The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in December hosted a preproposal conference for interested bidders for the protective force services contract at the Nevada National Security Site.
Contract incumbent Centerra Group was among several companies that sent representatives to the meeting at the NNSA’s Nevada Field Office and site visit on Dec. 12 and 13. The others participants were ADC, Crimeless Security, DFW Security Protective Force, and SOC LLC.
The NNSA released its request for proposals for protective force services at the site in early December, for a contract that would feature a one-year base period, from June 1, 2017, to May 31, 2018, followed by four single-year option periods through the end of May 2022. The agency has extended its deadline for proposal submissions until 4 p.m. Mountain time on Jan. 18, 2017.
Centerra Group’s current security contract at the site is worth $234 million since December 2011. The NNSA said in November it would award the company a six-month contract extension by the end of 2016.
The selected contractor would provide security at the NNSA’s Nevada National Security Site; the Remote Sensing Laboratory at Nellis Air Force Base; and the North Las Vegas Complex, with forces authorized at 180 security police officers and 24 duty officers.
The contract is expected to be a performance-based fixed-price/time and materials hybrid with a total five-year term worth roughly $270 million. The NNSA said it expects to issue a contract by the second quarter of 2017.
The Nevada National Security Site spans over 1,375 square miles and supports the agency’s stockpile stewardship, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism operations, among others. Current operations at the site include subcritical nuclear experiments and high-explosive test detonations.
The Defense Department last week awarded Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. two contract modifications for work in support of the Trident II (D5) missile, a submarine-launched ballistic missile deployed on the United States’ Ohio-class vessels and the United Kingdom’s Vanguard-class submarines.
John Daniels, spokesman for the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, said by phone that the modifications do not involve additional work beyond the scope of the base contract; they are instead meant as incremental awards to the contractor that correspond with incremental funding the program receives from Congress under a continuing resolution.
The Pentagon on Dec. 27 announced a $17 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to exercise an option for Trident II (D5) missile deployed systems support. The modification falls under a $27.5 million contract awarded last July for long-lead material, labor, planning, and scheduling in support of the Trident II missile production schedule. The work has an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2017. DOD said fiscal 2017 Navy weapons procurement funds are being obligated on this award.
The second contract worth $8.8 million is a cost-plus-incentive-fee modification under a previously awarded contract for D5 missile production, field processing, support equipment development and production, and engineering, technical, and operational support services. This work has an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2021.
Lockheed’s Space Systems Co. developed and produced the missile and is now leading the Navy’s D5 life-extension program work, which will extend the weapon’s life to 2040. The missiles can carry W76 or W88 multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles.
The contractor managing construction of the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina intends to issue a solicitation for a fixed-price subcontract to install HVAC ductwork and supports for the MOX project.
CB&I AREVA MOX Services said in a Dec. 28 presolicitation notice that the contract will include labor, construction supervision, tools, equipment, and consumable materials, and that potential bidders must prequalify through a questionnaire and nondisclosure form. Interested bidders should contact William O’Neill at 803-819-5697 or wjo’neill@moxproject.com for more information on the upcoming solicitation.
The subcontract will involve the installation of ductwork, supports, and in-line devices in ductwork systems in rooms at the MOX Fuel Fabrication Building, the manufacturing area that includes the MOX Processing Area, the Aqueous Polishing Area, and the shipping and receiving area, according to the draft statement of work.
The building has over 600 rooms and roughly 1.3 million pounds of duct. Roughly 400,000 pounds have been installed, the document said. CB&I AREVA MOX Services will supply all permanent equipment and consumable materials, such as supports, air flow monitors, HVAC duct, and welding ventilation, and will procure major plant equipment to be installed by other subcontractors, including fans, air filtration units, and self-contained air conditioning units.
The chosen subcontractor will provide temporary facilities, materials, tools, and equipment, such as personal protective equipment and any vehicles required, the document said.
In 2014, the construction contractor reported to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that faulty welds led to cracks in HVAC filter housings supplied for installation at the MOX facility. The company said none of the faulty components were installed and that it would work with the vendor to ensure all welds meet quality standards.
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, Calif., should enhance its communications and information management processes to enhance its emergency management program, the Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) found in a recently released report.
The EA assessed the LLNL program with test scenarios for personnel of LLNL managing contractor Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS). One scenario involved a tritium release simulation, while another involved transuranic waste release from a storage area.
