Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
3/20/2015
Portsmouth site facility support services contractor Wastren-EnergX Mission Support, LLC, earned 93 percent of its available Fiscal Year 2014 fee, or $1.44 million out of $1.56 million available, according to fee information the Department of Energy released this week. Overall, the contractor received an “excellent” rating from DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, an improvement over FY’13’s “very good” rating. In the latest determination, dated March 13, Wastren-EnergX received “excellent” ratings in four out of the five categories: quality and effectiveness of maintenance services, security programs, cost performance, and quality and timeliness of deliverables. In the mission support services category it received a “very good” rating.
The Department listed numerous strengths the contractor displayed during the period. That includes dispositioning more than 5,000 documents, training of more than 2,500 students, “very good responsiveness” for site safety needs, and on time submittal of all 194 deliverables, among other achievements. DOE also hailed its safety record. Wastren-EnergX “continued to sustain excellent safety performance, achieving 1,659 days without a lost work day case, zero Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Total Recordable Case rate, Zero OSHA Day Away Restricted or Transferred, and zero first aids cases; and received the DOE Voluntary Protection Program ‘Legacy of Stars’ Award,” according to the award fee letter.
DOE also noted what it described as several “minor” areas for improvement. Those include a need to “develop initiatives to reduce facility support services costs,” as well as “better substantiation and documentation of specific cost savings,” among other issues in the award fee letter. Additionally, the contractor should “improve site communication of changing security requirements,” and “effect additional site-wide security cost reductions.”
DOE to Extend Contract by Up to Six Months
DOE also announced this week plans to extend Wastren-EnergX’s current contract by up to six months, from July 26 to Jan. 25, 2016, while the procurement for the follow-on Portsmouth infrastructure support services contract is underway. “An attempt to contract with another entity to perform infrastructure support services, on a temporary, short term basis while the on-going procurement is being completed is impracticable and would likely adversely affect the Department of Energy’s mission,” a DOE notice states. “Transitioning to a new contractor for the six (6) month period of performance needed to complete the on-going procurement and transition to the new contractor would be unnecessarily disruptive because a second transition would be required upon the award of the new competitive contract.” Bids for the new Portsmouth infrastructure support services contract were due March 12.
