Proposals for three new Hanford contracts worth billions of dollars ask contractors to do too little for the community, says the Tri-City Development Council.

The draft requests for proposals do not include specific provisions for community involvement and economic development, according to a letter sent by TRIDEC to the Department of Energy. The drafts also require too little work be given to small business, according to TRIDEC.

"Procurements of the size of these three, in a community with a population of some 200,000, can have a tremendous impact on our local businesses, our families and our future," the letter said.

DOE plans to award a new contract for operating Hanford's tank farms, work now done by CH2M Hill Hanford Group. At the same time, it plans to split the work now done by Fluor Hanford into two contracts, one for cleaning up central Hanford and the other for operating the nuclear reservation - covering tasks such as firefighting, information technology and utility operations.

The three contracts are planned to be awarded one at a time over the next two years.

Even if there's no financial benefit to contractors for being a good citizen, just requiring bidders to come up with a plan for community involvement and outreach will spur them to think about how they would participate in the community as Hanford contractors, TRIDEC president Carl Adrian said in a meeting with the Herald editorial board.

It also could be used as a tie-breaker in cases where proposals are ranked equally, he said.

TRIDEC is recommending that as part of community development, potential contractors be required to detail their education benefits for employees - such as tuition reimbursement - and any policies to support diversity in education.

Bidders also should be required to outline plans for economic development that could help lessen the community's dependence on federal cleanup dollars as work is completed, TRIDEC said.

The draft requests for proposals require some of the work to be performed by small businesses, but set the bar too low, TRIDEC believes.

Each contract should require at least 25 percent of work to be performed by small businesses, unless DOE can come up with a rationale for the differing percentages now given in each contract, TRIDEC's letter said. The commitment should be primarily for work to be given to Mid-Columbia small business, it said.

Only one of the draft requests for proposals, the one for Hanford site operations, calls for 25 percent of the contract value to be subcontracted to small business.

The central Hanford cleanup contract would require 17 percent go to small business. The tank farms contract would drop to 15 percent subcontracted to small business.

DOE needs annual reviews of small business goals, rather than assessments every two or three years, the letter said. DOE also should consider whether a penalty of 10 percent of the fee paid to contractors who don't meet small business goals is sufficient, according to TRIDEC.

Many of the cleanup tasks at Hanford, where plutonium was made for the nation's nuclear weapons program, are challenging and require innovative approaches, TRIDEC said.

Yet the draft requests include too much "how to" language based on current plans rather than emphasizing the cleanup goal and asking bidders how to achieve them, TRIDEC said.

"DOE should request that (bidders) propose innovations to enhance safety and productivity, accelerate risk reduction, reduce costs and shorten schedules," TRIDEC said in its letter.

There are some areas TRIDEC believes the three draft requests for proposals cover well.

Unlike the analysis of Hanford watchdog Heart of America Northwest, the TRIDEC examination of the drafts concluded they had a strong emphasis on worker safety and protection of the public and the environment. The work included also was well thought out, TRIDEC said.

DOE will take comments on the drafts until Dec. 22.