Contracts & Procurement

The Department of Energy yesterday announced the release of the draft Request for Proposals for the new Portsmouth environmental technical services contract, though the actual document had not been posted online as of press time. The new contract is projected to be a cost-plus-award-fee-type that is set to run for up to eight years, consisting […]

Seven small, disadvantaged businesses have won contracts to provide technical support services to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, the EM Consolidated Business Center announced yesterday. The winners include Trinity Engineering Associates; TerranearPMC; Aspen Resources Limited; DLE Technical Services; Boston Government Services; JG Management Systems; and North Wind Solutions. The new Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite […]

The Department of Energy is planning to hold a workshop this summer in Paducah, Ky. with entities interested in operating the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant past 2013, WC Monitor has learned. A formal announcement is expected to be released in the coming weeks. In May, the Department of Energy finalized a deal with the Tennessee […]

The United Steelworkers union has fired the latest salvo in its growing war of words with the Department of Energy over labor issues at the Portsmouth D&D project. Earlier this month, USW International President Leo Gerard sent a letter to Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman reiterating the union’s stance on the need for improved benefits […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries has tapped Peter Diakun to serve as its new vice president of energy programs. Diakun, who currently serves as vice president and chief technology officer of HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding Division, will replace Doug Stitzel, who is set to retire on June 30, according to a company release. Explaining Diakun’s new role, the […]

Tetra Tech parted ways yesterday with senior executive Bob Milazzo. Tetra Tech Senior Vice President Bill Brownlie, the company’s chief engineer and the leader of its Haselwood Enterprises division, confirmed Milazzo’s departure but declined to provide any additional details. He said that Milazzo, who had headed up Tetra Tech’s DOE Services Group but was shifted […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is considering establishing a machine and fabrication facility near the Savannah River Site. The site management-and-operations contractor released an Expression of Interest yesterday seeking a vendor interested in developing the facility, and states that a potential site is located next to SRS at the South Carolina Advance Technology Park. “Savannah River […]

Department of Energy security contractor WSI earned an “outstanding” rating and $2.497 million for its work managing protective force activities at the Savannah River Site during the first half of Fiscal Year 2012, according to recently released details of the contractor’s performance evaluation. The performance was the best in recent years for WSI-SRS as it […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration yesterday provided strong indications that it won’t award the combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract before the November general elections. In a tentative acquisition timeline released yesterday for the agency’s parallel Pantex/Y-12/Oak Ridge protective force procurement, the agency said it does not plan to award the combined security contract until […]

Bechtel Corp. has recently made several senior-level changes in its business unit that handles Department of Energy work, WC Monitor has learned. Bechtel Systems and Infrastructure Inc. President Craig Albert will now also serve as President of Bechtel National after David Walker has been moved to serve as BSII manager of functions and finance. In […]

The Department of Energy has once again demanded the return of $20 million in provisional fee paid to Salt Waste Processing Facility contractor Parsons, reiterating its requirement for the immediate repayment of the money in a July 2 letter, obtained by WC Monitor. “Based on Parsons submittal of the updated Estimate of Completion on March […]

Department of Energy security contractor WSI received another “good” rating for its protective force work around the weapons complex, earning the performance evaluation for its work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other Department facilities during the first part of Fiscal Year 2012. WSI-Oak Ridge earned $1.07 million in fee for its work in Oak […]

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions has submitted a response to the National Nuclear Security Administration over the agency’s concerns with how the Waste Solidification Building project at Savannah River is being managed, but is so far keeping quiet on the details. “In reference to the NNSA Letter on SRNS Performance on the Waste Solidification Building Project, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration has outlined an ambitious procurement schedule for its combined Oak Ridge/Pantex protective forces management contract, saying in documents released this week that it plans to award the contract by September of this year. The agency released a draft Request for Proposals for the contract last month and questions on the […]

The union that represents hundreds of protective force workers at the Savannah River Site will vote today and tomorrow to ratify a five-year collective bargaining agreement that was recently reached in talks between its negotiating team and security contractor WSI-SRS. According to Martin Hewitt, the president and chief negotiator of United Professional Pro-Force of Savannah […]

