Three Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee say the U.S. Energy Department should hold off on issuing a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, to a vendor being sued by the United States under the False Claims Act.
In a Sept. 27 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said “it has come to our attention” that the agency is preparing to issue the award.
The letter does not identify the specific contract or the company at issue. However, it suggests the award would go to a current contractor at Hanford – citing February litigation filed by the Justice Department under the False Claim Act and Anti-Kickback Act, which would point to the case brought against Mission Support Alliance (MSA) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington. The alleged infractions, described in a Justice Department release as “fraud, corruption and self-dealing,” occurred while Lockheed Martin both headed MSA and also owned a subsidiary that provided information technology services as a subcontractor to the vendor.
The Democrats’ letter says Congress was informed recently the same vendor would receive the new 10-year support services contract at Hanford: “While we understand the Department has withdrawn the notification explaining that it was made prematurely and in error, we are disturbed by the signal it sends.” The senators asked Perry to provide the criteria used to evaluate proposals, the status of the government’s case against the contractor, whether that weighed in the award decision, and how DOE can ensure a “level playing field” in its procurements.
“It is time to redouble our efforts to find better partners who are committed to ethical, efficient, and effective operations” at the Department of Energy, the senators added.
Mission Support Alliance, now comprised of Leidos and Centerra, currently holds the Hanford Site support services contract valued at $4.3 billion. The contractor in May received a six-month extension that will las through late November. Leidos Chairman and CEO Roger Krone said in late July he expected DOE could issue the follow-on award, the Hanford Mission Essential Services Contract, “within a couple of weeks.”
The Energy Department did not comment by deadline Wednesday on the status of the next contract, which would cover operations including infrastructure and sitewide services, such as emergency response and training, land management, and road maintenance.
