Contracts & Procurement

A Babcock & Wilcox-led team bidding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex contract is again protesting the agency’s actions, raising concerns in a challenge filed yesterday with the Government Accountability Office about the “fairness” of the procurement and selection process as well as the “form and scope” of the revised Request for Proposals issued […]

The Department of Energy and Parsons yesterday signed a long-awaited contract modification for construction of the Salt Waste Processing Facility. The modification largely follows an agreement-in-principle reached in April between the parties. DOE Savannah River Site spokeswoman Amy Caver said in a statement that the modification “caps American taxpayer liability and ensures this important project […]

The Small Business Administration late last week struck down challenges to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Maywood, N.J. award to Cabrera Services and CB&I, ruling that Cabrera does qualify as a small business. Two teams—one named Maywood Closure Company, LLC, made up of Environmental Chemical Corporation, Safety and Ecology Holdings Corporation, ARS International and […]

While Babcock & Wilcox has again protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s move to seek additional cost savings information from bidders on its Y-12/Pantex procurement, Bechtel—the lead of the team picked as the winner of the procurement in January—said it is moving forward with supplying the NNSA with the information it requested. B&W, which successfully […]

Kurion later today will announce the appointment of Bill Gallo as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately, WC Monitor has learned. Former CEO Ralph DiSibio will remain with the company as executive chairman. Gallo, who joined Kurion in March as Chief Operating Officer, came to Kurion from AREVA, where he most recently led AREVA Solar and […]

Susan Stiger has been re-elected as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Energy Facility Contractors Group for a term set to end in 2014. Other EFCOG board positions approved in an election held last week include: Juan Alvarez from Idaho National Laboratory as Vice Chair for a term to end in 2015 Patricia […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration should allow bidders on its Y-12/Pantex procurement to revise their cost savings proposals to reflect new conditions at the sites, according to a protest lodged by a Babcock & Wilcox-led team last week that paints the existing cost savings initiatives being used in proposals as “fictitious” and the actual cost […]

Bechtel National is sending U.S. Environmental Manager Michael Graham to testify at this week’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing on the Department of Energy’s major cleanup contracts, Bechtel confirmed late last week. The panel had invited Bechtel National President Craig Albert or another contractor representative to testify at the June 27 hearing. […]

The Department of Energy yesterday announced several small business awards for support to the Office of Environmental Management—a $4 million contract to TerranearPMC, LLC, a $1 million task order to Terranear and a $1 million task order to Boston Government Services, LLC, for technical support services. The $4 million Terranear award is an indefinite delivery/indefinite […]

URS Executive Vice President Steve Piccolo is set to retire July 12. Piccolo’s departure from URS was announced in a message sent to employees yesterday. Piccolo’s responsibilities, which have included serving as EM High Level Waste Strategic Business Unit lead for URS’ Global Management and Operations Services (GMOS) unit, will be assumed by Senior Vice […]

Approximately five teams are believed to have formed to go after the Department of Energy’s new deactivation contract for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, according to industry officials. Among the potential bidders is a team of CH2M Hill with B&W and URS; a team of Fluor with LATA; a team of Bechtel with EnergySolutions and […]

Less than four months after National Strategic Protective Services, LLC, took over as the Department of Energy’s new Oak Ridge protective force contractor, it’s top official is resigning. NSPS, a joint venture of Triple Canopy, Inc. and Securiguard, Inc. said last week that General Manager Greg McDowell was leaving the company for “personal reasons.” McDowell’s […]

Bidders for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex contract will submit new information to NNSA today in response to the agency’s request despite another protest looming over the procurement. A team led by Babcock & Wilcox protested the agency’s June 6 action to request more information from bidders about cost savings that were proposed […]

North Wind, as expected, officially named Chris Leichtweis yesterday as its new President and Chief Strategic Officer. WC Monitor first reported in mid-June that Leichtweis was the top candidate to replace North Wind’s retired founder, Sylvia Medina, as president. Leichtweis previously served as senior vice president at Perma-Fix Environmental Services after it purchased Safety and […]

The Department of Energy’s processes for contractor term assignment payments should be improved, according to a DOE Inspector General report released yesterday that noted that in a third of cases contractors received at least $230,000 in relocation payments in addition to per diem allowances. The audit report covered payments to contractor personnel on temporary assignments […]

