The Department of Energy intends to terminate a $160-million Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract awarded to incumbent Swift & Staley in December 2020 and either re-compete or re-award the deal, the company said in a court filing Monday.
Swift & Staley disclosed the impending contract cancellation in a filing with the U.S. Court for the Federal Circuit, where it is appealing a March 31 decision by the Court of Federal Claims that effectively upheld rival Akima-Intra Data’s contention that the incumbent was too large to compete for the Paducah services contract. The contract was set aside for small businesses.
In its appeal, Swift & Staley said it wanted the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to hold off implementation of its ruling so that the Department of Energy won’t yank the company’s $160-million contract award before the incumbent can present its case to the appeals court.
Kentucky-based Swift & Staley requested its stay less than a week after U.S. Federal Claims Judge Thompson Dietz issued a sealed ruling in favor of rival bidder Akima Intra-Data. Akima successfully argued, first before the Small Business Administration (SBA) and last week before Dietz, that Swift & Staley failed to meet the size criteria to qualify for the new landlord services contract.
Simultaneously on Monday, Swift & Staley also filed notice appealing Dietz’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The incumbent said in its stay request that “expedited consideration of SSI’s [Swift & Staley Inc.’s] Motion is necessary in order to ensure the Motion is decided before the status quo is disrupted.”
Swift & Staley requested that Akima and DOE file legal briefs in coming days and that the court hold oral arguments on the proposed stay and injunction on April 21.
Swift & Staley has performed daily city manager-type services for the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant property since October 2015 under an existing contract. The deal has been extended several times by DOE during the course of the ongoing legal battle. The most recent extension, for four months, would keep the incumbent in place through July 30.
The $18-million extension through July would increase the value of Swift & Staley’s current contract to $298 million.
