National Nuclear Security Administration ends Oak Ridge Y-12 contract
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National Nuclear Security Administration ends Oak Ridge Y-12 contract.
The National Nuclear Security Administration is terminating its contract with Nuclear Production One, the company it selected to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.
The agency intends to hold a new bidding process to find a company to manage the highly specialized site.
Y-12 was built as part of the Manhattan Project and the facility maintains the U.S. nuclear stockpile, secures nuclear materials and provides enriched uranium to the U.S. Navy. It spans 811 acres and supports a workforce of 6,200.
Nuclear Production One was supposed to begin managing Y-12 and its sister site, the Pantex Plant in Texas, last year during a transition period where the current contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security, would gradually step down.
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But in December, the firms Bechdel and BWTX filed complaints with the Government Accountability Office, citing conflicts of interest in the contracting process. In January, the National Nuclear Security Administration agreed to review the contract award process, and put Nuclear Production One’s contract on pause during the review process.
On Monday, the agency said terminating the contract was “appropriate to safeguard the integrity of the procurement process.”
“Fair and open competition is critical to NNSA, not just because of our responsibility for ethical conduct, ” said NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby in a press release. “But because it’s critical to delivering what the nation needs as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
The National Nuclear Security Administration also decided to split the management of Y-12 off from the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas. Previously the two had been managed under the same contract.
“The steps we are taking today are tailored to ensure that each facility gets the management time and attention required to deliver on each site’s critically important but significantly different work,” Hruby said.
Nuclear Production One was awarded a 10-year contract to manage the Pantex Plant and Y-12. It was estimated to be worth roughly $28 billion.
The National Nuclear Security Administration had awarded the contract after firing the current contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security, for safety issues that could have injured workers and released radioactive material within facilities at Y-12.
Consolidated Nuclear Security had operated Y-12 since the previous contractor, B&W, was fired after antinuclear protestors broke into Y-12 in 2012.
It is not clear when a new contractor will be selected. The search for Nuclear Production One began in November 2020 and ended a year later. The National Nuclear Security Administration has not yet opened bids on the new Y-12 contract.
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