The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Wednesday it will not lump together litigation over a Department of Energy liquid waste contract potentially worth $45 billion with a separate government procurement case.
In a brief order, the appeals circuit rejected a joint motion by BWX-Technologies-led Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure and CGS-ASP Security to treat their suits as “companion” cases.
The U.S. Department of Justice also opposed combining the cases and argued that doing so “would very likely delay any decision” in the CGS-ASP Security case, the appeals court said in a brief order. Had the BWXT group gotten its way, it might have sped up resolution of the Hanford Integrated Tank Management contract by months.
The team of BWXT, Amentum and Fluor, which won the DOE contract for the Hanford Site in April, filed its request with the appeals court in late August after having its award vacated by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
The claims court ruled in favor of bid protester Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance, a team of AtkinsRéalis Nuclear, formerly Atkins, with Jacobs and Westinghouse. The losing bidder sued over DOE’s award in April.
The big issue in the Hanford dispute, interpretation of a Federal Acquisition Regulation on registration with an online government procurement tracking system, is also at the heart of CGS-ASP Security litigation over a Department of State contract.
Given both cases involve registration with the System for Award Management (SAM.gov), the BWXT group wanted the same appeals panel to consider the cases together, saying it would save time, according to the August filing.
The last written arguments in the CGS-ASP Security case occurred in August and oral arguments likely by early-2024, Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure said in its filing. By contrast, the Hanford tank waste appeal is not as far along in the pipeline.
“Although we do not contest that this case and CGS involve similar legal issues, CGS was fully briefed” as of Aug. 31, the Justice Department said in early September. The BWXT group only filed its appeal with the federal circuit in August, after Federal Claims Judge Marian Horn vacated the award and sent the matter back to DOE for reconsideration.
Likewise, the BWXT group only last week filed its first appeals court legal brief in the Hanford tank waste case.