The National Nuclear Security Administration on Thursday released its draft solicitation for bids on a potentially 25-year standalone contract to manage the Pantex Plant nuclear-weapons service hub in Amarillo, Texas.

The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract will have at least a five-year base with one five-year option period and perhaps as many as two more five-year options after that, according to the sections of the solicitation labeled Part I Schedule. 

The nuclear weapons agency posted the draft request for proposals online Thursday, about one month later than the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) forecast in January, when it released a request for information to help shape the solicitation for the landmark competition.

Responses to the draft solicitation are due May 11, the NNSA said in Thursday’s procurement post.

The NNSA is splitting up the joint management contract that now covers Pantex, the agency’s centralized weapons maintenance depot, and the Y-12 National Security Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the factory for uranium-fueled nuclear-weapon secondary stages.

The Bechtel National-led Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) is the incumbent, under a contract awarded in 2014. CNS is under contract at both Pantex and Y-12 through fiscal year 2024. The government holds options to keep CNS at Y-12 through fiscal year 2027 and at Pantex through fiscal year 2025. 

The NNSA settled on splitting the sites up again after the agency in 2022 yanked an award to a Fluor-led team, which would have managed both sites, after two losing bidders alleged procurement malpractice and conflicts of interest, details of which were first reported publicly by the Exchange Monitor.