The U.S. Energy Department plans by early 2020 to issue a final request for proposals for deactivation, decommissioning, and removal of excess facilities across the nuclear weapons complex.
The agency posted a notice Thursday saying the final RFP on the contract, potentially worth $3 billion over 10 years, should be released within 30 days.
The Energy Department in September published its draft RFP, which noted the first task order issued under the master indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract would involve Building 251 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Building 251 is located within the western portion of National Nuclear Security Administration property. It was built in segments between 1955 and 1981, and used to provide heavy-element nuclear tracers to support underground testing of nuclear devices. Building 251 was operated by a management vendor team that included the University of California, Bechtel, BWXT, AECOM, and Battelle, according to a presentation on the procurement website.
The building houses laboratories, offices, equipment, industrial shops, storage rooms, and hot cells. Today Building 251 is basically empty except for a large 32,000-pound magnet assembly.
Additional task orders under the contract could subsequently be issued for cleanup of excess facilities at other DOE sites “once they materialize,” according to the Thursday notice. In addition to deactivating and tearing down contaminated facilities to slab, the winning vendor would be required to dispose of contaminated dirt and debris.
A presolicitation conference tour and one-on-one meetings with interested industry players occurred Sept. 24-26 at Livermore. Comments on the draft RFP were due Oct. 4.
The Building 251 project is expected to set the pattern for future task orders. The contact person for the procurement is DOE Contracting Officer Michael McCreanor, at [email protected].
Once the final RFP is issued, potential bidders should email any questions or comments to [email protected].
The Energy Department expects to award the contract about nine months after the proposals are submitted.
This article was modified on Dec. 12 to fix an error.