Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
3/6/2015
POJOAQUE, N.M.—A “master acquisition plan” for what is expected to be several Los Alamos cleanup procurements is set to be released by June, which would be followed by draft requests for proposals by the end of the summer, Department of Energy officials said here this week at an industry day for the procurements. DOE plans to break out cleanup work from the Lab’s M&O contract in one or more procurements over the next one to two years, and is seeking capability statements from companies interested in participating by the end of the month. After receiving industry input, DOE will develop a master acquisition plan, said Tamara Miles of the Office of Environmental Management’s Consolidated Business Center Office of Contracting. “That plan will identify the various procurements that we are looking to accomplish. And we are looking to have that approved by no later than June of this year,” she said, adding later, “I would certainly envision that we would have a draft RFP out on the street by the end of the summer.”
The scope of the work would include transuranic waste cleanup, groundwater and other environmental remediation, waste management, decontamination and decommissioning and regulatory support, as detailed in the event’s presentations. The industry day included a heavy small business presence, and DOE officials said that they will prioritize breaking out work for small businesses, as well as look to perform as much of the work as possible on a fixed-price basis. However, officials said they haven’t yet identified the number of procurements or specific scope that would lend itself to being broken out. “We’ll see what we can get by the end of the month from the RFIs,” EMCBC Director Jack Craig told WC Monitor. “Clearly we want to focus on small business and if there are things that make sense with small business and fixed price contracting we want to pursue both of those.”
Cleanup activities at Los Alamos are currently overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Field Office while being funded by EM. But DOE’s approach for managing the Los Alamos cleanup fell under new scrutiny after issues with transuranic waste processing at Los Alamos were linked to the radiological release that occurred in February 2014 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. DOE decided to break out legacy cleanup work from current Lab M&O contractor Los Alamos National Security, LLC, and shift management of the cleanup work at the lab to EM.
Cleanup Procurements Will be Open to Incumbent
The cleanup breakout procurements will be open to incumbent contractor and its constituent companies, Bechtel, B&W, AECOM (formerly URS) and the University of California, DOE officials reiterated this week. “Once the procurements are posted they will be open to any qualified bidders and would be evaluated with anyone else,” David Rhodes of NNSA’s Los Alamos Field Office said.
The move to allow incumbents to bid following the high-profile incidents raised eyebrows among some in industry, as well as questions on access to information. “I’m curious to see how they are going to level the playing field. If the incumbents are allowed to bid they will have information that the others don’t,” one industry officials told WC Monitor. That could include a new lifecycle baseline for LANL cleanup currently under development by DOE and the contractor that is expected to be drafted by this summer. When asked if it would be made available to bidders, Miles said: “It may be source selection sensitive so that’s something we’ll consider and we’ll discuss internally as to whether or not we’ll be providing that or not to support the RFP in the course of development.”
DOE officials said they don’t anticipate any organizational conflicts of interest with the incumbent contractor, and will post all relevant public information on the procurement’s web site. DOE is also seeking a small business to help with scope planning for the procurement so that there is “no possibility of the incumbent contractor actually helping us write the procurement documentation. They will not be involved in the development of products,” Rhodes said.
LANS Reportedly Balks at Bridge Contract Terms
To cover cleanup work during the procurement, DOE is currently developing a “bridge contract” that would be sole sourced to LANS that is expected to have a one-year base period with two six month options. While officials say they hope to have the contract in place by the end of the month, LANS is balking at terms DOE is proposing for the new bridge cleanup contract, WC Monitor has learned. LANS’ concerns with the proposed bridge contract, according to officials, include a planned fee of approximately 2.5 percent, the need for a certified Earned Value Management System and provisions on key personnel, among others.
In a draft acquisition plan prepared last fall, DOE indicated it could award a sole-source contract to another company to perform cleanup at Los Alamos during the bridge period if it can’t reach an agreement on a contract with LANS. Officials from LANS met with officials from EMCBC this week to discuss the proposed contract, and officials from LANS and DOE have not commented on the concerns.
Prior to the meeting with LANS, EMCBC Director Jack Craig told WC Monitor: “Our goal is still the end of the month and I haven’t heard anything that would tell me that can’t be done.” When asked what other options DOE is considering if an agreement can’t be reached on the bridge contract, Craig said, “We are going to focus on getting it in place with LANS. We have some other options but we are going to focus on this one for now.”
