The National Nuclear Security Administration is asking the three bidders for its combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract to revise their proposals by next week, industry officials with knowledge of the agency’s actions confirmed this week. In letters to teams led by Babcock & Wilcox, Bechtel and Fluor late last week, the NNSA supplied questions specific to the proposals submitted by each team, giving the bidders until next week to revise or supplement their submissions. The letters also indicated that each team had made the “competitive range” for the award. “They want to get clarification on some issues and if they had some concerns, if the bidders can’t resolve those concerns, it will be a weakness,” one industry official told NW&M Monitor. “If they can address it, it won’t be a weakness.” The NNSA declined to comment on the action yesterday.
The communication has fueled speculation among industry officials that the agency still has a long way to go before it awards the lucrative contract. The NNSA has publicly said that it would not award the contract before September, but it has also said that it planned to award the contract in conjunction with its combined Oak Ridge/Y-12/Pantex combined protective force contract, which the agency said earlier this month that it planned to award in December. Most industry officials expect that the agency won’t award the combined M&O contract before the November elections. “It demonstrates that they’re going about it the right way,” another industry official said. “They’re taking it seriously and they’re using all the tools that are available. Clearly this is not a schedule-driven process. There is no magic date. They’re doing it the right way.”
