Department of Energy contractor Swift & Staley will stay on at least another month while a federal judge decides whether the firm exceeded the size restrictions for the $160-million Infrastructure Support Services contract at the Paducah Site in Kentucky, according to a Friday court filing.
In a Feb. 18 order, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thompson Dietz disclosed that DOE agreed to keep incumbent Swift & Staley on the job through March 31. The company was already working under an extension, good through Feb. 28, that was granted after oral arguments in the case on Feb. 10.
The parties are still awaiting a ruling in the case, sparked by an ongoing bid protest that Akima Intra Data filed with the Small Business Administration (SBA) shortly after DOE awarded the landlord contract to Swift & Staley in December 2020.
Akima said the Kentucky-based incumbent exceeded the size limit for the small business set-aside contract and an SBA hearings panel agreed. However, the Federal Claims Court in August found the SBA was in error and sent the case back to the agency for further review.
But on remand, the SBA hearings office again found Swift & Staley failed to meet the size criteria. Swift & Staley filed a revised complaint with the Federal Claims Court in early December that is now before Dietz.
Swift & Staley has been the service provider at Paducah since October 2015 under an agreement now valued at $280 million. At stake is another five-year contract ensuring essential tasks ranging from physical security to road upkeep and records management, are carried out.