The Department of Energy has begun moving forward with preparations to recompete the contract to manage the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center, issuing a sources sought notice yesterday to begin performing market research to gauge whether there are small businesses capable of performing the work. According to the notice, DOE is proposing using a […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory has selected three companies for its long-awaited Quality Assurance Technical Services contract, NW&M Monitor has learned, picking teams led by North Wind, Vector and Technology Management Consulting Resources for the support work at the lab. A Los Alamos National Laboratory spokesman declined to reveal the names of the companies selected for […]

The Department of Energy’s Richland Operations Office at Hanford late last week awarded two new blanket purchase agreements to provide support services. The winners were Corporate Allocations Services, Inc., and Longenecker & Associates, Inc. The agreements are set to run for up to five years, consisting of a three-year base period and two one-year option […]

Restoration Services Inc. late last week won the Department of Energy’s new contract to provide environmental technical services at the Portsmouth site. The new contract, set aside for small businesses, is set to run for up to five years and is worth approximately $43 million, according to DOE. Services to be provided under the contract […]

WSI-SRS, the protective force contractor at the Savannah River Site, earned $2.1 million in fee for the first half of Fiscal Year 2013, 79 percent of the fee available ($2.7 million) under its contract with the Department of Energy. The contractor, which earned 97 percent ($2.6 million) of its available fee for the second half […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory has awarded a $50 million contract to Navarro Research and Engineering for enduring waste management services under an existing Master Task Order Agreement. The scope of the contract includes a variety of waste at the site, including low level waste and mixed low level waste, industrial waste, New Mexico special waste, […]

Union-represented workers at Hanford overwhelmingly rejected new contract proposals put forth by the site’s cleanup contractors during a vote held July 16. The vote was held after approximately a year-and-a-half of negotiations between the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council and Hanford’s cleanup contractors, with CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. believed to be playing a leading […]

Former Department of Energy official Ed Simpson has joined the consulting firm Longenecker & Associates as a senior associate, the company announced yesterday. Simpson last served as director of DOE’s former Office of Procurement and Assistance Management before retiring from federal service in 2010. Simpson “has worked in all facets of contracting including performance based […]

More details have emerged on the agreement in principle struck between the Department of Energy and Salt Waste Processing Facility contractor Parsons on the path forward for completing construction of the plant. Both DOE and Parsons have thus far declined to provide details about the deal, but WC Monitor has determined that the two sides […]

Babcock & Wilcox Chief Operating Officer Mary Pat Salomone is retiring at the end of June, but she will stay with the company to head up the team bidding on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex contract, B&W said yesterday. B&W-led Nuclear Production Partners (NP2), LLC, which includes URS, Northrop Grumman and Honeywell, successfully protested […]

URS-led Nuclear Management Partners announced Friday a switch in top management at the U.K.’s Sellafield site, moving Todd Wright from managing director to Chairman of the Board of Sellafield Limited, with former Executive Director Tony Price taking Wright’s post. Wright has been at Sellafield for five years and was managing director for two years. But […]

Babcock & Wilcox profits during the first quarter of 2013 dipped to $47.2 million, down 21.3 percent from the $60 million the company reported during the same period a year ago, B&W said yesterday as it released its latest earnings report. Operating income for B&W’s Technical Services group, which includes its Department of Energy and […]

Engineering firm Merrick and Company yesterday announced the acquisition of K.M. Ng & Associates, Inc., of San Antonio, Texas. “I’m excited to announce that K.M. Ng is now a part of Merrick & Company,” David Huelskamp, CEO and President of Merrick, said in a statement. “With this team of experts, Merrick will enhance its capabilities […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is reopening the Y-12/Pantex procurement in response to a recommendation last week from the Government Accountability Office, which upheld a pair of protests of the agency’s award to Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security. The NNSA said yesterday that the three bidders—including teams led by Babcock & Wilcox and Jacobs/Fluor, which protested […]

Five former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory workers who had alleged they were unjustly laid off in 2008 because of age discrimination were awarded $2.7 million by a California jury late Friday. The five workers—66-year-old Elaine Andrews, 63-year-old Greg Olsen, 61-year-old Marian Barraza, 60-year-old James “Rocky” Torrice, and 57-year-old Mario Jimenez—are a “representative” group of 130 […]