The Energy Department could reissue a multibillion-dollar liquid waste management contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina any day now – or it could be weeks away.
Two industry sources recently indicated the contract announcement could arrive as soon as today, but a third industry source was more skeptical, saying he had heard it might not drop for several weeks.
There had been no announcement by the DOE Office of Environmental Management as of noon Friday. The Energy Department for its part has said in public presentations it hopes to issue the new contract award this month.
BWX Technologies-led Savannah River EcoManagement won a 10-year, $4.7 billion contract last October to become the new liquid waste manager at SRS. But BWXT and its partners, Bechtel and Honeywell, suffered a major setback in February when the Government Accountability Office upheld a bid protest brought by a team of AECOM and CH2M.
The GAO ruled the Energy Department failed to evaluate the viability of the winning bidder’s technical approach.
In the second quarter, DOE accepted revised bids from all three original teams, including a Fluor-Westinghouse partnership. The winning team will manage storage, treatment, stabilization, and ultimate disposal of over 30 million gallons of liquid waste left by Cold War nuclear weapons operations at Savannah River. The contractor also will eventually take over operation of the Salt Waste Processing Facility at SRS.
The second-round DOE bid award would be followed by a 90-day transition from the current contractor, Savannah River Remediation, a partnership of AECOM, BWXT, Bechtel, and CH2M. That team has received an extension of up to 10 months, which could last through March 2019.
The Energy Department also said late Wednesday the Savannah River Site Management and Operating (M&O) presolicitation conference activities scheduled for next week are being postponed due to the issuance of states of emergency for North and South Carolina and Georgia in anticipation of Hurricane Florence. These activities will be rescheduled for October.
Incumbent Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) has received a one-year extension, to July 31 of next year, to its $9.5 billion, decade-long contract.