Nuclear cleanup contractors for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management received $426-million during fiscal 2020 to help cushion the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for employees not able to report to work.
That’s according to a spokesperson for the agency’s Office of Environmental Management (EM). The figure represents reimbursements EM paid to contractors under Section 3610 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES Act.
That section of the late-March pandemic stimulus bill, extended as part of the stopgap budget funding the federal government through Dec. 11, authorizes federal agencies to reimburse contractors for the cost of paid leave granted to personnel who could not report to work during the COVID-19 response, but who had to remain in a ready state.
Industry sources say the provision is particularly designed to help contractors who find themselves the odd man out — not having access to return to their old workstations inside the fence, but not able to telecommute because of the nature of their work, such as truck drivers or people working in classified settings.
Contractors at EM properties such as the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Idaho National Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and others all were authorized to bill under CARES 3610 the spokesperson confirmed.
“Therefore, contractors may elect to invoice the Department for those costs consistent with the CARES Act and the other rules applicable to allowability of costs,” said the EM spokesperson.
