The second round of bidding for the Nevada National Security Site management and operations contract appears to be in its final stages, executives with one of the competing companies said Tuesday.
Leidos resubmitted a proposal after the previous contract award to a newly acquired subsidiary was rescinded last year, according to Elizabeth Porter, senior vice president for the company’s Federal Energy & Environment branch. Bidders’ final proposal revisions were due this week, Porter and Gerard Fasano, Leidos executive vice president and chief of business development and strategy, said on the sidelines of the ExchangeMonitor’s Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Washington, D.C.
While the National Nuclear Security Administration has not publicly stated the number of bidding companies, Fasano said there are likely multiple other contractors in consideration.
The Nevada National Security Site supports the NNSA’s nuclear stockpile stewardship, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism operations, among others. Present operations encompass subcritical nuclear experiments, gas gun shots using special nuclear material, high-explosive test detonations, and nuclear safety criticality experiments.
The NNSA, a semiautonomous branch of the Department of Energy, in August awarded the site contract worth up to $5 billion over 10 years to Nevada Site Science Support and Technologies Corp. (NVS3T), only to revoke the deal within days after learning the company had changed hands from owner Lockheed Martin to Leidos as part of a larger sale. The agency at the time said that only companies that had previously submitted bids would be considered in a new selection process.
The NNSA in late 2016 said it anticipated awarding the new contract by March 1 of this year, according to the Leidos executives. Fasano said he now expects a decision in the second quarter.
