Will Long-Running Procurement Finally Come to an End?
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
6/5/2015
In a move that could bring the Department of Energy’s multi-year search for a new support contractor for the Office of Legacy Management to an end, the Government Accountability Office late last week denied two protests filed against DOE’s most recent decision to award the contract to Navarro Research and Engineering. Portage and a team of Wastren Advantage-Stoller had each filed challenges over DOE’s decision in late January to name Navarro the winner of the new contract, valued at approximately $250 million. The GAO has not yet released public copies of its decision to deny the two protests, and it remains to be seen whether Portage or the WAI-Stoller team will seek to further contest Navarro’s win. Navarro, Portage and WAI all declined to comment on the GAO’s decision this week.
The GAO’s decision is the latest twist in DOE’s lengthy procurement for the new Legacy Management support services contract, which has been set aside for small businesses and attracted heavy industry interest. In April 2013, DOE chose Portage out of eight bids as the winner of the new contract. That decision was met with protests to the GAO by the WAI team and Navarro. In response, DOE chose to take corrective action and re-evaluate all eight bids, leading to a decision in early 2014 to again select Portage as the winner of the follow-on contract. The WAI team and Navarro again filed protests with the GAO over DOE’s decision, and in the spring of 2014, the GAO sustained Navarro’s protest but denied WAI-Stoller’s. The GAO’s decision led DOE to again re-evaluate the bids submitted, and in late January, the Department shifted course and chose Navarro as the winner of the follow-on contract.
Incumbent Contract Set to Expire in September
The incumbent Legacy Management support contractor is Stoller (now known as Stoller Newport News Nuclear). Stoller’s contract was initially set to expire in September 2012, and the company had been unable to lead a bid of its own for the new contract because it no longer met the size standard DOE used for the procurement, leading it instead to team with WAI. Due to the time it has taken to complete the award of the new contract, though, Stoller has received multiple extensions to its contract. Most recently, DOE moved in March to again extend Stoller’s contract, this time until the end of September 2015.
