this week. DOE is looking to issue the final RFP by “end of September 2014/early October 2014,” with bids currently set to be due 45 days afterward, the Department said in a notice published on the FedBizOpps website. “It is imperative that prospective Offerors read and comply with the final RFP and DO NOT rely on the previously posted Draft RFP in preparation and submission of their offer as there will be numerous changes to the model contract, proposal preparation and submission requirements, and the evaluation criteria and methodology,” the notice states.
The new contract has been set-aside for small businesses, with the procurement employing a size standard of $38.5 million, according to this week’s notice. The TWPC is used to prepare contact- and remote-handled transuranic waste at Oak Ridge for off-site disposal. The follow-on management contract is set to run for up to five years, with a three-year base period and two years of options that could include work to either keep the TWPC in a “warm standby” mode or to prepare it for “cold standby,” according to a draft RFP issued in July. The contract will be largely firm fixed-price, though a cost-plus-award-fee approach will be used for waste processing operations. The TWPC is currently managed by Wastren Advantage Inc. under a contract now set to expire in early 2015.
