A second failed bidder has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the new management and operations contract for the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site.
Nuclear Security & Technology LLC, a partnership between Northrop Grumman Technical Services, AECOM subsidiary URS Federal Services, and CH2M Hill Constructors Inc., filed its protest on Monday.
These three companies are also part of the team currently running the site: National Security Technologies LLC (NSTec). BWX Technologies is a partner on NSTec’s current contract, but did not team on the Nuclear Security & Technology bid.
Nevada Site Science Support and Technologies Corp. (NVS3T), a partnership involving Leidos, Fluor Federal Services, and Longenecker & Associates, was the first to file its own bid protest on May 31.
These filings with the GAO do not include publicly available justifications for those protests.
DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration last August awarded NVS3T the M&O contract, worth $5 billion over 10 years with all options, but revoked it within days after learning the company had changed hands from parent Lockheed Martin to Leidos.
The agency then reconsidered the five original bids, which were from NVS3T; Mission Support and Test Services LLC (MSTS); Nuclear Security & Technology; a BWX Technologies-led team; and a Bechtel-led team.
Last month, the NNSA awarded the M&O contract to MSTS, a partnership of Honeywell International, Jacobs Engineering Group, and Stoller Newport News Nuclear. The NNSA previously said it would extend NSTec’s current contract beyond its May 31 expiration to accommodate a four-month transition, but it now appears the new contract’s period of performance will first depend upon the GAO’s decision.
The GAO’s ruling on the latest protest is due by Sept. 13; its decision on NVS3T’s protest is due Sept. 8.
The 1,360-square-mile Nevada site supports the NNSA’s stockpile stewardship, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, and other operations.
