Navarro Research & Engineering took over this week as the new Carlsbad Technical Assistance in New Mexico after a challenge to its $76-million award from the Department of Energy was dismissed.
According to a notice filed Friday, Aug. 27, on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) website, the challenge lodged July 26 by Pecos Technical Solutions has been dismissed.
At DOE’s direction, Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Navarro started its transition on July 30 and took over from incumbent North Wind Portage on Wednesday, Sept. 1. The timing was confirmed this week by a DOE spokesperson. North Wind holds a $57-million technical assistance contract that began in November 2015 at the DOE Carlsbad office that oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, N.M.
Sources have told Weapons Complex Monitor that Pecos, which filed the now-dismissed protest, is a joint venture led by Oak Ridge, Tenn.,-based Spectra Tech. Navarro won the five-year contract over five other bidders.
The contractor must provide the field office with technical assistance in areas including safety, quality assurance, nuclear engineering and project management, according to DOE.
Navarro also leads a team operating the 222-S Laboratory at the DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state and is the environmental program services contractor at the Nevada National Security Site. DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration owns the Nevada site. The cleanup office is a tenant there.
