Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
5/2/2014
It appears that there could be competition for the Brookhaven National Laboratory contract after all. Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) has kept a low profile during the BNL procurement, but industry officials say the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility contractor is strongly considering a bid for the contract. Brookhaven Science Associates, a partnership of Battelle and Stony Brook University, is the incumbent contractor and is expected to bid for the contract, and some industry officials previously questioned whether BSA would get any competition.
SURA spokesman Greg Kubiak late last week confirmed that the contractor has an interest in the Brookhaven contract, but he declined to say whether SURA had made a decision to bid or who the company was looking to partner with. “I can confirm that SURA has expressed an interest to DOE in the competition,” Kubiak told NS&D Monitor. “But as we examine the proposal and partnership opportunities, it would be premature to say any more than that. As a tried and trusted contractor for another DOE lab, we are interested to see if that success can be extended in a new venture.”
Though there has been considerable interest in the Brookhaven contract, no company has stepped forward to compete with Brookhaven Science Associates. Universities Research Association, which manages Fermilab for DOE, has been actively seeking an industry partner, and URA has been linked at times with URS, which would provide an operations complement to the scientific focus URA would bring to the table. URS also could be a potential partner for SURA, which has successfully managed the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility with CSC Applied Technologies since 2006. Fluor, Honeywell, CB&I and IBM all previously showed interest in running the laboratory but are no longer believed to be pursuing the contract. Proposals for the Brookhaven contract are due June 19.