S&K Federal Services, a small tribally owned business based in Montana, has received a potential five-year, $22 million contract to provide technical support services to the Energy Department Office of Environmental Management.
The office said in a Wednesday press release the S&K contract supports the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) in Cincinnati and small nuclear cleanup sites across the weapons complex.
S&K is no stranger to Energy Department business, having won past tech support contracts at locations including the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) project in Utah.
Under the new award, S&K will provide technical support in areas including quality assurance, radiological protection, emergency management, waste management, health physics, fire protection, and structural or geotechnical engineering.
The Energy Department press release did not identify an incumbent provider of technical support services for EMCBC and small sites, nor indicate when the new S&K contract starts.
S&K Federal Services is a subsidiary of S&K Technologies, a holding company owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Western Montana, according to its website. Its services also includes logistics support for military bases.
Two Department of Energy contracts held by subsidiaries of Idaho-based North Wind Group, together valued at over $277 million, are due to expire by the end of this year.
North Wind Solutions has a $232 million contract to operate the Transuranic Waste Processing Center at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. The five-year contract, which began in October 2015, will expire Oct. 26.
North Wind prepares and ships transuranic waste from Oak Ridge to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Most of the waste comes from cleanup and operations at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The company is winding down a two-year extension to the original three-year base period. The Energy Department has yet to issue any draft request for proposals for a new contract.
That situation also applies to a TRU-related agreement held by another North Wind subsidiary. Prior to being bought by North Wind in 2017, Portage won the $45.5 million contract to provide technical assistance to the Energy Department office that oversees WIPP. The business is scheduled to expire Dec. 20. The company began working on the five-year contract in November 2015, according to the DOE major contract roundup published March 26.
The company provides quality assurance, technical oversight, and administrative operations support to various facets of the Carlsbad Field Office operations.
The firm has done detailed audits and surveillance to ensure generators of transuranic waste comply with WIPP acceptance criteria that were toughened after a February 2014 radiation accident that essentially forced WIPP to suspend operations for about three years.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management issued a request for information/sources sought notice in August 2019.
