Robert Raines, head of procurement for the National Nuclear Security Administration, will retire in June after more than a decade leading the semi-autonomous weapons agency’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management, according to an internal memo.
Raines has been the National Nuclear Security Security Administration’s (NNSA) acquisition chief since 2011, according to Thursday’s announcement from agency Administrator Jill Hruby. He joined DOE in 2008 — a second life after nearly 30 years with the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps.
Raines announced his intention step down as the NNSA grapples with one of the biggest contract controversies of his tenure: the protested award of the NNSA Production Office contract to Nuclear Production One, a Fluor-led team with junior partner Amentum.
The protests by the two losing bidders, one led by Bechtel National and another by BWX Technologies, derailed the NNSA’s plans to transition the Pantex Plant in Texas and the Y-12 National Security Complex to new management by April 1. The agency planned to extend the Bechtel-led incumbent, Consolidated Nuclear Security, for at least six months and possibly as long as a year.
This is the second time the Production Office contract has drawn a rancorous protest. The first was in 2012, when the NNSA bundled management of the two sites and the Bechtel-led team snatched the operations contract for both of them from separate BWX Technologies-led teams.
Prior to the November award to Nuclear Production One, Raines had been adamant that history would not repeat itself at Pantex and Y-12.
“We don’t get protested,” Raines said at the time.
