Contracts & Procurement

The Government Accountability Office is expected to issue a ruling today on one of the most anticipated protest decisions in the history of the Department of Energy. Teams led by Babcock & Wilcox and Fluor/Jacobs each protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s $22 billion decision to pick Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, to run the […]

Idaho Treatment Group’s new interim environment, safety and health manager, Fran Williams, will stay in the position as the contractor works to complete Phase 2 validation of its Integrated Safety Management System, the Department of Energy said late last week. Williams was named as ITG”s interim safety manager earlier this month, replacing Mark Wescoat in […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration is reviewing the Government Accountability Office’s decision to uphold two protests of the agency’s Y-12/Pantex award to Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security and is keeping its options open, including ignoring the GAO’s recommendations. In a long-awaited decision on the $22.8 billion contract, the GAO yesterday ruled in favor of protests by […]

The Department of Energy and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant operator USEC have less than one month to finalize negotiations on an extension for operations at the plant before it stops enrichment activities. USEC is currently running the plant as part of a one-year DOE uranium tails reenrichment that is set to run out at the […]

B&W, USEC and URS are all set to announce their latest financial results this week. B&W is scheduled to announce its first quarter 2013 earnings results in a call with investors May 8 at 8:30 a.m. USEC is scheduled to hold its first quarter 2013 investors call May 7 at 8:30 a.m. URS is scheduled […]

The Department of Energy is now only seeking responses from small businesses in a solicitation for a conceptual design for used fuel interim storage and transportation. When the sources sought notice was first posted on Jan. 23 there was no specification for small businesses, but a modification posted Friday “seeks responses from small businesses only […]

After an announcement of an additional funding opportunity for small, modular reactor vendors by the Department of Energy earlier this week, NuScale Power said it is planning to compete for the $226 million that will be offered over a five-year period for up to several vendors. That funding would go towards a cost-share program that […]

Salt Waste Processing Facility contractor Parsons and subcontractor EnergySolutions are locked in a dispute over Parsons’ decision to reverse course and return $20 million in provision fee to the Department of Energy, with EnergySolutions telling Parsons last week that it will not return its $6 million share of the fee, WC Monitor has learned. In […]

Print 0 46 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The Department of Energy is now only seeking responses from small businesses in a solicitation for a conceptual design for used fuel interim storage and transportation. When the sources sought notice was first posted on Jan. 23 there was no specification for small businesses, but a modification posted […]

Department of Energy cleanup chief David Huizenga hinted yesterday that DOE and contractor Parsons may be close to developing a path forward for completing the Savannah River Site Salt Waste Processing Facility. The two have been in talks for months over the development of a revised baseline for the project, which is neccessary because of […]

After questioning the National Nuclear Security Administration on award fee waivers given to the contractors that run Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories late last year, the chairman of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee told NW&M Monitor yesterday that he would probe the agency for more information about its decisions. Neither Los Alamos […]

The Department of Energy has awarded Navarro Research and Engineering the task order for support services to the Depleted Hexafluoride Conversion Project at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites. The $20 million time-and-materials task order has a three-year performance period and two one-year extension options. The award comes just four months after DOE released a solicitation […]

National Strategic Protective Services LLC officially took over as the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge protective force contractor yesterday, and company officials say they’ve hired 100 percent of the incumbent workforce. NSPS, a joint venture between Triple Canopy and Securiguard, ousted WSI Oak Ridge earlier this year as the protective force contractor for Oak Ridge […]

Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility Contractor Shaw AREVA MOX Services earned 50 percent of its available award fee in fiscal year 2012, or about $4.4 million, according to information released yesterday by the National Nuclear Security Administration. This comes after last week an NNSA official revealed that the contractor earned no incentive fee in FY […]

B&W is laying off approximately 80 employees this week in a move the company says is intended to help result in a “more efficient and leaner” organization. The layoffs, announced in a company message issued yesterday and obtained by WC Monitor, include employees from B&W Technical Services Group, B&W Nuclear Energy Inc., B&W Power Generation […]

