The Department of Energy wants to see how potential bidders would view an expanded Hanford river shore cleanup contract before deciding whether to put the project up for bids again.

DOE is asking potential bidders to comment on a new draft request for proposals by Jan. 17. After that, DOE will decide whether to stick with its original solicitation for bids or request bids on a revised project.

Hanford's new river shore environmental cleanup contract has been in limbo since the federal General Accounting Office criticized how DOE awarded the contract, which originally was to be awarded in August 2002.

In 2002, DOE decided to offer one contract for removing radioactively and chemically contaminated soil from along the Columbia River shore, demolishing and sealing old reactor complexes and cleaning up the 300 Area.

In May 2002, three teams submitted bids on it. One was Bechtel National -- a corporate relative of the current river shore cleanup contractor, Bechtel Hanford -- plus CH2M Hill. A second team was Washington Closure Co. -- a coalition of Washington Group International, Fluor Federal Services and Earth Tech. The third team was led by Tetra Tech FW.

DOE divided the project into two phases ending in 2012. The bids were on the first phase, which DOE calculated would cost about $1.5 billion. In April 2003, DOE awarded the contract to Washington Closure for a bid of $974 million -- more than $500 million under DOE's estimate.

Bechtel's team -- whose bid was close to $1.5 billion -- protested the award to the GAO, contending Washington Closure used unrealistic calculations to achieve its bid. The GAO agreed with Bechtel in a pair of rulings in August and November.

Now, DOE will either reconsider Bechtel, Washington Closure and Tetra Tech for the original proposed contract or possibly restart from scratch with an expanded project.

DOE is looking at adding some cleanup of the 618-10 and 618-11 waste burial sites and the 400 Area -- without the Fast Flux Test Facility -- to the river shore cleanup package.

That is the expanded package DOE wants interested companies to comment on by Jan. 17.

Southern Hanford's 618-10 and 618-11 sites hold large amounts of highly radioactive wastes generated in the 1960s. DOE wants them cleaned up by 2018, and the preliminary estimated price tag is about $500 million.

Both sites are less than four miles from the Columbia River, and both have radioactive materials that can be handled only with remote-controlled equipment.

Six firms are studying how to tackle those sites, with DOE hoping to trim those proposals by April 2004. It's unclear how a revised river shore cleanup project would affect those studies.

The 400 Area is the site of FFTF and the buildings surrounding it. DOE already has issued a request for proposals from "small businesses" -- those with fewer than 500 employees -- to lead teams to dismantle the dormant research reactor. Those bids are due by Feb. 17.

The proposed expanded river shore cleanup package would tackle the facilities surrounding FFTF, but not the reactor itself.

Bechtel Hanford is continuing river shore cleanup while DOE sorts out what it wants to do with the new contract. And Fluor Hanford is dismantling the FFTF until a new team takes over.