Comments are due Sept. 17 on the draft request for proposals (RFP) for a new remediation contract potentially worth $8.3 billion at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management on Aug. 18 issued the draft RFP for an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a 10-year ordering period.
The agency also plans to hold virtual meetings next month on the draft solicitation for the new cleanup contract at Oak Ridge.
In a notice Monday, the agency said it has scheduled a pre-solicitation conference and individual sessions with potential vendors for Sept. 8 to 10, along with Sept. 11 as needed, via WebEx.
The conference is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Eastern time and should end by 1:30 p.m. The registration deadline for the event is 4 p.m. ET on Sept. 1. The hyperlink for the events will be sent to registrants.
Most procurement events coordinated through the Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center are being conducted virtually these days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Energy Department has repeatedly said in recent months that its procurement timelines are subject to change amid the health crisise, and in the Oak Ridge announcement Contracting Officer LeAnn Brock said a final RFP was not expected before November.
Prospective bidders are asked to review the draft RFP and provide input on issues including potential barriers to competition and small business subcontractor requirements. Comments on the document should be emailed to [email protected].
The contract will include a 90-day transition period from the incumbent vendor, the Amentum-Jacobs joint venture URS/CH2M Hill Oak Ridge (UCOR).
The current team is finishing demolition and remediation of old structures at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former uranium enrichment complex at Oak Ridge, under a $3.3 billion contract that began in August 2011. The contract was set to expire July 31, but UCOR last month received an extension for up to two years that could keep it around through July 2022.
To date, DOE and its contractor crews have taken down 500 structures at ETTP and transferred 1,300 acres for local economic development, remediation milestones the agency plans to celebrate in a Vision 2020 ceremony this October. An exact date has not been set yet.
UCOR President and CEO Ken Rueter has said the contractor is starting to deploy workers to projects at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex, which will be the focus of the next long-term contract.
The multibillion-dollar Oak Ridge award will be of interest to pretty much all of the major contractors in the Energy Department cleanup complex, an industry executive said by telephone Aug. 19.
That is likely to include Bechtel, which is in danger of losing a major source of revenue from DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the source said. In June, the NNSA said it would not pick up remaining options held by Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security for management of Y-12 and the Pantex Plant in Texas. That contract is now set to expire in September 2021, though the company is being kept on to build Y-12’s Uranium Processing Facility.
A second industry executive said he expects the “usual suspects” to be part of teams vying for the Oak Ridge business. They include Westinghouse, Veolia, Atkins, Bechtel, Fluor, Amentum, and Jacobs, he said.
Despite Pandemic, Procurement Pipeline Remains Busy in 2020
The Office of Environmental Management intends to roll out up to six final requests for proposals (RFP) between now and December, according to a quarterly update posted Aug. 10 by the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center. The Energy Department cautioned that the timetable is for planning purposes only, and staffing impacts from COVID-19 could affect the schedule.
Two RFPs could be released this month, one for nationwide treatment of low-level and mixed-low-level radioactive waste, and another for technical assistance at the DOE Carlsbad, N.M., field office that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
The Energy Department expects to award multiple five-year basic ordering agreements for waste treatment services. EnergySolutions, Waste Control Specialists, and Perma-Fix Environmental Services are among the current waste treatment providers.
Idaho-based North Wind is the incumbent vendor for Carlsbad technical assistance, under a $45.5 million contract scheduled to end Dec. 4.
Here is a rundown of the tentative schedule for the other RFPs:
- September: the integrated mission completion solicitation for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This will replace the $6 billion liquid waste contract held by Savannah River Remediation, currently slated to run through Sept. 30.
- October: Portsmouth infrastructure support services RFP for the successor to the $117 million contract held by a North Wind/Swift & Staley team, which is scheduled to expire in February 2021.
- November: The final RFP for the Oak Ridge environmental job, as noted above.
- December: The Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) project in Moab, Utah. The $187 million business is now held by a North Wind subsidiary under a contract set to expire in September 2021.
