The BWX Technologies-led team that won a $45-billion Department of Energy contract at Hanford Site in Washington state, only to see the award blocked by a federal court in June, should brief an appeals court in early October about why the trial court’s ruling was wrong.
The team, Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure, should file its brief by Oct. 10 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to the appeal’s court’s docket schedule.
The losing bidder in the contest, and the only other responsive bidder, was Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance, a team of Atkins Nuclear, Jacobs and Westinghouse.
In June, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Marian Blank Horn ruled that the award to the BWXT-led team was improper, blocking the start of work on the Hanford integrated tank contract and sending it back to DOE for reconsideration. Horn also called for a status report from the parties by Sept. 1.
On Aug. 9, the winning team, which also includes Amentum and Fluor, informed the Court of Federal Claims that it appealed Horn’s ruling with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The losing team argued in the trial court that the winner failed to remain continuously registered with the online System for Award Management (sam.gov) during the course of the procurement. The winning team countered by arguing its rival filed misleading information by omitting that Atkins’ ultimate parent is Canada-based SNC-Lavalin.
The disputed contract calls for overseeing the roughly 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in underground tanks at Hanford that is leftover from decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons. It calls for eventually operating the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant built by Bechtel to convert much of the waste into a solid, glass-like form.
Given the ongoing legal fight, DOE has announced plans to extend incumbent tank contractor, the Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions, for up to two years, through September 2025.
