Representatives from incumbent Navarro Research and Engineering were among the 37 participants registered for an Aug. 14 presolicitation meeting with Energy Department officials on the next Nevada Environmental Program Services contract.
Among the other companies that sent staffers to Henderson, Nev., to learn more about the draft request for proposals posted by DOE in July: Los Alamos Technical Associates, Pro2Serve, Leidos, Veolia Nuclear Solutions/Federal Services, Longenecker & Associates, AECOM, and Atkins.
The current Navarro contract, awarded in September 2014 and with a potential value of $80 million with options, runs through January 2020. It covers environmental remediation and decontamination and decommissioning at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) for DOE and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
The NNSS, located 65 northwest of Las Vegas, spans more than 1,300 square miles. The site and nearby Nevada Test and Training Range (NTRR) were contaminated by Cold War-era nuclear and explosives testing.
Comments on the draft RFP were due Aug. 24. The Energy Department says the final RFP might be issued by November. The new contract could run through fiscal 2030 and be worth between $235 million and $350 million, according to slides from the Aug. 14 industry meeting.
The new contract will focus on studies to gauge the extent of groundwater contamination from past underground nuclear testing at what was then the Nevada Test Site.
The winning contractor would also support the Radioactive Waste Acceptance Program at NNSS. The NNSS is home to a permanent disposal site for low-level radioactive and mixed low-level radioactive waste from DOE and Defense Department facilities. The contractor’s role includes working with waste generation sites to ensure incoming material meets acceptance criteria. The Nevada EPS contractor will also work with the NNSS management contractor, which does the waste disposal.
The winning bidder would also be expected to conduct ongoing surveillance and upkeep at more than 150 closed sites at NNSS and NTTR.
The Energy Department is seeking stakeholder input through the draft RFP on how to achieve end state cleanup at the Nevada site. Potential bidders were also encouraged to weigh in on what sort of task order should be issued – firm-fixed price, cost plus award fee, or cost plus incentive fee.
Bidders are expected to identify a program manager and possibly some other key personnel. The government is more concerned with getting a superior technical and management proposal “than making an award at the lowest evaluated price,” according to the DOE slides.
The Nevada EPS contracting officer is John Blecher, [email protected].
The NNSS management and operations contract is held by Mission Support and Test Services, a partnership led by Honeywell International. The site’s work includes nuclear stockpile safety, high-explosives testing, and threat assessment.
