Department of Energy contractor Swift & Staley is ineligible for the $160-million landlord contract awarded at the Paducah Site in Kentucky two years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Monday, only days after oral arguments in the protracted case.
The “per curiam” or unanimous decision, was issued in a one-page order, without a formal written opinion, two business days after the case was argued on Thursday.
The case was heard and the order passed down by Circuit Court Judges Jimmie Reyna, Haldane Robert Mayer and Todd Hughes.
The Kentucky-based incumbent took its legal fight to the appeals court in April after U.S. Federal Claims Court Judge Thompson Dietz agreed with the Small Business Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals that Swift & Staley exceeded the size limit to be eligible for the set-aside contract.
The Justice Department and Akima Intra-Data, a rival bidder for the Paducah deal, successfully argued Swift & Staley exceeded a size cap of $41.5-million in annual receipts at the time of the solicitation because it had a minority stake in a similar landlord contract venture headed by North Wind Group at DOE’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio.
Justice argued that Swift & Staley’s share of Portsmouth Mission Alliance receipts should be counted because the Paducah incumbent had the ability to exert “negative control” at Portsmouth.
Swift & Staley has been the landlord contractor at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plant complex since October 2015 under a contract now valued at $336 million, thanks to a series of extensions during the litigation. The latest extension is set to end March 31, 2023.
Attorneys for Swift & Staley, the Justice Department and Akima declined comment Monday.
The Paducah Infrastructure Support Services Contract as it is officially called in DOE procurement documents includes ensuring oversight of routine but essential needs ranging from record keeping to road maintenance at the site.
A DOE spokesperson declined to comment on what the agency might do next, recompete the contract, award it to the No. 2 bidder, or something else.
