March 17, 2014

WITH Y-12/PX DEBRIEFS LOOMING, B&W MUM ON PROTEST PLANS

By ExchangeMonitor

A Babcock & Wilcox-led team will be among three bidders in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12/Pantex procurement that will receive debriefings from the agency on Friday, and B&W President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Ferland gave little away about the company’s thinking in a conference call with investors yesterday. “So the open item in the next couple of weeks is whether we think there’s any logic or any reason to protest,” Ferland said. “We just don’t know that today.” B&W has until Nov. 25 to protest the NNSA’s award to the Government Accountability Office, but if it wants to stop transition to Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security, it must protest by Nov. 20. B&W is currently the lead contractor at Y-12 and Pantex, and revenue from those contracts make up a large portion of the company’s Technical Services Group. It teamed with URS, Northrop Grumman and Honeywell for the combined contract. “Obviously, we are disappointed by this decision because we continue to believe we have assembled the best team and proposed the strongest solution for the management and operation of these two critical facilities,” Ferland said. “We will participate in the debriefing process with NNSA within the next week to better understand the rationale and the details behind this position. After the debriefing, we and our partners will evaluate the alternatives and determine what our next steps will be.”

Ferland also said B&W was expecting a Request for Proposals on the Sandia National Laboratories procurement in late 2014 or 2015. The NNSA has been quiet about its plans on Sandia since releasing a Request for Information seeking input about possibly combining lab management with other weapons complex work more than a year ago. “We originally had hoped we might see an RFP for that this year, if not beginning of next year,” Ferland said. “… We continue to work with potential partners and develop that opportunity, but it’s not happening right now.” He said B&W had turned its attention to work in Canada—management and operation of Canada’s Chalk River nuclear laboratories—as well as in the United Kingdom, though the company notably passed on bidding for management of the UK’s Magnox nuclear power stations. “We don’t have a presence in the UK today from, actually, a doing work perspective,” Ferland said. “But we think there’s some upside opportunities in the UK, and we’re working pretty hard to chase that work.”

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