FBP Earned Approx. 82 Percent of Available Fee
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
3/6/2015
After years of steadily decreasing fee performance at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, D&D contractor Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC, received a boost in fee for its work in Fiscal Year 2014, according to information the Department of Energy released this week. FBP earned 81.86 percent of the available award fee in FY14, or approximately $12.7 million out of an available $15.5 million, according to DOE’s one-page award fee scorecard. In contrast, FBP earned approximately 75 percent of the available award fee for FY 2013.
FBP spokesman Jeff Wagner said in a written response late this week, “We agree with DOE’s acknowledgement of our excellent field work performance in FY14.” He went on to say, “In FY14 Fluor B&W employees overcame significant obstacles, not the least of which was a potential government shutdown, a projected $110M funding shortfall, and a potential cessation of the uranium barter program. Despite the many distractions our workforce continued to rally around our mission and remained focused on safely delivering results and value to our DOE customer. Our intention is to build upon this strong field and safety performance in FY15. “
‘Satisfactory’ Rating for Performing DOE Mission
FBP’s fee for last year included approximately $10.5 million—equaling 96.8 percent of the available fee—tied to a set of 12 performance-based incentives. The contractor fully met 11 of the PBIs, and partially met one related to shipping process gas equipment off-site for disposal, according to a March 2 DOE performance evaluation report. FBP also earned approximately $2.2 million, or 47 percent of the available fee, tied to two subjective performance categories—Quality and Effectiveness in Performing the DOE mission, for which the contractor received a rating of “satisfactory”; and Quality and Effectiveness in Performing Environmental, Safety, Health and Quality and Regulatory Requirements, for which the contractor received a “good” rating.
FBP Praised for D&D Progress, Safety Improvements…
In its evaluation report, DOE said FBP had “excelled” in performing radiological and high-risk work, such as by removing 76 cells of enrichment equipment from one of the Portsmouth site’s three main process buildings; and in maintaining safety-related and high priority equipment. “The completion of 96.8 percent of the PBIs is indicative of excellent performance on the physical work in the field,” the report says.
FBP came in for praise for its safety efforts, with DOE noting that the contractor showed “significant progress in overcoming an unfavorable safety culture, resulting in a safety performance that is now moving in the right direction,” according to the report. The Department also highlighted FBP’s work in preparing required regulatory documents for the Portsmouth D&D project. “The importance of this area of success to the project, cannot be over-stated, and FBP has appropriately focused the right resources and expertise on these complex regulatory deliberations from the beginning of this contract,” the evaluation report says.
…But Criticized For Cost Increases, QA Concerns
Among the “areas for improvement” for FBP listed in the evaluation report were concerns over the contractor’s nondestructive assay characterization and measurement program; and over the number of “slips, trips, falls and sprains” types of occurrences, among others. DOE also said FBP had been “ineffective” in controlling costs, with the actual costs having exceeded the work plan estimate by 15 percent.
In addition, the contractor was found to have “an inadequate contract-wide” Quality Assurance/Quality Control program, according to the evaluation report. “The QA/QC for a potential disposal facility was noted as a strength, but QA/QC has been a repeatedly noted weakness in other areas of the contract,” the evaluation report says, adding, “The NDA program for example has had numerous instances where quality issues have forced a stoppage of work. In addition, DOE is finding errors in submitted invoices and reports with a frequency that is much too high.”
