CONTRACTS
GAO Denies Hanford Contract Challenge
ECA Staff | 5/14/2020
The Government Accountability Office denied a protest over a $10 billion environmental cleanup deal for the Hanford Site, saying the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reasonably chose a higher cost proposal submitted by the AECOM-led Central Plateau Cleanup Company. The full decision, which was made publicly available on May 13, is available here.
Project W Restoration, LLC (PWR) protested the award of a contract to Central Plateau Cleanup Company, LLC (CPC) for the environmental cleanup of radioactive and hazardous waste at the Hanford Site. PWR argued that the agency’s "best-value tradeoff and source selection decision was unreasonable."
In its decision, GAO wrote, "Although PWR disagrees with the agency's evaluation, the record demonstrates that at every step in the procurement, the agency considered all of the information submitted by the offerors and available to the agency, and issued well-reasoned and rational evaluation reports before making a best-value tradeoff that extensively highlighted key discriminators between these
proposals."
DOE originally issued the Request for Proposals (RFP) on February 14, 2019. Under the contract, the contractor would perform: "management of site safe and compliant base operations for the DOE Richland Operations Office cleanup facilities; deactivation, decommission, decontamination, and demolition (D4) of facilities and remediation of waste sites; management of waste retrieval, treatment, storage,
and disposal; preparation of decision documents to support cleanup actions associated with the FFACO TPA; and business core functions to support these efforts."
The IDIQ contract has a maximum value of $10 billion with an ordering period of 10 years, including a 60-day transition period.
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NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
Senate Armed Services Committee Wants to Pass NDAA By July 4
Defense Daily | 5/11/2020
The Senate Armed Services Committee thinks its version of the annual policy-shaping National Defense Authorization Act could pass the upper chamber before the Fourth of July holiday, a Committee aide confirmed Monday afternoon.
The House Armed Services Committee still had not scheduled the full Committee markup of its version of the NDAA, at deadline Monday. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the Committee’s chair, once hoped to have at least the pre-mark language finished this month.
“The legislative language for the FY21 NDAA will be made public when the subcommittee and Chairman’s marks are released,” a Committee spokesperson wrote in an email Monday. “Mark up hearings will be scheduled once we receive a floor date from House Leadership.”
Last week, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that any financial aid to help the defense industry mitigate the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response should be in addition to funds appropriated in the 2021 NDAA: a position that may put him at odds with Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the chair of the Committee.
Thornberry favors maxing out the 2021 NDAA to $740 billion: the level approved by Congress and the White House last year in a bipartisan budget agreement that did away with the final two years of sequestration cuts from 2011.
Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org.
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Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local
governments.
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