After winning the multibillion-dollar management and operations contract for the Nevada National Security Site, only to have the award pulled in a matter of days, Nevada Site Science Support and Technologies Corp. (NVS3T) remains in the running in the rebidding process.
The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration announced on Aug. 31 that it was rescinding the contract awarded five days earlier because NVS3T had not alerted the agency that it had changed hands from Lockheed Martin to Leidos. The contract was then reopened to bids from all companies that had submitted proposals during the first go-around.
NVS3T on Sept. 9 filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims arguing that the NNSA’s withdrawal of the contract award had been arbitrary and capricious. The complaint itself remains under seal, but NVS3T and the Department of Justice on Oct. 14 filed a joint motion to dismiss the case, which was then terminated by Senior Judge Loren Smith.
The dismissal motion states that the NNSA “will take corrective action and establish a competitive range, which will include plaintiff NVS3T.” That effectively means the firm will be among the bidders to be involved in further discussions on the contract.
“The agency will then hold one or more rounds of discussion, request final revised proposals, and make a new award based on the revised proposals of the offerors,” the motion states. The schedule for this process was not immediately known.
Two companies that had submitted proposals for the original contract petitioned to intervene in the federal case, but Smith rejected the motions. They were: Nuclear Security & Technology LLC, a partnership of Northrop Grumman Technical Services, AECOM subsidiary URS Federal Services, and CH2M Hill Constructors Inc.; and Mission Support & Test Services LLC, a partnership of Honeywell International, Jacobs Engineering Group, and Stoller Newport News Nuclear, a branch of Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Sharon Larkin, attorney for intervener Mission Support & Test Services, declined to comment on the legal proceedings and rebid process.
Nuclear Security & Technology said in an email statement, “We are not aware that the Government has disclosed any schedule nor do we know when to expect to hear more.”
Nuclear Security & Technology is a slightly reconfigured version of current Nevada site M&O contractor National Security Technologies, which features Northrop Grumman, AECOM, CH2M Hill, and BWX Technologies.
The total number of bidders for the contract has not been made public. Bechtel National has confirmed that it was one of the previous bidders.
The contract had been valued at up to $5 billion over 10 years, including all options, for the 1,360-square-mile facility that conducts U.S. nuclear stockpile support and nonproliferation operations, among other testing and training activities.
