Hanford scorecards show HMIS bouncing back; WRPS fee slips

After getting bad marks from the Department of Energy during fiscal 2023 for upkeep of fire suppression systems at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a Leidos-led landlord contractor won 85% of its subjective fee from the feds during fiscal 2024.

The improved performance by Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS), which only took home 35% of its subjective fee for fiscal 2023, is a major takeaway from fee scorecards released by DOE for a trio of Hanford contractors Tuesday.

Along with HMIS, DOE issued report cards for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 for two others: Amentum-led liquid tank waste contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Navarro-led Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration, which runs the 222-S Laboratory.

WRPS saw its fee percentages slip to less than 70% in fiscal 2024 from above 80% in fiscal 2023, according to its latest score card.

As for HMIS, it won $8 million out of potential $9.4 million in subjective fee. Overall, it earned about $21.2 million out of $25.6 million. That amounts to 94%. DOE grades contractors on subjective and objective criteria with the latter focusing on measurable goals. 

DOE deemed HMIS “ahead of schedule in implementing the fire system testing recovery plan.” A year earlier, the department found the HMIS fire system maintenance lacking. The U.S. Department of Justice, in a case sparked by a whistleblower has sued HMIS, made up of Leidos, Centerra and Parsons, alleging DOE was overbilled while fire protection system maintenance lagged.

WRPS won 66% of its subjective fee for managing underground radioactive tank waste at Hanford. WRPS won $19.6 million out of a potential $29.8 million in subjective fee. Its overall fee award was $32.8 million out of a potential $47.5 million or 69%. That’s not as good as fiscal 2023, when the tank manager won 82% of its overall fee and more than 80% in both subjective and objective performance.

This time around, DOE said WRPS too often failed to effectively manage its workforce and cost, according to the scorecard. “During the performance period, DOE was provided with evidence of numerous occasions when crews were excessively idle and participated in nonwork-related activities due to ineffective work planning and execution that went uncorrected by contractor management.”

DOE credited WRPS performance in several areas including installation of the Test Bed Initiative equipment in Tank SY-101.

Finally, Hanford Laboratory Management won 88% of its subjective fee and 95% of its overall fee, taking home almost $4.5 million out of a potential $4.7 million, according to its fiscal 2024 scorecard. That’s better than the year before when it claimed 82% of its subjective fee and 74% of its overall fee.

The 222-S prime “proactively managed analytical laboratory operations with rapid turnaround of radioactive samples in support of Hanford waste treatment and risk reduction,” according to DOE. At the same time, the lab contractor needs better preventative maintenance on its fire protection systems.