The University of New Mexico is gearing up to join a bid for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Sandia National Laboratories contract and is in talks with several companies about the opportunity, a university official said yesterday. UNM engineering professor Joe Cecchi, the former head of the university’s Engineering Department, told NW&M Monitor that the […]

The Department of Energy needs to update and consistently apply guidance regarding contractor executive salaries, according to a DOE Inspector General report that questioned DOE approval of salaries for executives for Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC. When UCOR took over the contract in 2011, an official in the Department’s Oak Ridge Office […]

LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky, LLC, the cleanup contractor for the Paducah site, earned approximately 80 percent of its available fee in Fiscal Year 2012, according to information the Department of Energy released yesterday. Overall, LATA Kentucky earned $3,800,955 out of an available $4,727,674. LATA Kentucky’s fee included approximately $1.5 million out of an available […]

  Anticipating that the Department of Energy’s deconversion facilities will run at about 50 percent capacity, international Isotopes said yesterday that it sees an opportunity to contract with the agency to help address its 1.6 billion-pound backlog of depleted uranium. Working with DOE may be the best way to secure acceptable financial backing for INIS’ […]

Merrick & Company President David Huelskamp has been elected as the firm’s chief executive officer, adding those duties to his current role with Merrick. Huelskamp has served as the company’s president for the last year and will continue to lead the company’s day-to-day operations as well as direct Merrick’s growth “in alignment with Merrick’s 2020 […]

The Department of Energy late last week awarded a task order to the MITRE Corporation for research and development work for the Office of Environmental Management. The $5.9 million task order has a nine-month base period and a nine-month option period. MITRE is a non-profit organization that manages contracts for the Internal Revenue Service, and […]

Two teams are challenging the Department of Energy’s award last week of a task order for support services to the Depleted Hexafluoride Conversion Project to Navarro Research and Engineerng. The Office of Environmental Management’s Consolidated Business Center has received two size status challenges claiming that Navarro does not meet the small business size standard for […]

With less than a week to go, it remains to be seen whether the Department of Energy will be able to meet its goal to award the new Office of Legacy Management support services contract before the current one, held by S.M. Stoller, expires on April 9. When asked about the status of the procurement, […]

With the contractor transition at Y-12 still on hold because of protests, the Atomic Trades and Labor Council has negotiated a year’s extension to the bargaining agreement covering 1,200 hourly workers at the Oak Ridge plant. The new agreement includes a 2 ½ percent wage increase for Y-12 workers, who are expected to ratify the […]

USEC is in discussions with the Department of Energy on completing some work at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plant to prepare it for decontamination and decommissioning after a program currently running the plant ends, USEC CEO John Welch told WC Monitor yesterday. USEC completed such “cold shutdown” work previously after it ceased operations at the […]

The Department of Energy is delaying the start of transition for the recently awarded contract to provide support services for the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Project as a result of challenges filed against Navarro Research and Engineering. Two companies have filed size standard challenges with the Small Business Administration against Navarro—Concord Professional Services and Strategic […]

Parsons on Saturday rejected what has been described as the Department of Energy’s ‘best and final offer’ on a new baseline for the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site, WC Monitor has learned, leaving the path forward for the project uncertain. DOE and SWPF contractor Parsons have been in talks for months […]

Los Alamos National Laboratory is making moves towards awarding Master Task Order Agreement 4 covering technical support services, notifying several bidders last week that they were unsuccessful. It appears that no awards have been made yet, and a large number of teams are believed to have bid on the contract. Notifications of award are expected […]

Union workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Friday ratified a one-year contract extension, which includes 2 ½ percent pay increases and averts a rush to get a new contract negotiated once the new combined Y-12/Pantex contractor takes over the management role at the facility. Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor […]

As the National Nuclear Security Administration considers how to move forward on its next big procurement, it’s considering more than just one of its biggest nuclear weapons laboratories, acting NNSA Administrator Neile Miller said yesterday at the fifth annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit. Even though the agency’s Y-12/Pantex procurement still isn’t over, industry officials have turned […]