June 30, 2014

Bechtel-led CNS Poised to Take Over Y-12/Pantex Contract Tuesday

By ExchangeMonitor

Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security has completed all of the readiness reviews associated with its transition as the new Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract and is poised to formally take over as the new contractor at the sites Tuesday. The team, which also consists of Lockheed Martin, ATK and security contractor SOC, was initially awarded the contract in January of 2013 but several protests from a team led by Y-12 and Pantex incumbent contractor Babcock & Wilcox prevented transition from starting until March of this year.

According to CNS spokesman Jason Bohne, CNS completed more than 3,000 scheduled actions during the four-month transition period while bringing aboard more than 7,800 employees and inspecting more than 400 facilities. It also reviewed and approved more than 5,000 procedures for running the sites, consulted with dozens of community leaders and elected officials, and established the structure and processes for managing the two sites as one enterprise. “Transition activities were completed on schedule and under budget,” Bohne said. “We have completed all the readiness reviews with the NPO and have been approved to proceed on July 1.”

Transition was not without its challenges, however. CNS replaced two key personnel on the contract, Chief Operating Officer Jim Allen and Uranium Processing Facility chief Carl Strock. Allen’s departure is related to what CNS officials have described as a “family medical situation” while Strock’s was tied to a change in the approach to the UPF project, which is being scaled back in the face of budget overruns and schedule delays.

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