NS&D Monitor
5/9/2014
Jury Awards Business $3.64m in Contract Dispute with Lab
An Albuquerque District Court jury has awarded a New Mexico-based business $3.64 million in a case that pitted the company against Los Alamos National Laboratory contractor Los Alamos National Security, LLC, in a dispute over a contract originally awarded five years ago. Orion Technical Services LLC sued Bechtel and University of California-led LANS for lost profits, arguing that the lab unfairly awarded a staff augmentation contract to Albuquerque-based COMPA Industries that was worth $395 million over five years and possibly $800 million over 10 years. Orion argued that Los Alamos didn’t follow its own procurement procedures when it awarded the contract to COMPA, alleging that the company was unfairly allowed to revise its proposal.
Los Alamos denied not following its own rules, and a judge threw out the case in 2010, denying a request for an injunction to prevent work from continuing under the contract. But the New Mexico Court of Appeals reversed the judge’s ruling, setting the case on the path to trial. The trial played out over three weeks, ending May 2, and the jury made its decision May 6. Lawyers for Orion did not respond to a request for comment, and the lab provided few hints about its plans in a statement to NS&D Monitor. “While we fully respect the jury’s decision, we obviously disagree with the verdict,” Los Alamos spokesman Matt Nerzig said. “We are currently evaluating our options for any future actions in this case.”