CONFIRMATORY SURVEY SUPPORT SERVICES AT MILITARY AND NON-MILITARY SITES AND ASSOCIATED SUBSURFACE SURVEY GUIDANCE DEVELOPMENT.

THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC) is issuing this Sources Sought Synopsis as a means of conducting market research or as a market survey to determine the availability of potential qualified vendors with the technical capability to provide all management, supervision, administration, and labor for the confirmatory survey support services at military and non-military sites and associated subsurface survey guidance development.  Specific activities include:  (1) assisting NRC in reviewing portions of cleanup documents, final status survey reports, performing confirmatory surveys, and side-by-side in-process surveys at military and non-military sites with unlicensed radioactive material to ensure remedial actions meet NRC’s applicable dose criterion for release in 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E; and (2) assisting NRC in developing the technical bases for guidance or inspection procedures on planning, designing, implementing and evaluating the results of radiological surveys, used to demonstrate compliance with NRC’s release criteria at 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E, of open excavations, building substructures, and soils/materials planned for reuse based on the contractor’s experience with past confirmatory surveys.  The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 541620 - Environmental Consulting Services.

THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME.  This request for sources and vendor information does not constitute a request for proposal; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. 

The purpose of this announcement is to provide potential sources the opportunity to submit information regarding their capabilities to perform work for the NRC free of conflict of interest (COI).  For information on NRC COI regulations, visit NRC Acquisition Regulation Subpart 2009.5 (http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/contracting/48cfr-ch20.html).

All interested parties, including all categories of small businesses (small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, 8(a) firms, women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and HUBZone small businesses) are invited to submit a response.  The capabilities package submitted by a vendor should demonstrate the firm's ability, capability, and responsibility to perform the principal components of work listed below.  The package should also include past performance/experience regarding projects of similar scope listing the project title, general description, the dollar value of the contract, and name of the company, agency, or government entity for which the work was performed.  Organizations responding to this market survey should keep in mind that only focused and pertinent information is requested.  If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements.  Submission of additional materials such as glossy brochures or videos is discouraged.

Background

In 2005, in the Energy Policy Act, Congress amended the Atomic Energy Act to add discrete sources of Ra-226, among other Naturally Occurring and Accelerator-Produced Radioactive Material (NARM) sources, to the existing definition of “byproduct material,” thereby giving NRC the authority to regulate such sources.  In 2007, NRC put in place final regulations, known as the NARM rule, implementing the authority granted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.   The NARM rule defines the materials under NRC authority to include those that have been processed, or concentrated, for use in commercial, medical or research activities. The NRC also determined that contamination resulting from the use of these materials would fall under NRC authority. Activities associated with discrete sources of radium and associated contamination include maintaining various levels of regulatory oversight at unlicensed sites with identified discrete sources of radium or associated contamination. 

After NRC's regulations for NARM were put in place, the NRC and the Department of Defense (DOD) finalized a MOU describing roles in the cleanup of radium and other unlicensed radioactive materials at military sites under DOD’s authority per the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The MOU provides two ways the NRC will be involved in military cleanup projects. The first way is to stay informed of remediation activities. At sites where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has oversight under Superfund, NRC staff would limit our involvement to staying informed about remedial actions, oversight activities and issues. The second way is to monitor remediation activities. At sites without EPA oversight, the NRC would monitor the cleanup of unlicensed radiological material, which could include document review and comment, site observations, and confirmatory radiological surveys. This monitoring would provide independent federal oversight to confirm the remediation adequately protects public health and safety and the environment.

After the NARM rule was promulgated, NRC also became aware of two specific radium cleanup efforts by non-military federal agencies at various projects. One of the sites was a former clock factory in Connecticut where radioluminescent paints were used historically.  The other was at a National Park Service (NPS) site in New York where historical landfills were found to contain radium contamination. 

As the NRC learned more about these projects, staff began a systematic effort to identify sites around the country where radium was used.  NRC then began reaching out to site owners to confirm that these sites do not pose a risk to public health and safety and the environment. By 2019, the NRC staff had dispositioned all the sites that were identified with potential contamination from historic radium use in non-Agreement States. Five of the sites identified had calculated doses from radium contamination that exceed unrestricted use standards, requiring remediation. Two of these sites have been remediated.  Moving forward, the effort will be focused on working with the site owners on site remediation.

As a result of the discovery of radium at the NPS site in New York, the NRC and NPS developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) detailing involvement at NPS sites undergoing remediation as part of NPS’ CERCLA authority.  The NRC monitors the cleanup of unlicensed radiological material, which could include document review and comment, site observations, and confirmatory radiological surveys. This monitoring would provide independent federal oversight to confirm the remediation adequately protects public health and safety and the environment.

More information on the staff’s radium activities is available at https://www.nrc.gov/materials/radium.html.

To support its work at unlicensed radium sites as well as licensed decommissioning sites (e.g., complex materials and reactor decommissioning sites under 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E), NRC is also developing guidance for subsurface investigations including such topics as radiological survey and dose modeling to derive clean-up levels for subsurface materials. NRC guidance for characterization and final status surveys of residual radioactive material at decommissioning sites is found in the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) (NUREG-1575; https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1575/index.html) and in NUREG-1757, “NMSS Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance” (https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1757/index.html). This guidance is only for contaminants in surficial materials (e.g., the top 15-30 cm of soils) and is not appropriate for subsurface soils below around 15-30 cm.  Final status surveys are typically used to confirm that residual radioactivity remaining at the site meets radiological criteria in 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E. While MARSSIM provides information on statistical approaches that can be used to determine if a site meets release criteria for surficial contamination, no similar guidance exists for subsurface residual radioactivity including surveys of open excavations following remediation, building substructures, and materials planned for reuse in the subsurface.

