Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
5/2/2014
Transportation, Operations and Professional Services (TOPS), which was raided by federal law enforcement agents earlier this year, has sold the waste transportation subcontract it had with URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC (UCOR). UCOR spokesman Allen Schubert confirmed this week that Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based TFE Inc. had acquired the subcontract. “This acquisition includes all TOPS assets and personnel needed to successfully execute the waste hauling subcontract. This was a business transaction completed between TOPS and TFE and was not directed or otherwise mandated by UCOR,” Schubert said. “While this acquisition doesn’t obligate UCOR to utilize TFE to execute the subcontract, UCOR has determined it to be in the best interest of ETTP and the government to use TFE for transportation operations,” he said, adding, “Prior to the transition, UCOR completed a detailed review and verification of TFE’s ability to safely and compliantly perform the transportation operations work scope, and we are confident that TFE will be successful.”
In mid-January of this year, TOPS’ office in Oliver Springs, Tenn., were raided by law enforcement agents in a move that remains shrouded in mystery. TFE Vice President Tony Hunter said this week that TOPS had approached his company after the raid to discuss selling the UCOR subcontract, noting that TFE has had “a long-standing relationship” with TOPS. Hunter declined to provide details of the acquisition, but said the subcontract had represented an “opportunity” for TFE to get into new types of work. “It worked out great for us,” Hunter said. TOPS did not return calls for comment.
UCOR awarded TOPS the waste transportation subcontract, worth approximately $14 million, on a sole-source basis in 2011. Work performed under the contract included waste hauling, managing a transportation hub and maintaining the haul road between the East Tennessee Technology Park and the Oak Ridge on-site disposal cell. On its website, TOPS has described the UCOR subcontract as its “anchor subcontract” that helped lead to more work at Oak Ridge and other DOE sites. TOPS is also one of UCOR’s two protégé firms, along with Veterans Contracting Solutions Group, and last year TOPS won UCOR’s inaugural protégé of the year award. However, Schubert said that with the waste transportation subcontract now moved to TFE, UCOR is evaluating its mentor-protégé agreement with TOPS.
