Section 605.60  Qualifications of the Employees of the Firm

a)         Because the contractor and its subcontractors will be responsible for performing a variety of activities, as set forth in this Part and 32 Ill. Adm. Code 601, ranging from designing a facility to negotiating plans for impact assistance with local governments, when selecting a contractor to design, develop, construct, operate and close a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility, the Agency will only select a proposer that has or will obtain a qualified staff that will be assigned to the project and that meets the requirements of this Section.  The employee qualifications listed in this Section are minimum requirements for the contractor and must be met collectively by the contractor's staff; the qualifications need not be met by a single individual.

1)         Project Manager

A)        The contractor selected shall have an identified individual (or individuals) who will act as Project Manager for the designing, development, construction, operation and closure of the low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.

B)        The Project Manager will be required to work with the Agency to ensure that the project is proceeding in accordance with the provisions of the contract and in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

C)        The Project Manager will also be responsible for organizing, managing and coordinating the staff of both the contractor and the subcontractors. To assure that the Project Manager is capable of fulfilling these responsibilities, the Project Manager must have previous managerial experience on a project of similar magnitude and complexity (i.e., project of similar budget, duration, staffing, and regulatory complexity).  The Project Manager must have been manager of a project that involved supervision of at least 30 professional (engineering or other technical) employees.  Additionally, the Project Manager must be familiar with federal, State and local requirements applicable to radioactive or hazardous waste disposal, or with radioactive materials licensing.  The Project Manager's familiarity with these regulatory requirements shall have been obtained through involvement on previous projects.

2)         Senior Project Engineer.  The Senior Project Engineer will be responsible for approving all engineering plans, designs, drawings, reports, specifications and other engineering documents on behalf of the contractor.  Therefore, the Senior Project Engineer shall:

A)        Be a Professional Engineer licensed in Illinois by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in accordance with the Illinois Professional Engineering Practice Act of 1989 [225 ILCS 325] or be a Professional Engineer licensed in another state and be eligible for reciprocal licensure within six months; and

B)        Have been a senior engineer on at least two other engineering projects of similar complexity and magnitude as the proposed project (i.e., project of similar budget, duration, staffing and regulatory complexity). Preference will be given to proposers who designate as a senior engineer an individual who has worked on a project for the design, development, or remediation of a radioactive waste disposal facility.

3)         Mechanical Engineer.  If the proposer's plan requires the services of a mechanical engineer, the mechanical engineer shall:

A)        Be a Professional Engineer licensed in Illinois by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in accordance with the Professional Engineering Practice Act of 1989 [225 ILCS 325] or be a Professional Engineer licensed in another state and be eligible for reciprocal licensure within six months; or

B)        Have a degree in mechanical engineering and at least five years experience as a mechanical engineer.

4)         Geotechnical or Civil Engineer.  The geotechnical or civil engineer shall:

A)        Be a Professional Engineer licensed in Illinois by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in accordance with the Professional Engineering Practice Act of 1989 [225 ILCS 325] or be a Registered Professional Engineer licensed in another state and be eligible for reciprocal licensure within six months; or

B)        Have a degree in geotechnical or civil engineering and at least five years experience as a geotechnical or civil engineer.

5)         Structural Engineer.  The Structural Engineer will be responsible for designing structural components of the facility.  To be able to accomplish this task, the structural engineer will have to be knowledgeable in reinforced concrete design and construction.  At a minimum, the individual identified to perform these responsibilities shall:

A)        Be a Structural Engineer licensed in Illinois by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in accordance with the Structural Engineering Practice Act of 1989 [225 ILCS 340] or be a Structural Engineer licensed in another state and be eligible for reciprocal licensure within six months; and

B)        Shall have at least 10 years of experience in reinforced concrete design and construction.

6)         Geohydrologist.  The proposer selected as contractor shall have a geohydrologist knowledgeable in geologic interpretation and hydraulic transport of contaminants through soil or other porous material.  The geohydrologist shall either:

A)        Hold a Master's Degree in geology or hydrogeology and have at least five years experience as a hydrogeologist; or

B)        Hold a Bachelor's degree in geology and have at least eight years of experience as hydrogeologist.

7)         Environmental Scientist.  The proposer selected as contractor shall have an environmental scientist who:

A)        Holds an advanced degree (Ph.D., M.A. or M.S.) in Environmental Science or related natural or physical science; and

B)        Has at least five years experience in evaluation and mitigation of environmental impacts.

