Teams will soon be finalized to compete for the Department of Energy’s potential $26-billion Hanford Integrated Tank Disposition Contract in Washington state, three industry sources said late last week.
Two of the three expect a very small number of teams, perhaps as few as two, will be in the mix for the contract arising from the draft request for proposals announced last month by the DOE Office of Environmental Management. Bidding teams could be firmed up as soon as this week, the sources said.
The third source declined to specify a number, but expects the teams to be different from last time around when a BWX Technologies-led team was initially awarded the $13-billion Tank Closure Contract for Hanford, only to have its victory undone a couple of months later. The winning team on that contract was made up of BWXT, Fluor and two smaller firms, Intera and DBD.
One of the two losing teams was said by sources to consist of Atkins, Amentum, and Westinghouse. The other was believed headed by Jacobs, sources have said.
During a recent earnings call, BWXT CEO Rex Geveden said his company will have a team vying for the larger contract that will combine management and closure of Hanford’s underground tanks with operation of the Waste Treatment Plant being built by Bechtel. Geveden declined to identify any of BWXT’s teammates this time around.
In July, DOE suspended the tank contract award to BWXT-led Hanford Works Restoration so it could address questions that losing bidders raised with the Government Accountability Office. Then, days before Christmas, DOE scrapped the Hanford tank contract and said it would combine the solicitation into a larger bid proposal for operation of the plant that will solidify tank waste into glass cylinders for final disposal.
On Feb. 25, DOE announced the draft request for proposals for the new expanded contract solicitation. At the same time, the agency said it would extend its contract with incumbent tank operator, Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions, for up to two years, from Oct. 1, 2021 through Sept. 30, 2023.
