The County of Los Alamos, N.M., is unhappy with the Energy Department’s plans for the follow-on management and operations contract at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The comments were included in an email to DOE signed by David Izraelevitz, chair of the Los Alamos County Council.
In the letter, the county said it had “serious concerns” about DOE’s procurement so far — the agency’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administrtion released a draft request for proposals (RFP) on July 12 — and told the agency that the new deal should more closely resemble the current contract held by Los Alamos National Security: a consortium that includes senior partners Bechtel National and the University of California.
A final request for proposals from the NNSA is expected in September. By that time, county officials hope DOE will correct what local government perceives as a potential cheaping out on the agency’s part.
“The arbitrary cap on fees included within the Draft RFP contradicts NNSA’s goal of hiring the best contractor” for the lab, county officials wrote in their letter. In the local government’s read of the RFP, DOE’s fee caps would prevent it from hiring the best technical management, despite the agency’s professed preference to avoid an award to the lowest bidder purely for financial reasons.
“The most experienced and qualified bidders will likely elect not to bid on the Final RFP if NNSA retains the current caps on fees that are set for in the draft RFP,” county officials wrote in their letter.
The county also complained that the draft RFP made no mention of a statutory requirement that the Los Alamos prime contractor provide millions of dollars in financial aid to the Los Alamos Public Schools. “The county looks forward to collaborating with NNSA to ensure the goals of both parties are achieved through the procurement process,” Los Alamos officials wrote.
Los Alamos National Security has run the nuclear weapons lab since 2006 under a contract worth roughly $2 billion a year. Its contract expires on Sept. 30, 2018.
