Tularosa Basin Range Services(TBRS) has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) worth up to approximately $3 billion to manage and operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) transuranuranium waste disposal site in New Mexico. The contract replaces Nuclear Waste Partnership's, which expired at the end of September.
TBRS, based in Reston, Va., is a single-purpose entity owned by Bechtel National Inc., a Bechtel subsidiary. Composition. TBRS will utilize Los Alamos Technical Association as a small business team subcontractor.
The Doe said it was a "cost-plus management and operations contract with an indeterminate delivery/indeterminate quantity contract project number." It said the contract will include a four-year base period and six one-year option periods.
EM received five proposals in response to the tender for the contract. The ENERGY Department said the TBRS proposal was determined to be "most valuable to the government."
TBRS will support EM's mission by managing, operating and maintaining WIPP sites, including: centralized characterization of projects; Transportation activities; At WIPP operations; Projects (capital assets and non-capital assets); Experiments and testing activities; And WIPP program support. TBRS are also required to maintain and report on the annual Community commitment Program.
The new contract replaces the WIPP management and Operations contract currently held by the Nuclear Waste Partnership, which expires Sept. 30, the Department noted. The $1.3 billion contract was awarded in April 2012 to manage and operate WIPP for up to 10 years. The five-year contract includes an option to extend for another five years, with the newly formed Nuclear Waste Partnership corporation taking over management of the site from 1 October 2012. The Nuclear Waste Cooperative is led by URS Corporation in partnership with Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group, with Areva Federal Services LTD as the main subcontractor.
Located 655 meters deep in geological salt, WIPP is the final resting place for the U.S. Defense Department's transuranic waste -- material contaminated with man-made radioactive isotopes heavier than uranium. The facility is the world's first underground repository for the permanent disposal of transuranic radioactive waste and has been in operation since 1999.