A trio of contractors enjoyed significant fees in their latest performance scorecards from the Department of Energy.
The AECOM-led URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) earned 96 percent of its potential fee from April 1 through Sept. 30 of this year for its remediation at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
AECOM-led Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) got 93 percent of its potential fee for work including managing 177 underground tanks holding 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state for fiscal 2018 — Oct. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2018.
Finally, Centerra-SRS earned 94 percent of its potential fee for the second half of the budget year fo protecting DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration facilities at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
The Energy Department awarded UCOR roughly $10.7 million of a potential $11 million during the six-month review period. It earned 100 percent of its objective performance-based incentives and 89 percent of its subjective fee.
On the subjective scoring, the Energy Department rated UCOR with “high confidence,” and 100 percent of fee, for cost and schedule. It was “excellent” in two of the four other categories — project management and business systems, and regulatory and stakeholder activity. It was “very good” on total project management and “good” on worker safety/quality management. Its total subjective fee was almost $3.9 million.
The contractor earned more than $6.3 million in its objective criteria performance.
The vendor’s tasks for the second half of fiscal 2018 “have significantly increased in the types, number, and complexity of field work being performed,” but its work and safety records remain strong, the Energy Department said. It credited UCOR for helping to prepare construction of the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at Oak Ridge.
“We accomplished a number of important milestones in our cleanup mission on the Oak Ridge Reservation,” UCOR spokesman Mike Butler said by email. “These include an innovative approach to preparing for D&D at Building K-633 at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), progressing with site preparation at the Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12 and investigating the feasibility of in-situ decommissioning of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment.”
The Energy Department noted UCOR has gone 42 months without receiving a notice of violation from an outside regulatory agency, and 81 months without a reportable environmental spill.
It was another good score for UCOR, which took home $6.24 million, or 92 percent of a potential $6.8 million for the period from Oct. 1, 2017, through March 31, 2018.
The company is in the final option period for a $2.7 billion contract signed in 2007, which will take it through July 2020. Its duties include decommissioning and demolition of facilities, plus soil and groundwater remediation within ETTP. The 2,200-acre complex was used for uranium enrichment from the 1940s until the 1980s.
Meanwhile, at the Hanford Office of River Protection, WRPS earned almost $48 million of an available $51 million for its tank management work during the 2018 fiscal year. It got $12.8 million (83 percent) of a potential $15.4 million in subjective fee. It also earned $35.1 million (98 percent) of a potential $35.9 million in objective performance-based incentives.
Out of 11 subjective categories, WRPS earned two “excellent” ratings for the nuclear safety and safety program implementation categories. It also got seven “very good” and two “good” marks. It has gone roughly 600 days without a lost time accident, the Energy Department said.
The agency also praised WRPS’ work toward closure of the C tank farm during the period.
On the downside, the Energy Department said WRPS needs improvement in understanding and preventing primary tank and secondary tank liner corrosion.
Overall, however, the recent scorecard is better than the 89 percent fee WPRS received for its fiscal 2017 performance. The contractor earned $11.89 million of the available $13.35 million for the budget year ended Sept. 30, 2017.
AECOM and Atkins comprise WRPS, with Orano, the former AREVA, as primary subcontractor.
Earlier this year, WRPS received a one-year extension from DOE to its expiring 10-year, $6.1 billion contract. The extension, valued at about $629 million, keeps WRPS on the job through September 2019.
Rounding out the series of recent scorecards, a Centerra Group subsidiary earned almost $3 million of an available $3.2 million for the second half of fiscal 2018. The contractor provides physical protection for Savannah River.
“During this performance rating period, Centerra-SRS effectively and safely conducted three Force-on-Force exercises, a Crisis Negotiator Team exercise, and supported and participated in 31 Emergency Management Drills,” DOE said. These exercises involved more than 325 people and resulted in zero injuries.
The security contractor carried out 43,148 vehicle inspections at exit/entry points at Savannah River. Centerra also completed 244 incident reports. It discovered 70 prohibited items from its searches of people and automobiles. The Centerra-SRS police force issued 415 traffic citations and 602 warning tickets, investigated 72 automobile accidents, and responded to 2,106 calls for service.
The contractor’s helicopter team was credited with quick discovery of a fire on the complex.
Earlier this year, Centerra got an award fee of $3.16 million, about 95 percent, for the first half of fiscal 2018.
The company’s decade-long, $1 billion contract expires in September 2019. The Energy Department has indicated a request for proposals for a new contract could go out in January. Centerra has indicated it will compete for the new contract.
