Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
1/23/2015
Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC, earned $10.5 million in Fiscal Year 2014 award fee, or about 83 percent of its total available award fee, according to information the Department of Energy released late this week. The contractor earned an overall grade of “very good” for its performance over the course of FY’14. “WRPS exceeded many of the significant award fee criteria and has met overall cost, schedule and technical performance requirements of the contract in the aggregate,” DOE Office of River Protection Manager Kevin Smith wrote in a Dec. 19 award fee determination letter. It adds: “WRPS exhibited consistent leadership in achieving Voluntary Protection Program star status, improving one system alignment, and resolution of the deep sludge gas release event phenomenon. These achievements were countered, however, by challenges with retrieval equipment failures and mitigating actions to address vapor impacts within the Tank Farm.”
WRPS earned an “excellent” rating in management of the single-shell and double-shell tank system, as well as for tank farm closure activities. It earned a “very good” rating in conduct of operations, cost performance, quality assurance program, nuclear safety, environmental regulatory management and safety program implementation. It earned a “good” rating in tank farm retrieval activities. Notably, Hanford’s tank farm gained attention in FY’14 when tank vapors caused a number of WRPS workers to seek medical attention.
Contractor Earns Bulk of Fee Tied to PBIs
The contractor also earned $11.4 million available for work tied to its performance-based incentives out of a maximum of $12.5 million available. The reduction was tied to failing to meet a consent decree commitment to complete retrieval of single-shell Tank C-111, which was related to equipment issues. In FY’13 WRPS earned about 81 percent of its $8 million in available award fee and all of the $12.6 million tied to PBIs.
WRPS ‘Pleased’ With DOE Recognition
WRPS President and Project Manager Dave Olson said this week that he was “pleased” with the DOE evaluation. “We’re pleased with DOE’s recognition of our team’s overall strong FY-14 performance in the challenging and complex process of Hanford tank waste cleanup,” he said in a statement. “Progress continued as retrieval was completed in four waste tanks and approximately 800,000 gallons of additional double-shell tank space was created through a waste minimization campaign in the 242-A Evaporator. Achieving Star status in DOE’s Voluntary Protection safety program was a highlight, and we’re continuing our integration with Waste Treatment Plant leadership. Achievements aside, we recognize opportunities for improvement exist, and we are actively addressing tank vapors issues and equipment reliability. We will continue to challenge ourselves to better our performance this year.”
