The Department of Energy is ready to give up on a legally embattled contract for Hanford's river corridor cleanup and put the project up for bids again, a weekly nuclear cleanup industry newsletter has reported.

Quoting unnamed sources, the Weapons Complex Monitor said DOE is preparing to issue a new request for proposals for the long-delayed contract.

"DOE officials apparently believe that the procurement process has taken such a long time ... that (DOE) would be best served by starting over," the Monitor said.

Three teams submitted bids in May 2002, with the contract scheduled to be awarded in August 2002.

Instead, DOE awarded the contract nine months behind schedule to Washington Closure Co. in May 2003. But then losing bidder Bechtel National filed a successful legal challenge to the bid award.

On Tuesday, Colleen Clark, spokeswoman for DOE's Richland office, said she was not aware of any plans to rebid the project. "We're still working on an approach," she said.

However, the Monitor reported that DOE officials from Richland and Washington, D.C., met in Denver last week to plan the agency's next move.

Washington Closure and Bechtel were not aware of DOE's apparent decision Tuesday. Washington Closure spokesman Jack Herrmann had no comment. Bechtel spokesman Todd Nelson said: "Depending on what they (DOE) do, we'll respond."

Since 1994, Bechtel Hanford -- a corporate relative of Bechtel National -- has managed the removal of contaminated soil and the demolition and sealing of old reactor complexes along the Columbia River at Hanford.

But DOE decided in 2002 to add cleanup of the 300 Area to the contract and put it out for bids.

Three teams submitted bids: Washington Closure Co., which is a coalition of Washington Group International, Fluor Federal Services and Earth Tech; a partnership of Bechtel National and CH2M Hill, and a team led by Tetra Tech FW.

DOE divided the rivershore cleanup into two stages ending in 2012. The bids were on the first phase, which DOE calculated would cost about $1.5 billion.

DOE awarded the contract to Washington Closure in April 2003 for a bid of $974 million -- more than $500 million under DOE's estimate. Although its bid amount was never disclosed, government documents indicate Bechtel's bid was close to the $1.5 billion estimate. Information on Tetra Tech's bid never became public.

In May, Bechtel appealed DOE's decision to the federal General Accounting Office, arguing Washington Closure's bid was unrealistically low and that Bechtel's was more realistic.

In response, Washington Closure argued its plan realized substantial savings by creative scheduling and some technical innovations.

In August, the GAO agreed with Bechtel and ruled DOE needed to re-evaluate how it graded the bids and reconsider the contract. Washington Closure appealed that ruling, but on Nov. 18 the GAO rejected that appeal.

Until a new rivershore contractor is selected, about 700 Bechtel employees will continue the work.