TEAMS SET TO SUBMIT NEW INFO FOR Y-12/PANTEX PROCUREMENT

Bidders for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s combined Y-12/Pantex contract will submit new information to NNSA today in response to the agency’s request despite another protest looming over the procurement. A team led by Babcock & Wilcox protested the agency’s June 6 action to request more information from bidders about cost savings that were proposed in the contract, arguing that the agency should not have limited bidders from further amending or updating their proposals. The company also suggested that the NNSA should consider new information “at-hand” when making its new selection, a reference to former B&W executive Dan Glenn, whose departure from the company and subsequent appearance on a Bechtel-led team led to a lawsuit and findings that Glenn misappropriated B&W trade secrets, including some information about Y-12/Pantex. Bechtel was initially awarded the contract, but teams led by B&W and Jacobs/Fluor successfully protested the award to the Government Accountability Office. Each of the three teams is believed to be preparing to submit new information today to the NNSA. The GAO has 100 days from B&W’s June 17 protest to make a decision, but because it is a pre-award protest, the NNSA does not have to halt its procurement work and is not precluded from evaluating responses from bidders. However, the agency would be prohibited from making a new award until the GAO issues a decision on the protest.