Defense Environment Alert
February 25, 2003

ACQUISITION DECISION AUTHORIZES CONTRACT BID PROCESS AT BLUE GRASS

DOD acquisition chief E.C. "Pete" Aldridge has signed off on an acquisition decision memorandum, approving neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) as the method to destroy stockpiled chemical weapons at Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky.

The decision authorizes DOD's Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program to solicit bids for the design, construction, pilot testing, operation and close-out of a full-scale pilot test facility to destroy the chemical weapons at the depot, according to the ACWA program. The decision was expected, as DOD named neutralization followed by SCWO as the agency-preferred destruction method in November. The technology beat out incineration - the Army's baseline technology for chemical weapons destruction - and three other alternative technologies.

The ACWA program is also looking at ways to accelerate the stockpile's destruction, by for instance "streamlining the source selection process and optimizing the environmental permitting process," according to a Feb. 12 news release from ACWA. As a result, the program hopes to award a contract by early summer, an ACWA spokeswoman says. Since the Sept. I I attacks, all stockpile sites have been under a requirement to accelerate destruction as a way to reduce the threat of a terrorist attack, she says.