UCOR EARNS 90 PERCENT OF AWARD FEE
WC Monitor
1/10/2014
Oak Ridge cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, earned about 90 percent of its available award fee in the period from April 1 through September 30, 2013, according to information recently released by the Department of Energy. UCOR received about $3.11 million out of a total of $3.43 million available. “During this six-month performance rating period, UCOR has done a very good job executing the scope under the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) contract,” states a Dec. 20 award fee determination letter from the Department of Energy to UCOR.
The high marks from DOE mark a slight improvement in UCOR’s performance over the previous period—UCOR earned about $3.09 million in award fee out of $3.46 available in the period from Oct. 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013 (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 29). The Dec. 20 letter states that UCOR performed nearly half of its contract baseline with a schedule performance index of 1.03, cost performance index of 1.09 and a positive variance at completion against the baseline of $96 million. “These indicators have all trended positively over the evaluation period and are an improvement to the previous evaluation earlier this year. They reflect a contract that is performing well against the cost and schedule plan,” the letter states.
Achievements Include K-23, Safety Improvements
Among UCOR’s achievements, DOE noted that the contractor began five months ahead of schedule the demolition of the technetium-99 portion of the K-25 former gaseous diffusion plant. It also notes that it dropped and disposed of an aging water tank, decommissioned the Central Neutralization Facility and supported plans for retrieving high fissile containers. Additionally, “UCOR’s Nuclear Safety Program has seen notable improvements over the performance period leading to reductions in the nuclear risk posture at the ETTP site. The ownership displayed by both UCOR’s project and support organizations of the safety and health and work planning and control programs and processes has been noticeably improved, and DOE has observed an overall improvement to these programs,” the DOE letter says.
Issues Include Molten Salt Reactor Delays
DOE did note, however, some areas in which UCOR could have done better. “During this period, the schedule for weighing the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) Sodium Fluoride (NaF) traps was slipped several times,” the letter states. It also adds, “Six events occurred across UCOR projects that are associated with the hoisting and rigging/fork lift program.”Additionally, “While UCOR has taken a number of corrective actions over the past several months, the UCOR FY13 Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART rate did not meet the Performance Objectives, Measure and Commitments (POMS) goal of 0.33.”
NSPS EARNS ‘VERY GOOD’ RATING ON FIRST REPORT CARD
WC Monitor
1/10/2014
National Security Protective Services, the Department of Energy’s new security contractor in Oak Ridge, got a “very good” overall rating on its first report card and earned a fee of $519,320. NSPS won a contract competition earlier this year and replaced Wackenhut Services (also known as WSI-Oak Ridge and G4S Government Solutions) as DOE’s protective force contractor for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the East Tennessee Technology Park and the Oak Ridge Federal Building. The company is a joint venture of Triple Canopy Inc. and Securiguard Inc.
Wackenhut had been a dominant player in the security market in Oak Ridge for more than a decade, holding separate contracts with DOE for ORNL and other federal facilities. It also held a separate, much bigger contract at Y-12, which ultimately was terminated in the wake of the July 28, 2013 security breach at the nuclear weapons plant. The NSPS performance period was from March 24 through Sept. 30, the end of Fiscal Year 2013. The contractor received an overall performance score of 96. NSPS was notified of the results in a Dec. 11 letter from Joseph A. McBrearty, DOE’s fee determination officer on the contract.
According to a release by the contractor, “DOE recognized NSPS for its ability to quickly adapt and respond to customer needs while seamlessly assuming responsibility as the Oak Ridge protective force services provider in March 2013.” NSPS President Ignacio Balderas said in a statement that the company was pleased with the results of the contractor’s first evaluation by the federal agency’s Oak Ridge office. “We set high expectations when we successfully transitioned the contract, and I am pleased to see we have earned high marks from the Department of Energy,” Balderas said.
