Portage Inc. earned $1.1 million of its possible $1.5 million fiscal 2016 award fee as the prime contractor for the Department of Energy’s Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) contract. It received an overall “good” rating for the year, reflecting that grade in three performance areas: project management; tailings excavation, haul, and disposal; and health and safety.
Portage is excavating and hauling roughly 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings from a former uranium ore processing site in Moab, Utah, to a disposal cell 30 miles away in Crescent Junction. Over half of that amount has already been transported.
The DOE report notes challenges facing Portage during the scorecard period from Oct. 1, 2015, to Sept. 30, 2016, including a reduced workforce and the waste transport schedule slipping from four to two trains each week.
Portage reportedly laid off 31 employees last April, leaving about 80 on the job. This happened even as funding for the project rose slightly from $37.9 million in fiscal 2015 to $38.6 million last year. However, DOE had requested nearly $4 million less for the current budget year, in which government agencies have largely operated under continuing resolutions that kept funding at fiscal 2016 levels.
The reduction in shipments led DOE to revise the disposal target Portage was expected to hit to receive a “good” rating – from 873,000 tons to 604,506 tons. Portage reached 96 percent of the goal amount, according to the scorecard.
Among other strengths, DOE noted that Portage completed digging and building a new waste disposal cell early, on budget, and without any safety or environmental problems; finished enhancements to electrical systems; and reported 28 of 36 health and safety incidents within two hours. The report notes, though, that one incident was not filed for at least 48 hours.
Portage in April 2016 secured a five-year, $153.8 million follow-on task order to its initial five-year contract. The company in January was acquired by rival North Wind Group.
