National Environmental Support Services (NESS)

The National Environmental Support Services (NESS) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) is a multi-award contract vehicle established by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management to provide comprehensive environmental support services. The BPA enables the Bureau to quickly procure environmental assessment, remediation, compliance, and engineering services through task order calls. Typical services include preliminary site assessments, environmental site investigations, risk assessments, cultural resource surveys, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) support, and engineering evaluations for various sites, with a particular focus on abandoned mine lands and potential environmental hazards.

The BPA has been utilized extensively by the Bureau of Land Management, primarily in western states such as Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and Alaska, with contract values ranging from approximately $5,000 to over $1.6 million. Frequent prime contractors include Ecology & Environment Inc. (a foreign-owned environmental consulting firm), Environmental Cost Management Inc. (a minority-owned small business), and Pioneer Technical Services Inc. Most task orders are firm fixed-price and do not have small business set-aside designations, though a few contracts have been designated as partial or total small business set-asides. The work predominantly involves environmental assessments at former mining sites, including preliminary assessments, site investigations, engineering evaluations, and cost analyses related to potential environmental contamination, with completion periods typically ranging from six months to two years.