Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
9/5/2014
Later this month, the Army Corps of Engineers will turn over the High Explosives Pressing Facility to Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, kicking off an extensive testing and readiness period that is expected to last another two years. But there is hope, among both the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Corps, that this won’t be the last partnership between the two government agencies. “The partnership with the [Corps] has been very successful on this project and similar acquisition/execution strategies will certainly be considered in the future,” NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt told NS&D Monitor.
The Corps began managing the project in a partnership with the NNSA in 2010, and it awarded a $65 million contract to Kiewit Building Group to construct the 45,000-square foot facility that will give Pantex the ability to meet the demands of future and ongoing life extension programs and alleviate a pressed high explosive crunch facing the site because of the plant’s aging HE facilities. Corps officials say construction of the facility is expected to cost $66.97 million, just slightly over its $65 million budget, with some technical issues and weather delays to blame for slowing the project at times. But NNSA and Corps officials view the project as a major success for an agency trying hard to repair its spotty project management record.
NNSA, Corps Have Had Discussions on Future Projects, But Nothing ‘Solidified’
Dan Johnson, the area engineer and administrative contracting officer in the Corps’ Tulsa Office, confirmed that there had been discussions between the two agencies about future projects but said nothing had been “solidified” yet. “At Pantex and Corps-wide we’re having discussions ongoing with NNSA leadership about future work with them,” he said. “We’re still at the very beginning stages of developing those relationships and expectations of what we can do.”
Johnson oversaw the High Explosives Pressing Facility project for the Corps, and he said he hoped there would be a future role for the Corps with NNSA. “We hope so because we were asked to come back in and help with the facility and to try to bring our construction management expertise and our acquisition tools to try to get better cost and better enforcement time-wise for contractors on their projects,” Johnson said. “We worked closely with NNSA to try to identify what issues caused time and cost growth at their facilities. We’ve tried to mitigate those risks as much as possible and get the right contractor for the right work. We think we bring that value for NNSA. We’ve learned a lot with HEPF which we will definitely apply on any future work.”
He said he believed the Corps could even oversee work on some nuclear projects. “We don’t rule out anything on our side,” he said. “Nuclear, we feel we could do that, but we have to look at the project to make sure we have the expertise we can assist with. If it’s in high, high security areas those are better handled by cost reimbursement contracts with their M&O contractors. It just depends.”
Project Not Without Complications
Johnson is hopeful the High Explosives Pressing Facility is a good representation of the work the Corps can do, even though the project was not without its complications. The facility was originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2013, but technical problems and extreme weather, including high winds, slowed the project. “We had to work though some coordination of equipment, how you tie it into the facility,” Johnson said. “Nothing earth shattering. It was bringing in a complicated piece of equipment and tying it in and getting it set up where it operates safely.”
Wyatt, the NNSA spokesman, characterized the issues faced on the project as “typical for the size and complexity of the facility.” He said, “Vendor availability, differing site conditions, and weather-related impacts have all been challenges encountered and overcome by the project team.”
Bruce Conrad, who oversaw the project for Kiewit, said the uniqueness of the facility presented some challenges. “The schedule extensions were really a reflection of the unusual character of the systems,” he said. “These are kind of one-off systems that are not everyday things for anybody. We’ve attacked that.”
Startup Slated for Sept. 2016
Kiewit is currently completing punch-list items on the project, and the facility will be turned over to CNS in the coming weeks. Wyatt said CNS has already begun pre-startup activities and is on schedule to complete startup activities before the projected baseline completion date of September 2016. He said the slight increase in construction costs would not add to the total cost of the project. The NNSA said at the project’s outset the estimated cost was $142 million but Wyatt said the projected cost is now $145 million. “The minimal construction cost growth of approximately $2M is expected to have no impact to the $145.3M Total Project Cost,” Wyatt said. “The Estimate At Completion is within the budgeted amount, and the project is expected to complete under budget and within the baseline schedule.”
Pantex’s current high explosives pressing facilities are able to produce up to 1,000 pounds of pressed high explosive or 300 hemispheres each year, but the new facility will give the plant the ability to produce up to 2,500 pounds and up to 500 hemispheres, according to NNSA planning documents. The existing facility, which was built about 20 years ago, is aging quickly, according to Pantex officials, and is not expected to be able to keep up with the demand for pressed high explosive for a series of life extension programs that will occur over the next decade.