Additional information on the staff’s development of subsurface guidance is available at https://www.nrc.gov/waste/decommissioning/whats-new.html#ig-dev.

Capability Sought

The vendor shall be able to demonstrate the following capabilities to assist NRC:

Confirmatory survey support services at military and non-military sitesKnowledge of acceptable methods used to demonstrate compliance with NRC’s release criteria for the purpose of reviewing unlicensed military and non-military site cleanup documents and the capability to prepare:

technical review comments regarding the acceptability of site characterization and dose assessment in military and non-military site cleanup documents;

technical evaluation reports evaluating the demonstration that the applicable dose criterion is met; and

evaluations of dose assessments based on the site owner’s planned cleanup activities.

Knowledge of guidance in NUREG-1757 on acceptable methods for conducting radiological final status surveys for the purpose of reviewing final status survey reports or similar reports, including the capability to identify significant differences between how surveys were performed by site owners and NRC’s guidance.

Capability to perform radiological surveys at requested areas, including:

performing radiological measurements, including capability to supply all necessary equipment to perform surveys at sites per Temporary Instruction 2800/043 (https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2035/ML20351A280.pdf) and perform laboratory measurements and radio-chemical analyses of samples to include smears, soils, sediments, groundwater, surface water, concrete, and other potentially radiologically contaminated media.  The type of analyses will include, but are not limited to: gamma spectroscopy, alpha spectroscopy, gross alpha/beta, liquid scintillation counting, isotopic radium, isotopic strontium, and technetium-99.

collecting, transporting, and disposing of all waste resulting from the confirmatory survey; and

preparing documentation of the activities conducted and information obtained during the survey.

possessing an NRC or Agreement State Service Provider License under appropriate NRC or Agreement State regulation necessary to perform activities associated with these radiological surveys (e.g., radiological surveys, environmental sampling, and collection, handling, packaging, and transfer of any byproduct, source, special nuclear, or any other radioactive samples).

Subsurface survey guidance development

Knowledge of methods and instruments used for performing radiological surveys of the open excavations, building substructures, and soils/materials planned for reuse in open excavations and building substructures.

Knowledge in subsurface survey design and dose modeling, including evaluating optimum numbers and locations of samples to minimize decision errors and the degree of scanning to assess the presence of elevated areas should be considered.  

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

If your organization has the capability and capacity to perform, as a prime contractor, for the services described in this notice, then please respond to this notice and provide written responses to the following information.  Please do not include any proprietary or otherwise sensitive information in the response, and do not submit a proposal.  Proposals submitted in response to this notice will not be considered.

Organization name, address, email address, Web site address and telephone number.

What size is your organization with respect to NAICS code identified in this notice (i.e., "small" or "other than small")? If your organization is a small business under the aforementioned NAICS code, what type of small business (i.e., small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, economically disadvantaged woman-owned small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, 8(a), or HUBZone small business)? Specify all that apply.

Although no geographic restriction is anticipated, if responding organizations are located outside the Washington Metropolitan area (Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia), indicate how the organization would coordinate with the NRC program office located in Rockville, Maryland to provide the support services.

Separately and distinctly describe your organization’s ability to meet the capabilities indicated in the above section, Capability Sought.

Separately and distinctly describe your organizations past performance in the areas described above under the above section, Capability Sought.  Please indicate your organization's role (prime contractor, first tier subcontractor, and/or supplier) in related contracts.  Please also provide the contract number, contract type, customer name, address and point of contact phone number and email address, contract value, detailed description of supplies and services included in the scope of that contract, period of performance (for services) or delivery date (for products), and any other relevant information.

For any federal customers that your agency has for the required capabilities, indicate how your company complies with applicable environmental laws and Federal regulations (See NRC’s Green Purchasing Plan at:  https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1527/ML15272A142.pdf).

Indicate whether your organization offers any of the required capabilities described in this notice on one or more of your company's own Federal Government contracts (i.e., GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract or Government wide Acquisition Contracts) that the NRC could order from and, if so, which services are offered.  Also, provide the contract number(s) and indicate what is currently available for ordering from each of those contract(s).

Provide a standard, non-proprietary commercial price list or similar standard non-proprietary commercial pricing information for how your company sells, as a prime contractor, required capabilities described in this notice that your organization has experience providing.  Also, indicate what is included in that pricing.

Is your organization currently performing or have in the past performed same or similar services as those listed above for any of the licensees regulated by the NRC? If so, which licensees? See http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing.html for more information on NRC licensing.

Has your organization previously faced organizational conflict of interest issues with NRC? If so, what were they and how were they mitigated or resolved?

Interested organizations responding to this Sources Sought Synopsis are encouraged to structure capability statements in the order of the area of consideration noted above.  All capability statements sent in response to this notice must be submitted electronically, via e-mail, to Jeffrey R. Mitchell, at [email protected] , either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by March 8, 2022 at 1:00 PM EST.

DISCLAIMER AND NOTES:  Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s potential capability and capacity to perform the subject work.  Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.  After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities.  However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.