Jacobs Engineering will be required to mitigate an apparent conflict of interest at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in its planned acquisition of CH2M Hill.
Jacobs announced in June that it planned to purchase its fellow DOE contractor for $2.85 billion, with the deal set to close by the end of the year. Jacobs already has a financial interest in one Hanford prime contract, and the deal would give it a financial interest in a second prime contract.
Jacobs is one of three owners, with Leidos and Centerra, of Hanford site-wide services provider Mission Support Alliance (MSA). The 10-year MSA contract includes a clause addressing “organizational conflict of interest between Hanford Site contracts.” It says the contract is limited to performance by a contractor not currently performing work for three current Hanford contracts, including the Plateau Remediation deal held by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co.
The Department of Energy said in a statement that MSA has informed it of a potential sale agreement between Jacobs and CH2M. The department responded by requesting MSA’s plan for compliance with its contract’s conflict of interest restriction. The contract clause does allow the conflict of interest requirement to be waived at the discretion of a DOE official at least at the level of the head of contracting activity.
“DOE will review the plan and work closely with MSA in taking whatever actions may be appropriate to ensure that contractual requirements are adhered to,” the department said in a statement.
Jacobs had no comment this week.