The test results showed a unified command between the Alameda County Fire Department – which provides response to fire incidents on LLNL property – and LLNS protective forces and timely protective actions, as well as timely DOE and offsite agency notifications by LLNS’ emergency operations center, the report said. It noted, however, some “inadequate communications and information management that degraded situational awareness.”
For instance, emergency operations center staff did not provide recommendations to incident commanders on safe locations or personal protective equipment for the tritium facility event, even though responders were in an area with projected exposures that exceeded protective action criteria, the report said. Staff also inappropriately calculated offsite shelter-in-place distances and some text messages sent to onsite personnel included confusing instructions, it said.
EA therefore concluded that although LLNL’s emergency management procedures were adequate, some weaknesses remained – specifically, “LLNS has not provided continuous, effective, and accurate communications among response components.”
The assessment recommended LLNS and NNSA’s Livermore field office pay additional attention to improving the emergency management program at the site. Additionally, “EA should follow-up on the LLNS evaluation, issues tracking, and corrective actions programs, as well as LFO oversight,” it said.
The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina should improve its tritium enterprise training program and address its maintenance backlog, EA found in another recently released report.
The EA assessment of SRS’ tritium facility safety system management found that site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ site-wide technical training program does not meet the requirements of the DOE order on personnel selection, training, qualification, and certification requirements for nuclear facilities.
In particular, the training program for Savannah River Tritium Enterprise (SRTE) mechanics “does not include systems training and related industry and facility-specific experience,” as required by the DOE order, the report said. SRNS’ training program, it concluded, does not offer a systematic approach to training and lacks the analyses necessary to identify training needs based on job function.
The assessment also identified a “significant” backlog in preventive maintenance and routine deferrals of planned work. For instance, it found that for fiscal 2016, as of the end of August, more than 850 preventive maintenance projects for SRTE not only exceeded their due dates, but also the grace period that followed. It also said the corrective maintenance backlog had steadily increased since October 2012. The Office of Enterprise Assessments further concluded that SRTE’s self-assessments were “shallow, involved minimal effort, and lacked sufficient rigor.”
“We are taking steps to address the Finding, which involved the sitewide technical training program, as well as addressing the issues related to maintenance, none of which the EA judged to be severe enough to require a Finding,” SRNS spokeswoman Angie French said by email. “NNSA is tracking the corrective actions as we complete them to ensure that they satisfy the need.”
French also said the EA “noted two of our practices that they deemed ‘worthy of emulation’ across the DOE complex, along with several other positive attributes.”
The good practices the report identified at the site include NNSA field office technical representatives’ knowledge of facility and safety-related systems, and the field office’s comprehensive oversight efforts. It also identified as a best practice workers’ effective integration of human performance error reduction tools into work performance, such as procedure placekeeping and peer checks.
NNSA’s Office of Chief Information Officer is extending for up to six months its contract with Metrica Team Venture for information technology support services.
A Dec. 23 notice said the agency will modify the San Antonio, Texas, company’s task order for additional IT and cybersecurity services in a one-month base period, three one-month option periods, and one two-month option period. The total extension would end June 30, 2017, and would add $8 million to the current ceiling price of $130 million.
Metrica Team Venture provides IT technical and advisory services to the NNSA’s chief information officer at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in Germantown, Md. The company also conducts site assessment visits to review network security plans, network configuration, risk analysis, and security practices, the notice said.
The NNSA awarded the initial five-year task order in April 2010. Since April 2015, the task order has been extended several times, most recently with a bridge contract awarded in June 2016 and ending on the last day of the year.
The bridge was intended to give NNSA time to evaluate and award a follow-on task order following a bid protest in January. “The evaluation and selection process is not anticipated to last for an additional six months, but extra time is being built in as option periods to account for unanticipated delays that may arise,” the notice said.
The NNSA will also extend for up to six months a contract with TechSource Inc., for technical, liaison, and analytical support services for the agency’s Office of Systems Engineering and Integration.
A Dec. 30 notice said the NNSA would extend the contract for an initial three months, ending March 17, 2017, with the option to exercise the remaining three months later. The extension falls under a blanket purchase agreement with the NNSA for technical, engineering, and programmatic support.
Work will include developing and updating the integrated master schedules for specific programs, reflecting the milestones from NNSA site management and operating contractors’ schedules. It also includes the development of training, schedule and cost analysis, and performance reports, according to the notice.
The three-month extension is valued at $460,637.83. The total value of the task order, not including the extension, is $6.1 million, the NNSA said.
TechSource also offers technical support to other NNSA offices, including nuclear weapons policy advisory services, nuclear science and engineering, and infrastructure and facilities management.
