GAO: Kansas City Site struggling to meet staffing, supply chain needs 

Staffing at the Kansas City National Security Campus can’t match its current workload and may not meet the demands of the next series of nuclear weapons life extensions, according to a recent report. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Kansas City site, managed for the agency by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, makes the non-nuclear parts of nuclear warheads. 

The site’s “current workload demands exceed the site’s nominal capacity and may continue to increase over the next two decades, based on NNSA’s current program requirements and projections,” reads a report published Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

About 7,000 people work at the Missouri site daily, but its hourly production staff is lacking and the problem likely will continue past 2025. Hourly staff represent between 18% and 20% of the total contractor workforce at the Kansas City site, according to GAO.

Ideally, Kansas City would have at least 1,200 hourly employees to meet “nominal production capacity”, though by 2025, it will need at least 1,500, according to the GAO report. The site’s own staffing plans for hourly production staff to work on NNSA weapons programs call for 2,500 employees by 2041 when its production rate is expected to peak, according to the report. 

“Workload demands for the site may continue to increase over the next two decades, exceeding its capacity. NNSA has begun efforts to address this, including buying more equipment and planning an expansion of its campus,” GAO found.

Honeywell has taken action to staff up by acquiring additional square footage near the existing facilities and has plans for further expansion, specifically for production and office space, GAO said. 

The contractor also has ramped up hiring, bought new equipment, worked with external vendors and revamped its quality assurance practices, the report said. 

NNSA has plans for a 15-phase expansion of the site, adding about 1 million square feet of manufacturing space and 675,000 square feet of office space, according to the report.

“These efforts may not fully meet future needs and the site may need additional space beyond the planned expansions to meet projected demands,” GAO found.

Specifically, the site may face future challenges finding enough office and production space, building up Honeywell’s and subcontractor workforces and maintaining its supply chain, the report said. 

Kansas City currently makes components for NNSA’s ongoing B61-12 gravity bomb life extension and the W88 Alt 370 program to refresh the larger of the Navy’s two submarine-launched ballistic missile warheads. 

The site is also doing design work for next wave of life-extensions, including the W80-4 air-launched cruise missile life extension program, the W87-1 intercontinental ballistic missile warhead and the planned W93 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead.