EPA wants small business to support superfund work

A restored superfund site on the Sheboygan River in Wisconsin.

A restored superfund site on the Sheboygan River in Wisconsin. Gettyimages.com/Cavan Images

The Environmental Protection Agency is developing contract to acquire support for how it manages the restorations of heavily-contaminated.

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning a small business contract to support the agency's work at superfund sites.

Superfund sites are heavily-contaminated locations that require long-term responses to clean up hazardous materials as part of larger restoration efforts.

According to solicitation documents, EPA plans to choose one company for the five-year contract worth up to $100 million. The minimum value is yet to be determined.

The agency is still in the market research stage, but is looking to find enough small businesses in any category of them to make this contract a set-aside.

Joint ventures are allowed to bid for the contract, which is part of EPA's "Small Business First" initiative to prioritize working with those companies.

The contract will have six task areas:

  • Response (25%)
  • Preparedness and prevention (20%)
  • Assessments (25%)
  • Technical support (15%)
  • Data management (10%)
  • Training (5%)

EPA makes it clear that the sources sought notice is for market research purposes. But the notice does have a lot of detail in it, including many of the elements typically seen in a solicitation including evaluation factors.

When that final solicitation comes out, bidders will be evaluated on five technical and business plans:

  • Quality management plan
  • Quality assurance project plan
  • Conflict of interest plan
  • Health and safety plan
  • Professional employee compensation plan

Responses are due Jan. 3. That means not much time off over the holiday to work on submissions.