BABCOCK FILES SUIT AGAINST CHPRC ON NEW SUBCONTRACTING APPROACH

Babcock Services, a subcontractor to Hanford cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation, filed suit against CHPRC this week for damages it claims came from CHPRC breaking its contract. The case centers on “CHPRC’s complete indifference to contractual obligations it agreed to undertake with Plaintiff [Babcock Services, Inc.], including the improper termination of a contract and violation of a non-solicitation agreement between employers,” states Babcock’s filing this week in Washington State Superior Court for Benton County. Earlier this year CHPRC announced a new strategy in which it would self-perform much of the work being done by subcontractors, and in order to fill new positions created it would give hiring preference to workers who had been performing those jobs for subcontractors.

But Babcock believes that CHPRC’s actions are violating a non-solicitation clause in the contract that prohibits the companies from soliciting employees from one another. In January CHPRC told Babcock it hoped to hire many of its employees and asked it to waive the non-solicitation provision. When Babcock and other subcontractors refused, CHPRC revised its strategy last month to give hiring preference to subcontractor employees instead of directly soliciting them. “CHPRC unilaterally set parameters for its solicitation efforts and claimed it was not soliciting subcontractor employees, even though CHPRC’s strategy demonstrates that it is intended to hire employees of its subcontractors in order to increase the size of the CHPRC workforce,” the suit states. Additionally, Babcock’s subcontract is set to run for the length of CHPRC’s contract, including any extensions, according to the filing. That could last until 2018 if CHPRC is granted its full contract extension from the Department of Energy. “CHPRC never identified how this termination accords with the provisions of the [Shared Resource Agreement]. [Babcock Services] has not been terminated for convenience nor is it in default,” the suit states.

However, CHPRC disputes the suit’s claims. "CHPRC believes we are doing the right thing in moving forward with our subcontracting strategy," spokeswoman Dee Millikin said in a written response. "We do not believe we are in breach of our shared services agreement nor do we believe we are in breach of the non-solicitation provision with Babcock Services."