Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
3/07/2014
PHOENIX, Ariz.—The Department of Energy is going forward with two separate procurements to recompete the infrastructure support services contracts for the Paducah and Portsmouth sites, DOE officials said here this week at the 2014 Waste Management Symposia. While DOE had previously considered combining the two contracts for the recompete, there was “a very strong programmatic desire” to instead compete them separately, according to David Hess of the DOE Office of Environmental Management’s Consolidated Business Center. “I think they’re two different sites that are in two different places right now. I think there was a very strong programmatic desire to keep those separate and to keep separate contractors focused on the infrastructure … because of the differences in the phase in the overall projects where they are at,” Hess said.
At Paducah, infrastructure services are currently provided by Swift & Staley, LLC, under a contract set to end in March 2015. DOE currently plans to issue a Request for Proposals for the follow-on Paducah contract, set to be worth $40-60 million, in the May-to-July time frame, with an award expected by the end of the year. At Portsmouth, infrastructure services are provided by Wastren-EnergX Mission Support, LLC, under a contract set to expire in July 2015. DOE expects to issue an RFP for the follow-on contract, estimated to be worth $130-150 million, in the August-to-October time frame, with an award planned for the May-to-July 2015 time frame.
DOE May Look at Fixed Price for DUF6 Operations
DOE officials also said at this week’s meeting that planning has begun for the next contract for operation of the two depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion (DUF6) plants located at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites. The plants are currently operated by B&W Conversion Services, LLC, made up of B&W and URS, under a contract set to end in late 2015. According to DOE, a Request for Proposals for the follow-on operations contract is expected to be issued in the November-to-January 2015 time frame, with award of the new contract currently expected in the October-December 2015 time frame.
Hess told WC Monitor on the sidelines of the meeting that DOE is set to consider taking a fixed-price approach to the new DUF6 operations contract, but emphasized that planning for the procurement is still in the very early stages. “We’re actually starting to just work on defining what the requirements are going to be, but certainly that’ll be looked at because it’s an existing waste treatment process with some operating history and even though the current contract is one cycle into that, it’s certainly something that will take a look at. The fixed unit pricing is a big component of that as well,” Hess said. “It’s certainly something we’re really going to take a very close look at obviously.”
