Consolidated Nuclear Security, the managing contractor at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants, said Monday it had made numerous changes – including an organizational realignment – in response to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s review of the firm’s performance in fiscal 2015.
CNS received an overall score of 57 out of 100, meaning it received only 57 percent of its award fee for the last budget year — $11.4 million of a maximum just under $20 million.
The contractor released a statement following last week’s public release of the 44-page performance evaluation finished in late 2015, which detailed some of the problems in the contractor’s quality of work and other operational areas.
Consolidated Nuclear Security noted some of the difficulties in consolidating the management of the two production facilities starting in July 2014. CNS called it an “unprecedented transition” of the NNSA sites in Tennessee and Texas and said it had encountered “several unexpected challenges as we sought to implement the requirements of the new contract.”
“We carefully considered feedback in the NNSA’s evaluation and sought to maximize our understanding of their view of our performance,” CNS said in the statement.
“In the five months since we initially reviewed the score, we have realigned our organization to better align with the NNSA and to increase our interactions with them,” CNS stated. “We have amplified our focus on Operations and Business Management, and enhanced senior management presence at both sites.”
In addition, the contractor said it had established a new performance excellence organization, improved conduct of operations, and “laid out a clear strategic plan that will guide us in the future.”
The Bechtel-led team said the changes made in recent months have already “paid dividends in enhancing our performance in support of our mission to safely and securely help maintain the nation’s nuclear deterrent.”
