Centerra Group, the incumbent provider of paramilitary security at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina, has withdrawn a Government Accountability Office (GAO) protest over procurement of a follow-on contract.
Centerra filed the protest May 8, but then withdrew it on June 9, according to a notice posted on the GAO website. The challenge cited the DOE solicitation number for a new long-term contract for security at the 310-square-mile federal campus near the South Carolina-Georgia state line.
Protests can be filed with the GAO over terms of a solicitation even before a contract is awarded. In March 2019, the Energy Department issued a final request for proposals for a new 10-year deal for security at Savannah River, but it has yet to award a contract.
Centerra’s current security award, valued at $1 billion is scheduled to expire on Oct. 7 of this year. However, DOE announced in May it plans to keep the incumbent around through at least Feb. 7, 2021, and possibly until Oct. 7 of next year under a pair of additional four-month options.
The Energy Department has already used three such four-month extensions, valued at about $36 million each, to retain Centerra pending procurement of a new contract.
The work involves overseeing guards and an on-site police force; generally protecting people, facilities, and spent nuclear material; and providing cyber security at the Energy Department complex.
Reasons behind filings of GAO protests, or their withdrawal, are not public although they typically come out in cases where a final written order is published by the federal watchdog. Protests can still be filed by losing parties once a DOE contract is eventually issued, a source said.
Centerra employs roughly 1,000 people at Savannah River.
Neither Centerra nor the Energy Department offered comment on the protest last month and a DOE spokesman said Wednesday the agency does not comment on procurement issues.
