DOE May Provide Second Extension for Bids on New Oak Ridge TWPC Contract

A second extension may be in the works for the deadline to submit bids on the new contract to manage the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center. While DOE has already provided one extension, moving the deadline to Dec. 11, several potential bidders have asked the Department for approximately another two weeks to prepare proposals, and the Department has yet to make a final decision, according to a second round of questions-and-answers for the procurement released earlier this week. “Due to the large amount of new information provided on the website for the 1st round of answers to questions posted on 11/21/14; the posting of amendment 1 on 11/25/14; and the remaining questions yet to be answered by the SEB, will DOE consider granting an extension of 2 weeks from the date all questions are answered and new information provided to potential offerors? The additional time would allow our team to consider the new information and incorporate it in our technical and price proposals,” one potential bidder asked. Another potential bidder asked DOE to extend the proposal due date out to Jan. 16, 2015.

In asking for additional time, some potential bidders expressed concern that incumbent Wastren Advantage may have an unfair advantage given the new information DOE has released and the changes made to the Request for Proposals. WAI is not leading a bid of its own for the new contract because it does not meet the size standard being used for the procurement, but is part of another team. “The new information provided in the Q&A and Amendment 1 will require extensive changes to our proposal and a rewrite of the BOEs. Requiring that bidders perform these changes and meet the December 11 due date will favor the incumbent. For fairness to all bidders, would DOE consider extending the due date of the proposal until December 23?” one potential bidder asked. In response to all such questions, DOE said answers are “pending.”