Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
7/18/2014
URS appears set to seek reimbursement for more than $650,000 in costs for having one of its executives testify before Congress on whistleblowers at Hanford, according to information the Department of Energy sent a Senate subcommittee last week. The question of whether or not URS would seek reimbursement for the cost of having James Taylor, General Manager of URS’ Global Management and Operations Services unit, testify at a hearing the Senate Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight held in March, came up in a letter Subcommittee Chair Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) sent to DOE in late June. While in her letter McCaskill wrote that URS had not yet made a determination on seeking reimbursement, in a set of written answers sent to the Subcommittee July 8, DOE said the contractor planned on doing so. “It is the Department’s understanding that URS will seek reimbursement for allowable costs,” DOE said.
In its written answers to the subcommittee, URS put its total cost associated with the Subcommittee’s investigation into whistleblowers at Hanford at approximately $660,203.50. DOE said that “reasonable and allowable costs” associated with preparations for the hearing would be reimbursed through URS’ general and administrative expense rates. “This cost appears to be allowable under FAR 31.205-22(b)(1), which addresses costs associated with providing a technical and factual presentation of information on a topic directly related to the performance of a contract through hearing testimony to Congress,” the Department said.
However, DOE has not yet received a reimbursement request from URS, a Department spokesperson said late this week. “The Department has not received a request for reimbursement at this time. As with any activity related to the performance of a contract, the Department will evaluate and determine if a request for reimbursement is reasonable and allowable once it is received,” the DOE spokesperson said. URS declined to comment this week. Bechtel National, responsible for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, has not sought reimbursement from DOE for the costs of having one of its executives testify at the Senate subcommittee hearing and currently has no plans to do so, according to spokesman Fred deSousa.
