Fluor Marine Propulsion, of Arlington, Va., on Thursday won major nuclear-warship support contracts, worth up to a combined total of roughly $30 billion over 10 years, from the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Navy.
Fluor Marine Propulsion will take over Oct. 1 from incumbent Nuclear Naval Laboratory contractor Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp., the NNSA wrote in a press release.
The new contracts, like their predecessor, cover management and operations of the Department of Energy’s multi-site Naval Nuclear Laboratory, which comprises the Bettis and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories in West Mifflin, Pa.; the Kenneth A. Kesselring Site in West Milton, N.Y.; and the Naval Reactors Facility near Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Under the contract, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) develops new nuclear propulsion systems for the Navy’s aircraft carriers and submarines, and trains sailors to operate those systems at sea.
Neither the NNSA nor the Navy released the detailed financial terms of their respective Nuclear Naval Laboratory contracts. The Navy said its portion has a roughly $1-billion cost-plus-fixed-fee base, and includes options that would bring the contract’s total cost to about $13 billion. The NNSA, in a procurement note released Thursday, said its contract has a roughly $8.5 billion base; it did not disclose the value of its contract’s options.
The Navy received two offers for the contract but did not identify the other bidder besides Fluor. The NNSA did not say how many bids it received.
However, a spokesperson for Bechtel confirmed the incumbent was in on the action.
“Bechtel has helped manage the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program for nearly 20 years,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email Friday. “We’re incredibly proud of the work forces in New York, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and elsewhere who delivered such vital national security missions. We will assess our path forward after receiving our debrief next week.”
