Expect the Department of Energy to issue the long-anticipated paramilitary security contract for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina within the next few months, a federal official said Monday.
Michael Budney, the head of the department’s Savannah River Site’s (SRS) operations office, made the assessment during Monday’s online meeting of the Savannah River Site’s Citizens Advisory Board.
The contract is in the final stages of review at DOE, Budney said. “It is not a year away,” he added when a board member asked for a more specific timeline. “It is probably a couple of months away.”
Centerra Group holds the current contract that began in October 2009 and is valued at about $1 billion.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management announced in May it would keep the incumbent around through at least Feb. 7, 2021, and possibly until Oct. 7 of 2021 under a pair of additional four-month options. The value of such stopgap extensions for Centerra amounts to about $36 million per four months.
The federal agency issued its final request for proposals for a new 10-year, $1 billion security contract for Savannah River in March 2019.
In May of this year, anticipating DOE might well award the new deal to a rival, Centerra took the somewhat unusual step of filing a protest with the Government Accountability Office, over the procurement process. The following month, Centerra withdrew the protest. Such protests are not issued publicly by GAO, although the office often releases details after a contract is awarded and losing teams adjudicate protests with Congress’ investigative arm.
The Department of Energy has sought best and final offers from the bidders for the security contract, Budney said.
The winning paramilitary contractor will protect people, information, facilities and nuclear material at the 310-square-mile federal complex near the South Carolina-Georgia state line. This includes operations for both the Office of Environmental Management and DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
