The Huntington Ingalls Industries-led contractor in charge of legacy cleanup at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico won roughly 82% of its total potential fee and 72% of its subjective fee in a recently-released scorecard from the Department of Energy.
Newport News Nuclear BWXT (N3B) Los Alamos took home $8.4 million out of a potential $10.3 million in total potential fees for the Los Alamos work during fiscal 2020, the 12-month period ended Sept. 30.
The total figures were the result of winning $2.2 million out of more than $3 million in fees subjectively scored by DOE along with $6.18 million out of $7.22 million for meeting objective performance-based milestones.
On the downside, N3B’s “lack of understanding of risks involved with energized 480-volt” electric sources showed shortcomings in training that result in “potential life-threatening consequences and repeated quality concerns,” DOE said.
In addition, the contractor was dinged for “lack of effective integration and project management” at the outset of the Technical Area-21 cleanup. There were also multiple weaknesses in waste management processes, DOE said, listing waste characterization, handling, shipment and root cause analysis.
DOE praised the contractor for its prompt response to the discovery of unexpected waste on Middle DP Road in Los Alamos County. The agency also credited N3B for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular its efforts to reset training following a stop-work order. This was done in a manner that “kept workers in a ready state to return” to full operations, DOE said.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, DOE did not require N3B to do certain work during fiscal 2020, such as “clearing the Boneyard” at Technical Area 54.
N3B has “a robust cleanup plan” for fiscal 2021, and has already made significant progress in shipping transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, N3B President Glenn Morgan said in a statement.
Newport News Nuclear BWXT has a potential five-year, $1.4 billion contract for legacy cleanup at Los Alamos under an agreement that started in April 2018 and is scheduled to run through April 2023.
