The National Nuclear Security Administration planned to host discussions soon with teams that bid on the potentially 10-year, $30 billion combined management and operations contract for the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Complex, sources said this week.
It was unclear at deadline whether the agency planned to invite bidders for traditional oral presentations — grueling, in-person affairs — or host briefer discussions remotely. Multiple people contacted for this story said the bidders have already received some form of feedback from the agency.
According to sources, Bechtel National, Reston, Va., BWX Technologies, Lynchburg, Va., and Fluor Corp., Irving, Texas, are all bidding for the next National Nuclear Security Administration production office contract: the follow-on to the $2-billion-a-year deal held by the Bechtel-led incumbent, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS).
State and federal disclosures show that Fluor owns a 60% stake in a subsidiary called Nuclear Production One, which was incorporated in Delaware on Nov. 6: three days before the NNSA released its final request for proposals for the new combined contract to manage Pantex and Y-12.
CNS, meanwhile, is on the job at Pantex and Y-12 at least through November and possibly through March 2021, under a contract extension DOE announced in June. The company will also remain at Y-12 after the transition to the new contractor to continue building the Uranium Processing Facility: the next-generation manufacturing site for nuclear-weapon secondary stages.
The NNSA initially had hoped to be transitioning to a new production site contractor by now. The agency has not said why it delayed the award, though there has been a presidential transition since the government solicited bids.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Thursday confirmed Jill Hruby to be the next full-time administrator of the NNSA.
