The National Nuclear Security Administration remains mum over its next move in the contested contract award to manage the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants, but the NNSA’s Production Office confirmed Monday that it had extended the existing contracts at the facilities in Tennessee and Texas for another four months. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman at the NPO, said each of the contracts was extended through Jan. 31, 2014, as the NNSA exercised four of six available one-month options. Wyatt denied an unconfirmed report that the new contract extensions included an amendment to set aside money for contractor transition. He said there is no such amendment.
The Government Accountability Office last week issued a ruling on the second protest filed on the contract award, refusing to back any of the three components of the protest by Nuclear Production Partners (a team lead by Babcock &Wilcox), one of the losing bidders. The GAO cited some aspects of the protest as being “premature,” which seemed to underscore the possibility that other appeals could be forthcoming before the final contract award is made and carried out. Currently, B&W Y-12, a partnership of Babcock & Wilcox and Bechtel, manages Y-12, while B&W Pantex, a similar partnership, is managing the plant in Texas. This will be the 13th time the Y-12 management contract has been extended.
