The Department of Energy’s landlord contractor for the Hanford Site in Washington state, earned only 35% of its subjective fee during fiscal 2023 in part because of its failure to keep on top of fire suppression system maintenance, according to a scorecard released Tuesday.
That translates to $2.4 million out of a potential $8.4 million, much worse than Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS), the city manager for the nuclear cleanup site, did in its previous DOE review, when it won 80% of the subjective fee.
The low subjective score in fiscal year 2023 helped bring the annual fee-take for the Leidos-led Hanford HMIS down to 72%, or $15.1 million out of a potential $20.9 million, DOE said in the scorecard. That was in spite of earning 98%, or $12.2 million of a potential $12.5 million, for objectively-measure goals.
“HMIS failed to effectively manage fire system maintenance personnel, work activities, and the associated costs,” DOE said in the one-page scorecard. There was “evidence of numerous occasions when crews assigned to perform fire system maintenance were excessively idle and participated in nonwork-related activities due to ineffective work planning and unproductive work execution that went uncorrected by contractor management.”
The feds went on to say the contractor “needs to improve fire apparatus pump, aerial and ground ladder testing to ensure equipment availability.”
In August, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board called attention to a stop-work order at the site’s fire department due to overdue inspections. Clogged sprinklers were also discovered at Hanford, the board said.
On the plus side, DOE praised the landlord contractor’s support of environmental cleanup and its contributions to testing of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Facilities at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. DOE and Bechtel plan to start solidifying the site’s less radioactive liquid tank waste into glass at this facility in 2025.
HMIS did a good job coordinating vital site services such as water, power, sewer, road maintenance and training during fiscal 2023, DOE said.
Made up of Leidos, Centerra and Parson Government Services, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions has a 10-year contract valued at almost $4 billion to provide essential workaday services at the former plutonium production complex. DOE recently said it plans to increase the scope of the Leidos-led team’s contract by $1.3 billion, in a revision that should be approved by March.
