The Department of Energy awarded a $1.1 billion operations and support contract for former gaseous diffusion plant sites in Ohio and Kentucky to Mission Conversion Services Alliance, the agency said Friday.
The contract for Operations and Site Mission Support at the Paducah Site in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Site in Ohio includes conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) at two plants that started operating in 2011. Notice of the award was posted on a federal procurement website.
The DOE weapons complex has been awaiting this award a long time; the final request for proposals was issued around January 2022.
Friday’s announcement did not list the members or lead partner of the winning limited liability corporation. Mission Conversion Services Alliances shares a physical address with Atkins Realis Nuclear Secured, according to information in a federal procurement database. Atkins leads the current DUF6 team, Mid-America Conversion Services.
Atkins declined comment Monday evening.
Amentum also has a stake in Mission Conversion Services Alliances, according to a regulatory filing predating the September merger of Jacobs Solutions’ government contracting business with Amentum.
Amentum Holdings is the new federal contracting company formed by the recent combination of Amentum and the government contracting wing of Dallas-based Jacobs. An Amentum spokesperson said the company is not the lead partner in Mission Conversion Services Alliance, which is based in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The new contractor, like the incumbent, will convert DOE’s DUF6 inventory at Portsmouth and Paducah into a more stable uranium oxide form suitable for transportation, storage and disposal, according to the notice.
Incumbent Mid-America Conversion Services, made up of Atkins, Westinghouse and Fluor, started work in November 2016 under a contract that, thanks to various extensions, is valued at $858 million, according to a DOE website.
Monday was Veterans Day, a federal holiday. DOE spokespeople could not immediately be reached for comment.
