Hanford contractor earns final pay of $14 million and ‘very good’ rating

Hanford’s former sitewide services contractor earned a last paycheck of $13.9 million for its final eight months of work it was told Thursday.

Mission Support Alliance’s was paid under its expiring contract until Jan. 24, with incentive pay, or fee, still owed by DOE for its performance since last May. The pay is in addition to its costs, such as wages for about 1,900 workers, which were reimbursed by DOE.

The company was awarded 85% of the $16.3 million incentive pay possible. For the previous year through May 25, 2020, it earned 93% of the incentive pay possible.

Mission Support Alliance has much the same ownership as the new site services contractor, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions. MSA is owned by Leidos Integrated Technology and Centerra Group. HMIS is owned by Leidos and Centerra with Parsons Government Services as a third partner.

MSA was eligible for $8.1 million for finishing specific projects and earned $7.7 million over the last eight months of its contract, according to a DOE scorecard.

It also was eligible for the same amount of pay based on a subjective evaluation by DOE and was awarded $6.1 million.

It’s overall rating from DOE was “very good.”

“The contractor exceeded many of the significant award-fee criteria and met overall cost, schedule and technical performance requirements of the contract,” DOE said on the scorecard.

DOE found no broad areas of significant deficiency, but some opportunities for improvement, the scorecard said.

MSA received three deficiencies in a Washington state Department of Health survey of a central Hanford water treatment plant.

And it “achieved less than expected performance in contract change management and subcontract administration,” the scorecard said.

The DOE Office of Inspector General identified several issues related to subcontracting, small business reporting and subcontractor costs, the scorecard said. MSA did not fully address the concerns, the scorecard said.

MSA achievements

But DOE also found substantial achievements made by the contractor as it provided services needed by DOE and other contractors performing cleanup work to operate the 580-square-mile nuclear reservation adjoining Richland, Wash.

The site is contaminated from production of two-thirds of the nation’s plutonium for its nuclear weapons program from World War II through the Cold War.

MSA’s responsibilities included security and emergency services, land management, information technology, management of the HAMMER training center and utility and road services.

“MSA provided leadership in anticipating, identifying and resolving issues across the site in a timely manner,” the scorecard said.

It integrated workforce safety and services, which continued through the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to the new contract.

Its information technology personnel were instrumental in the success of thousands of Hanford employees who teleworked from home during the pandemic. Some days it fielded more than 1,500 calls a day.

It also reduced long-term maintenance costs and completed projects ahead of schedule.

“The contractor went beyond expectations to anticipate DOE’s future needs and demonstrated forward-thinking, proactive problem solving,” the scorecard said.

A weapons inspection noted that MSA’s firearms staff are the “benchmark” for other DOE sites, the scorecard said.

The state Department of Health recognized MSA with a Silver Certificate of Achievement for five consecutive years of high performance in removing particles from drinking water.

For information on additional accomplishments, see the scorecard at bit.ly/MSA2020scorecard.