As of Thursday, the Government Accountability Office had not ruled on protests filed against the Energy Department’s award of a $4.7 billion liquid waste management contract at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. It also appears the GAO has not to date received any bid protests on the $1.39 billion award for legacy cleanup operations at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
Savannah River EcoManagement, a joint venture comprised of BWXT Technical Services Group, Bechtel National, and Honeywell International, was awarded the SRS contract in October. But the two losing teams – an AECOM-CH2M venture and a Fluor-Westinghouse partnership – separately filed formal bid protests on Oct. 31. They later submitted supplemental documents, with the latest arriving Dec. 1 from Fluor Westinghouse Liquid Waste Services.
The GAO could rule upon the SRS contract protests at any time and must rule by March 12 in order to meet its 100-day deadline from Dec. 1 for a decision. The SRS contract involves overseeing facilities for storage, treatment, and disposal of about 35 million gallons of Cold War-era liquid waste at Savannah River.
It is unknown if any bid protests will arise from DOE’s award announced Dec. 19 of a $1.39 billion contract for legacy cleanup operations at Los Alamos. A Stoller Newport News Nuclear-BWXT team was awarded the contract, good for up to 10 years, to succeed Los Alamos Nuclear Security: a partnership of Bechtel, BWXT, AECOM, and the University of California that also manages the lab.
Three proposals were received in response to the solicitation, DOE has said. A source said at the time of the award that a CH2M-Fluor team was considered a leading candidate.
Debriefings on the contract award have not been completed, Beci Brenton, a spokesperson for Stoller parent Huntington Ingalls Industries, said by email Wednesday. Debriefings are typically done within a few days after the contract award, but one source speculated Thursday DOE might have delayed the schedule by two weeks due to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
Stoller has also not been advised of a start date, according to Brenton. The current LANS cleanup contract is scheduled to run through March 31. The LANS contract contains an option to extend up to 90 calendar days.
The Los Alamos contract calls for protecting the regional aquifer and remediation of contaminated legacy waste sites in and around LANL, as well as decontamination, decommissioning, and demolition of various structures.
“We are very pleased to have been awarded the LLCC [Los Alamos Cleanup Contract], but are mindful and respectful of following the DOE’s process until given formal Notice to Proceed or other direction,” Brenton added.
The Energy Department does not comment on an ongoing contract award process.
