LEXINGTON, Ky. - EM gave its decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) contractor at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio a “good" evaluation and awarded $24.3 million, or 74 percent, of the fee available for its performance from March 2016 through September 2017.
The evaluation determines the portion of contractor fee to be paid based on performance. EM’s cost-plus-award-fee contracts are designed to provide incentive for excellence. In determining the awards, EM considers overall performance along with completion of specific EM mission objectives and agreed-upon incentives. The results are summarized on a scorecard, and metrics are set in accordance with a performance evaluation and measurement plan.
According to EM's evaluation, the quality and effectiveness of Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth’s (FBP) work during the period was “good" in the areas of project management and environmental safety, health and quality. FBP met overall cost, schedule, and technical performance requirements, and exceeded some significant award fee criteria.
The contractor met most of its performance-based incentives, including progress toward deactivation of two of the site’s three large uranium-enrichment process buildings. FBP also completed all scheduled nuclear operations including uranium transfers, and finished all scheduled construction on the On-Site Waste Disposal Facility. These efforts resulted in FBP earning 75 percent of performance-based incentive fees.
“FBP made good progress during this period despite a number of challenges," EM Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) Manager Robert Edwards said.
EM noted improved maintenance and infrastructure project performance, and said FBP’s waste shipping and disposal enterprises performed “very well." Contract administration was another area of strength, while the overall quality and effectiveness of FBP's environmental, safety and health, and regulatory activities were deemed “satisfactory." EM noted that FBP provided valuable support in finalizing two environmental records of decision for the project and excelled in nuclear safety and material accountability, radiological safety, and stakeholder outreach.
PPPO oversees cleanup at EM’s Portsmouth and Paducah sites. The Portsmouth Site was constructed by the Atomic Energy Commission in the early 1950s for the purpose of enriching uranium for national defense purposes, and it later provided enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power fuel. The EM cleanup at the site commenced in 1989, and the gaseous diffusion plant ceased enrichment operations in 2001. FBP was initially awarded the D&D contract in March 2011.
Read FBP’s fee determination scorecard here.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
