FY14 Comes and Goes, and Still No FY 2013 Fee for CHPRC
WC Monitor
10/3/2014
With Fiscal Year 2015 getting underway this week, the Department of Energy has yet to finalize a FY 2013 fee determination for Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. The DOE Richland Operations Office confirmed this week that the contractor’s FY2013 fee determination had not yet been finalized, but declined to say when the determination would be complete or why so much time has been needed.
CHPRC is the last of the major cleanup contractors at Hanford, as well as across the entire DOE complex, to have its FY 2013 fee determination completed. For FY 2012—a determination that was not completed until November 2013—CHPRC earned $4.49 million out of an available $10.4 million in fee tied to performance measures. The contractor’s FY 2012 fee determination also included approximately $5.9 million in provisional fee, which consisted of approximately $5.5 million in unpaid fee and approximately $235,000 in paid fee for work at the Plutonium Finishing Plant D&D project.
Firm Wins New Contract for Worker Comp. Claims
WC Monitor
10/3/2014
Penser North America has been awarded a new contract worth about $4.4 million to administer Hanford employee claims made to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Penser has been the Hanford third-party administrator for workers’ compensation claims management since it won its first contract for the work in 2009. The new contract, which started Oct. 1, includes a two-year base period with three one-year option periods. “Penser’s bid was determined to provide the best value to the government through a competitive bid process that included a technical evaluation and evaluation of price reasonableness,” Hanford employees were told in a memo late this week.
Penser’s performance has been very good or exceptional each year of its contract, as measured by contract reviews, the memo said. Penser’s just-expired contract included $50,000 in incentive pay annually depending on how well it met certain goals, including providing good customer service, contacting claimants promptly and performing good public outreach. It was awarded the full incentive pay each of the first four years of its contract, with the evaluation of the fifth year yet to be completed. The incentive fee was included in the 2009 contract after DOE heard complaints at public meetings about poor communication and slow decisions by the previous contractor. The new contract does not include the incentive fee, but the expectations remain the same and are included in the contract, said DOE spokesman Geoff Tyree. There is no incentive for approval or denial of claims, he said.
DOE also monitors Penser’s performance with audits performed by the state of Washington on how the company administers claims filed by Hanford workers, including whether it adheres to state law in administering claims and its recommendations on disposition of claims. Penser has performed well in those audits, the memo said. Penser’s job is to investigate, adjudicate and manage workers’ compensation claims under state regulations for self-insured organizations. It gathers and submits information on workers’ claims to the Department of Labor and Industries. The state agency has oversight authority over the workers’ compensation claims process and reviews all information before allowing or denying a claim. DOE and Penser are offering briefings to Hanford workers on the workers’ compensation program, including how to file a claim and the steps in the claims process.
