PRO FORCE TIMELINE SUGGESTS DECEMBER AWARD FOR Y-12/PANTEX M&O CONTRACT

The National Nuclear Security Administration yesterday provided strong indications that it won’t award the combined Y-12/Pantex management and operating contract before the November general elections. In a tentative acquisition timeline released yesterday for the agency’s parallel Pantex/Y-12/Oak Ridge protective force procurement, the agency said it does not plan to award the combined security contract until December, with an effective start date of the contract scheduled for February of 2013. The agency has previously said it planned to award the security contract at the same time that it awards the combined M&O contract, and the new protective force acquisition timeline is affirming speculation among bidders that the Administration is likely to wait until after the election to award the contracts—due in part to election-year politics and the complexity of the combined procurements. 

The acquisition timeline was released yesterday as part of the final Request for Proposals for the protective force contract, which included no major changes from a draft RFP that was released in April. The 10-year contract, which includes a five-year base period and options that would make up the second half of the contract’s term, has drawn interest from a handful of security contractors including Oak Ridge and Y-12 incumbent WSI/G4S Government Solutions as well as Los Alamos National Laboratory pro force contractor SOC Los Alamos, Secure Transportation support services contractor Innovative Technology Partnerships, Securigard, Inc., Paragon Systems, PAI Corp., Tetra Tech, Innovative Technology Partnerships, Netgain Corp., Triple Canopy Inc., and Golden Services. Bids are due for the contract on Aug. 10, and the NNSA said it will conduct oral presentations in August as well.