8)         Health Physicists

A)        During the design, development and planning of operation of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility, the full time services of a health physicist will be required to establish compliance with the requirements of 32 Ill. Adm. Code 310, 330, 341, 400 and 601.  The health physicist will be responsible for developing and implementing an environmental monitoring plan, preparing an emergency response plan, and assisting the contractor in the design and development of a disposal facility that incorporates the best available management technologies that are economically reasonable, technologically feasible and environmentally sound.  In order to assure that the health physicist available to the contractor is competent to fulfill these responsibilities, the contractor selected must have a health physicist whose services will be dedicated to the project and who meets one of the following:

i)          Is certified by the American Board of Health Physics, 1313 Dolley Madison Blvd., Suite 402, McLean VA 22101, in accordance with that organization's standards for certification in effect in November 2011.  A copy of these standards is available from the Agency;

ii)         Holds a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in health physics, medical radiological physics or physics, and has at least three years of applied radiation protection experience; or

iii)        Holds a Master's (M.S., M.A.) degree in health physics or physics and has at least five years of applied radiation protection experience.

B)        Operation.  During the operation of the low-level radioactive waste disposal facility, health physicists will be needed to conduct personnel monitoring, perform environmental monitoring, inspect packages received for disposal, and perform the responsibilities of a Radiation Safety Officer. In order to assure that the health physicists available to the contractor are capable of performing duties necessary to establish compliance with the requirements of 32 Ill. Adm. Code 340 and 601, the contractor selected must have health physicists whose services will be dedicated, i.e., a full-time employee on site, to the operation of the low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.  In addition, the health physicists must either:

i)          Be certified by the American Board of Health Physics, 1313 Dolley Madison Blvd, Suite 402, McLean VA 22101, in accordance with that organization's standards for certification in effect in November 2011.  A copy of these standards is available from the Agency;

ii)         Hold a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in health physics, physics or natural or physical science and have at least three years of applied radiation protection experience;

iii)        Hold a Master's (M.S., M.A.) degree in health physics, physics or natural or physical science and have at least five years of applied radiation protection experience; or

iv)        Hold a Bachelor's (B.S., B.A.) degree in health physics, physics, or natural or physical science and have at least eight years of applied radiation protection experience.

9)         Radiochemist.  The contractor will be required to operate an onsite radiochemistry laboratory.  This laboratory will be used to analyze incoming radioactive materials, as well as samples obtained in the process of environmental monitoring.  The radiochemist will be responsible for managing this laboratory and performing chemical analyses.  In order to ensure that the contractor will be able to fulfill its obligation to provide radiochemistry support services, the proposer selected must have a radiochemist who:

A)        Holds an advanced degree (Ph.D., M.A., M.S.) in radiochemistry or chemistry; and

B)        Has at least five years experience working in a radiochemistry laboratory.

10)         Community Liaison.  The community liaison will be responsible for involving all segments of the public in the decision making surrounding the development, operation, closure and post-closure phases of the facility and will also be responsible for establishing a long-term local citizens' advisory group.  To ensure that the community liaison is capable of fulfilling these responsibilities, the proposer selected must have a community liaison who will be assigned to this project and who either has:

A)        An advanced degree (Ph.D., M.S., M.A.) in public administration or a related field, e.g., public affairs, or technology and public policy, and a minimum of three years experience in conducting public participation programs, particularly those involving the siting of locally controversial land uses, such as prisons or landfills; or

B)        A Bachelor's degree (B.A., B.S.) in public administration or a related field and a minimum of five years experience in conducting public participation programs, particularly those involving the siting of locally controversial land uses.

11)         Support Services

A)        Comptroller – The contractor shall dedicate to the project the full-time services of a comptroller experienced in managing projects of similar budget size and complexity of the proposed project.  The comptroller shall hold a degree in accounting and shall have at least five years experience.

B)        Information Management Services Staff.  The contractor will be responsible for developing and maintaining computerized record keeping systems that track generators, container contents, shippers, dates, certifications, treatments, package characteristics, special disposal requirements and location of containers in disposal units.  These computerized record keeping systems must be compatible with the Agency's systems.  To ensure that the contractor is capable of fulfilling this responsibility, the proposer shall have an information management specialist who has training in the development and maintenance of computer systems.  The information management specialist shall hold a Bachelor's or graduate level degree in computer science or information management and shall have at least three years of computer programming experience.

b)         The Agency shall evaluate the qualifications of any other project staff identified by the proposer in its proposal.  When determining whether the staff is qualified to perform the responsibilities identified in the proposal, the Agency will evaluate staff qualifications as characterized by the proposer in the proposal.  In addition, the Agency will evaluate the qualifications specified by the proposer for positions that have been identified but not yet filled in order to determine whether the proposer anticipates filling vacant positions with individuals competent to perform assigned tasks.  The Agency also will evaluate the proposer's procedures for hiring qualified replacements when the identified staff leaves the employ of the proposer.

(Source:  Amended at 37 Ill. Reg. 12414, effective July 19, 2013)