RICHLAND, Wash. - EM’s Office of River Protection awarded Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP ) contractor Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) approximately $5.8 million, about 74% of the available fee for work performed during the 2021 calendar year.
EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments - earned by completing the work called for in their contracts - to further transparency in its cleanup program.
According to the BNI award fee determination scorecard, the contractor received an “excellent" rating for its design work and meeting most of its milestones associated with the High-Level Waste Facility; a “very good" rating in Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Program integration and working with other contractors to resolve issues; and a “good" rating for the remaining four performance areas, including project performance, and environmental, safety, health, and quality assurance.
BNI successfully transitioned from the construction and startup phases to commissioning of the WTP, according to the scorecard. This included completion of all WTP construction and startup testing, as well as the loss of offsite power test and qualification of the commissioning technicians to operate the plant.
Another achievement noted in the scorecard was BNI’s work to improve safety and quality assurance, including the following:
* Implementing and maintaining an effective quality assurance program as the project transitioned from construction through startup to commissioning;
* Continuing to strengthen the overall quality culture and make appropriate revisions to program requirements to support needs during implementation; and
* Completing two software quality assurance reviews to validate that quality assurance requirements continue to be met.
Opportunities for improvement, according to the scorecard, include the need to continue emphasis on safely achieving forecasted schedule objectives for activities and deliverables, and to anticipate changes in maintenance and staffing requirements during the WTP commissioning phase.
View the BNI fee determination scorecard here.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
