The Department of Energy is apparently not counting upon a speedy resolution of litigation surrounding the landlord services contract for the Paducah Site, as a spokesperson confirmed Thursday the incumbent is receiving a four-month extension.
Kentucky-based Swift & Staley is now scheduled to stay on the job through July 31, a spokesperson for the DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a Thursday email response to Weapons Complex Monitor.
A little more than a month ago, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thompson Dietz disclosed the DOE nuclear cleanup office would extend Swift & Staley another month through March 31, as the legal battle drags on over whether the incumbent should be deemed too big to qualify for the small business set-aside contract.
In December 2020, DOE awarded the incumbent a new five-year, $160-million contract to provide the former gaseous diffusion plant site with services ranging from road maintenance to record keeping to security. One of the bidders Swift & Staley beat out, Virginia-based Akima Intra Data, promptly protested to the Small Business Administration (SBA). Akima argued the incumbent failed to meet size restrictions for the contract once Swift & Staley’s stake in a Portsmouth Site infrastructure services contract led by North Wind Group was taken into account.
Akima won early victories at the SBA and its hearings and appeals board, before losing a round in Federal Claims Court when Judge Dietz ordered a fresh look at the determination at the SBA level in September 2021. The most recent hearing was oral arguments before Judge Dietz on Feb. 10. There had been no new filings with the court for about a month, as of Thursday.
The existing Swift & Staley contract, which without the extension would have lapsed Thursday, is worth upwards of $280 million now.