EnergySolutions yesterday pointed at the Savannah River Salt Waste Processing Facility contract—where the company is a subcontractor to SWPF contractor Parsons—for much of the blame for its net loss of $0.7 million for the first quarter of 2012. Because of cost overruns on the project, and ongoing contract negotiations between Parsons and the Department of […]

Union protective force workers at the Savannah River Site ratified a five-year collective bargaining agreement late last week, formally approving a deal that provides annual 2.5 percent wage increases for the workers. Martin Hewitt, the president and chief negotiator of United Professional Pro-Force of Savannah River Local 125, said 66 percent of union members voted […]

Senior National Nuclear Security Administration protective force official Steve Wanzer is heading up the agency’s combined Oak Ridge/Pantex protective force contract, according to recently released procurement documents. Wanzer, a senior security specialist within the agency’s Office of Defense Nuclear Security, will address prospective bidders for the combined contract during a presolicitation conference Tuesday at the […]

Washington Closure Hanford is gearing up to recompete a subcontract for the operation of Hanford’s Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) landfill, with a pre-qualification questionnaire set to be available “on or before” June 12, according to a notice posted yesterday. The planned subcontract is currently anticipated to be set aside for small businesses, and is […]

Representatives from 10 companies attended presolicitation conferences last week for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Oak Ridge/Pantex protective force contract, according to procurement documents released yesterday. The list of companies attending the conferences at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Pantex Plant included plenty of familiar faces, including Oak Ridge and Y-12 incumbent WSI/G4S […]

Pantex’s guards won’t be hitting the picket lines this year. The Pantex Guards Union ratified a new contract with Pantex Plant contractor B&W Pantex late last week, bringing the latest round of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement to an uneventful close five years after the guards went on strike over retirement, benefits and […]

The Department of Energy has given conditional approval to Parsons Salt Waste Processing Facility Project Manager Lou Jackson as his 90-day evaluation period comes to a close this week. However, final approval for the construction contractor’s choice to head the project is contingent on several “performance-related” conditions, and there is no timeline for final approval, […]

What a difference five years can make. The wage increases are modest and there will be no boost to the retirement accounts of Pantex protective force workers, but Pantex Guards Union President Frank White deemed negotiations on a new five-year collective bargaining agreement a success after the guards union at the site wrapped up a […]

Defense contracting giant Boeing, which made a big splash by jumping into the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration market last year when it announced it was teaming with Fluor to bid for the Sandia National Laboratories management and operating contract, has pulled out of the bidding for the potentially lucrative opportunity, a […]

A dispute between the Department of Energy and Parsons over the return of approximately $20 million in provisional fee paid for work on the Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility grew more heated late last week, with DOE threatening to withhold payments on contractor invoices if the provisional fee is not returned, WC Monitor […]

The Department of Energy has decided to dock Valley Demonstration Project cleanup contractor CH2M HILL B&W West Valley $250,000 in fee following the departure of Ryan Dodd, the contractor’s general manager. “DOE notified CHBWV the total available fee amount specified in the contract between DOE and CHBWV was being decremented in the amount of $250,000 […]

With bids on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract in and oral presentations completed, the leadership of the teams vying for the lucrative contract is starting to become more clear. NW&M Monitor has learned that Babcock & Wilcox Chief Operating Officer Mary Pat Salomone is heading up the company’s bid […]

Wastren Advantage, Inc., which operates the Oak Ridge Transuranic Waste Processing Center, earned almost all of the available fee for its last evaluation period of Aug. 1, 2011, to Jan. 31, 2012, according to an April 2 Department of Energy fee evaluation letter. For the period, WAI was awarded $1,208,003 out of an available $1,281,021. […]

The Department of Energy is moving forward with plans—first reported by WC Monitor early this year—to partially extend Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ contract to manage the Savannah River Site. On April 3, DOE issued a preliminary notice of intent to extend SRNS’ contract for an additional 38 months, short of the full five-year option period […]

Babcock & Wilcox President and Chief Executive Officer Brandon Bethards, who shepherded Department of Energy contractor B&W through its spinoff from McDermott International, is retiring and will be replaced by Westinghouse CEO Jim Ferland, whose tenure at the nuclear firm lasted only two days. Ferland will take over the reins at B&W when Bethards formally […]