89303421FEM400009 Notice of Award.pdf

Notice of Award

Title: Transuranic/Greater-Than-Class-C Waste Storage Services

Description: The Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office (EM-LA) intends to issue a sole source task order to Waste Control Specialists LLC (WCS), to continue the on-going provision of Transuranic (TRU)/Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) Waste Storage Services. The place of contract performance is the Contractor’s facility in Andrews, Texas. DOE previously contracted the services from WCS directly through task order DE-EM0005117. DOE plans to issue a task order directly to WCS in order to prevent an interruption of waste storage services. This task order will be issued against Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) 89303321GEM000020.

DOE sent TRU/Greater than Class C from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to the Contractor’s facility in Andrews County, Texas for temporary storage after the February 2014 salt truck fire and radiological release events caused the shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which is the intended disposal facility for the LANL TRU/GTCC waste. At the time, the shipment of the LANL TRU waste to the Contractor’s facility was believed to be compliant with applicable Department of Transportation (DOT) standards and regulations.

These waste containers and their contents were believed to be acceptable for disposal at WIPP without any additional treatment.

The TRU/GTCC waste was intended to be stored at the Contractor’s facility for less than 365 days from the initial date of receipt of each shipment. All shipments to the Contractor’s facility were made in accordance with the then WIPP shipping requirements, using WIPP shipping packaging, trucks, trailers, and personnel. After shipments to the Contractor’s facility had already started and TRU/GTCC waste was received at the Contractor’s facility, it was determined that the source of the radiological release at the WIPP facility was a LANL drum.

At that point, all TRU/GTCC waste shipments to the Contractor from LANL for temporary storage immediately ceased.

Further investigation by DOE determined an exothermic reaction involving the mixture of the organic materials, absorbent, and/or neutralizer, and nitrate salts occurred inside LANL drum 68660 at the WIPP facility. This exothermic reaction resulted in pressurization of the drum, failure of the drum locking ring, and displacement of the drum lid causing the release of radioactive materials in the WIPP underground. It was confirmed by DOE that some of the LANL TRU waste received for storage by the Contractor is from the same population as the reactive drum at WIPP.

There are currently two categories of TRU/GTCC waste stored at the Contractor’s facility in Andrews, Texas that require further interim storage. These categories are referred to as Type 2 and Type 3, and are described as follows:

• The Type 2 CH-TRU Waste category includes D001 and/or D002 codes but does not contain the same waste composition as the drum that reacted at WIPP.

• The Type 3 CH-TRU Waste category consists of waste that is currently contained within

Modular Concrete Canisters (MCCs) below-grade within the Contractor’s Federal Waste Facility (FWF). This population consists primarily of D001 and D002 coded waste (with the same or similar waste composition as the drum that reacted at WIPP) that poses significant health and safety hazards including the potential for severe exothermic reaction.

The proposed contract action is for services for which the DOE intends to award a sole source task order under the authority of FAR 6.302-1(a)(2). The period of performance (POP) is from 4 June 2021 to 12 September 2024 (inclusive of option periods). The task order award amount is $20,129,591.94. This is an incrementally funded task order with a funding ceiling established at $22,000,000. The anticipated award date for this task order is 14 May 2021.

THIS IS NOT A FORMAL REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL UNDER FAR PART 15. IF

PARTIES CHOOSE TO RESPOND, ANY COST ASSOCIATED WITH THE PREPARATION

AND SUBMISSION OF DATA OR ANY OTHER COSTS INCURRED IN RESPONSE TO

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE RESPONDENT

AND WILL NOT BE REIMBURSED BY THE GOVERNMENT.

Email your questions to Aaron Romero, Contracting Officer, at aaron.romero@em.doe.gov. No telephone requests will be accepted.

Point of Contact: Aaron Romero, Contracting Officer

E-mail: aaron.romero@em.doe.gov

Contracting Office Address: 1200 Trinity Drive, Los Alamos, NM, 87544

Classification Codes: NAICS Code: 562211 Hazardous Waste

Treatment and Disposal Product Service Code: F999

Solicitation Number: 89303421REM000001

Contract Number: 89303421FEM400009

Simplified Acquisition: No.

Type of Action: Other Than Full and Open Competition –

Only One Responsible Source

Set-Aside Status: Not Set-Aside for Small Business mailto:aaron.romero@em.doe.gov mailto:aaron.romero@em.doe.gov