The National Nuclear Security Administration this week cleared its prime contractors to bill the government for paid time off for workers who cannot do their jobs because of COVID-19, and told the primes to start figuring out how to let subcontractors do the same.
The relief is based on Section 3610 of the CARES Act, which became law on March 27. One of four COVID-19 bailout bills approved by Congress, most recently this week, the CARES Act lets Department of Energy contractors seek reimbursement for paid time off granted between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2020.
Contractors may not bill the government for more than 40 hours per week of paid leave per employee, including sick leave, according to the legislation. The law lets DOE tap into funding provided by that legislation, subsequent COVID-19 bailouts, or any other appropriation, through the end of the 2020 fiscal year.
Subcontractors might eventually get the same relief, though no National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) site reached this week by Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor had modified any subcontractor deals to include 3610 language, as of deadline Friday.
“Subcontractors may be eligible to use Section 3610 of the CARES Act if the prime contractor determines it is appropriate to incorporate it into the subcontract,” an NNSA spokesperson in Washington wrote in an email Friday. “NNSA Contracting Officers are strongly encouraging their prime contractors to review the legislation and add this clause or elements of this clause into to their subcontracts to ensure reimbursement for allowable costs as appropriate.”
All NNSA primes had 3610 language added to their contracts by April 16, agency headquarters said this week. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette provided the guidance for doing so earlier this month.
Contractors seeking reimbursement, eventually includingsubcontractors, must represent that they are not double-dipping into other CARES Act relief funds.
In New Mexico, the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories are asking subcontractors to queue up and request 3610 relief, if they need it.
Triad National Security, the Los Alamos management prime, “is currently developing a policy and a subcontractor application process for use by LANL subcontractors who may be eligible for paid sick leave under Section 3610,” a spokesperson wrote in an email Friday. “Triad will carefully consider each application for reimbursement for paid leave under Section 3610 to ensure that keeping the subcontractor in a ready state is in the best interest of the Government for meeting current and future Laboratory needs.”
Similarly, a spokesperson for Sandia prime National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, said subcontractors will be considered for 3610 relief on a “case by case basis,” and that no subcontract that allowed access to the site had yet been modified to add CARES Act relief.
There are about 2,000 subcontracts at Sandia, the spokesperson said. The Los Alamos spokesperson did not immediately reply to a query about the number of subcontracts at the northern New Mexico site.
A spokesperson for Mission Support and Test Services — prime for the Nevada National Security Site, where the NNSA performs non-yield explosive plutonium tests to see how nuclear weapons are aging — said the contractor is “currently reviewing our subcontracts to determine the applicability of section 3610 of the CARES Act to the subcontract work requirements.” There are are about 90 active subcontracts at the former Nevada Test Site, the spokesperson wrote.
A spokesperson for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California declined to comment about any specific actions taken to offer subcontractors relief under the CARES Act, as did representatives for the Kansas City National Security Complex in Kansas City, Mo., the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
However, contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security said Y-12 has about 200 subcontracts with site access, while Pantex has about 120.
With the outbreak, most NNSA sites have barred the majority of employees from reporting to work. Many can telework, but many cannot, either because they have jobs that require the exchange of classified information or because they work in manufacturing or assembly jobs that cannot be performed elsewhere.
The NNSA is broadly exempt from stay-at-home and stop-work orders from state and local governments, so some subcontractor employees have been working on top-priority weapons missions more or less without interruption.
