B&W OFFICIAL SUPPORTIVE OF NEW START ON Y-12/PANTEX PROCUREMENT

A Babcock & Wilcox-led team has three times protested the National Nuclear Security Administration’s actions on the Y-12/Pantex procurement, and a senior B&W official yesterday said the company supports scrapping the entire procurement and starting over, perhaps competing the two management and operating contracts separately. “We think there’s merit in DOE considering just calling time out and going back to the drawing board and rebidding,” Marshall Cohen, B&W’s Vice President for Government Affairs and Communication, told the Knoxville News Sentinel yesterday. Cohen was in East Tennessee for several days discussing B&W and the Y-12/Pantex procurement with industry and community leaders, according to the News Sentinel. “We’ve talked with people, and we’ve said here’s what we think. We think the idea of a rebid has merit. That’s what we think,” Cohen said. “I’ve said that the last couple of days throughout the community. That’s what we think. We think that’s a good option that ought to be considered. Now what does all that mean, detail-wise? What does it mean economy-wise? I don’t know. How fast could DOE turn it around? I don’t know.”