A recent audit by the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General found that a major vendor at the Hanford Site in Washington state, Mission Support Alliance (MSA), is not meeting its agreed-upon small business contracting commitments.
The Leidos-led vendor, which provides landlord services at the former plutonium production complex that range from road maintenance to recordkeeping, reported subcontracting 27% of its total contract value to small businesses. But the Office of Inspector General said it determined the figure is only 21%, which misses the contract requirement of 25%.
The IG report also says MSA self-performed 73% of the total contracted work itself, compared to the 55% cited by the company. The contract limit is 60%.
The audit said cited less-extensive shortcomings with the small business recordkeeping of a Jacobs subsidiary, CH2M Plateau Remediation, which is in charge of Central Plateau cleanup at Hanford.
The Office of Inspector General called for Hanford’s major site contractors to develop better procedures to monitor small business contributions and the amount of work being self-performed. The Energy Department agreed to make that and other changes, such as better oversight by prime contractors of various subcontractor costs, by June 2021.
Mission Support Alliance is serving out a $4.9 billion contract that began in May 2009 and is currently set to expire this November. In December, the DOE Office of Environmental Management awarded a potential 10-year, $4 billion contract to another Leidos-led joint venture, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS). The new vendor team withstood a contract protest in April and is awaiting DOE’s approval to start its transition during the COVID-19 pandemic.
