Draft RFP issued for $3 billion West Valley cleanup contract

Valued at up to $3 billion, the 10-year West Valley Phase 1B contract will replace the current Phase 1 decommissioning and disposition contract held by CH2M Hill–BWXT West Valley. That contract expires on February 28, 2025.

West Valley is the site of a nuclear fuel reprocessing center operated by Nuclear Fuel Services. In 1980, the DOE was tasked with leading the cleanup of the site, which involved solidifying and removing the accumulated nuclear waste as well as the decontaminating and decommissioning of the facility and surrounding property.

End state contract: The new agreement is an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract that will be awarded under the DOE’s end state contracting model. According to DOE-EM, the goal of the end state contract is to achieve measurable results toward completion of the department’s mission at West Valley by accomplishing the maximum amount of environmental cleanup within the 10-year ordering period.

For this procurement, DOE-EM said it will use a selection process that focuses the evaluation of offers on key personnel, past performance, management approach, and cost and fee/profit to support a qualifications-based selection of the offeror that represents the best value to the government.

The work: Remediation work at West Valley has safely progressed to the point where the DOE said it can begin work under the Phase 1B contract, which will include the demolition of remaining near-grade and below-grade components; additional facility deactivation and demolition; contaminated soils excavation and remediation; waste management and legacy waste disposition; safeguards and security; environmental monitoring; surveillance and maintenance; and program support activities.

The contract also includes requirements for meaningful work to be performed by small businesses and a community commitment clause.

Next steps: A dedicated DOE-EM Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC) webpage has been established for the West Valley Phase 1B procurement, where all news and announcements, documents (including the draft and final RFPs), presolicitation information, questions and answers, and related links will be posted.

The draft RFP and final RFP will also be posted to the FedConnect website.

The DOE intends to conduct a presolicitation conference, site tour, and one-on-one sessions with industry for the Phase 1B procurement, planned in late September. Registration information will be available via the EMCBC webpage.