Senior officials from DOE's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and North Wind Solutions, LLC meet to sign a partnering agreement that defines the working arrangement and expectations between the two organizations.

Oak Ridge, Tenn. – On April 6, senior officials from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and North Wind Solutions, LLC met to sign a partnering agreement that defines the working arrangement and expectations between the two organizations. North Wind assumed responsibility for the Transuranic Waste Processing Center in December 2015.

“Today’s signing establishes a great foundation with North Wind, and we look forward to building a strong, collaborative relationship with them in the coming months and years,” said OREM Manager Sue Cange. “Our agreements with other companies have proven very helpful to ensure the work scope is conducted safely, on budget, and on schedule, and we expect to continue that tradition with our newest partner.”

The agreement is part of an initiative across DOE’s Environmental Management (EM) complex to enhance communication and cooperation between contracting companies and the federal government.

It emphasizes a collaborative approach for early detection of problems and a proactive resolution process performed at the lowest appropriate management level. The agreement also establishes periodic meetings between the two organizations to discuss progress, potential issues, and lessons-learned.

North Wind is responsible for safely and compliantly operating Oak Ridge’s Transuranic Waste Processing Center to support the processing of EM’s legacy transuranic waste. This entails performing surveillance and maintenance activities, providing support to the Central Characterization Project for final certification and disposition of transuranic soil and debris waste, and processing Remote Handled /Contact Handled transuranic waste originating from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The contract is a hybrid contract, which contains Firm-Fixed-Price and Cost-Plus-Award-Fee Contract Line Items (CLINs), as well as an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) CLIN. The total potential period of performance is five years, with a three-year base period and a two-year option period. The total dollar value of the contract, including all options, is $123.9 million.