The National Nuclear Security Administration will extend its contract with Centerra Group for protective force services at the agency’s Nevada Field Office for up to six months due to the incumbent’s bid protest over a follow-on contract the agency recently awarded to a competitor, SOC.
The current security contract, awarded in December 2011 to Centerra, expired on June 30 of this year, the same day that the NNSA announced the latest extension.
The current contract is valued at $262 million for security at the Nevada National Security Site; the Remote Sensing Laboratory at Nellis Air Force Base; and the North Las Vegas Complex. A four-month extension – plus two one-month options – would add another $26 million, the notice said.
The contract modification is meant to sustain operations through resolution of the NNSA’s follow-on procurement; Centerra on June 13 filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office after the agency awarded the new protective force contract to SOC at the end of May.
The GAO’s decision on the bid protest is due by Sept. 21.
The NNSA’s award to SOC is valued at roughly $202.9 million over five years, with all options. The contractor will provide security for facilities and nuclear materials used in nuclear stockpile stewardship experiments and criticality safety training at the Nevada site, the NNSA said in its award announcement.
SOC’s partners on the contract were announced as Protection Strategies Inc. for performance testing and Human Reliability Program support; Longenecker & Associates for contractor assurance and environment, safety, and health; and MCH Corp. for information-technology services.
SOC was previously the primary security contractor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but Centerra took over that contract in December 2015.
The NNSA also awarded in May the management and operations contract for the Nevada site to Mission Support and Test Services LLC, a partnership of Honeywell International, Jacobs Engineering Group, and Stoller Newport News Nuclear.
Two failed bidders in June filed protests with the GAO over the M&O contract, worth $5 billion over 10 years with all options: Nuclear Security & Technology LLC and Nevada Site Science Support and Technologies Corp. The GAO will rule on the two bids by Sept. 13 and Sept. 8, respectively.
