A federal claims court judge held a closed- door hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday Aug. 28 with litigants in a dispute over a $45-billion liquid waste contract at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Marian Blank Horn set the hearing for 11 a.m. Eastern Time in the latest challenge by AtkinsRéalis-led Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance (HTDA) of a Hanford contract now awarded twice to a BWX Technologies-led group, Hanford Tank Waste Operations and Closure (H2C). HTC members are BWXT, Amentum and Fluor.
The was sealed or closed to the public, according to online court records. The BWXT-led contract winner, the losing bidder and the U.S. Department of Justice, which represents DOE in court, have all filed legal briefs this summer on whether a separate U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruling backs up the challenge of HTDA.
Other than confirmation the hearing took place, no post-hearing documents were publicly available online as of Thursday afternoon.
HTDA, made up of AtkinsRéalis, Jacobs and Westinghouse, has argued DOE should never have awarded the contract to H2C in the first place in 2023 due to the team’s failure to stay continuously registered with the online System for Award Management.
Judge Horn in June 2023 ruled the first award was improper but sent the dispute back to DOE for reconsideration. After instructing the two bidders to submit updated contract proposals, DOE awarded the business to H2C for a second time, in February. HTDA then filed a second legal protest in the claims court.
Amentum, part of the winning H2C team, is scheduled to complete a merger next month with government contracting and cyber businesses of Jacobs. Jacobs is part of the HTDA team bringing the protest.
