3 Hanford contractors awarded $68M in incentive pay. Here are their ratings

The Department of Energy has awarded $68 million in incentive pay to three contractors for their work at the Hanford nuclear reservation site in fiscal 2022.

The contractors earned up to 92% of the maximum incentive pay available to each for the year’s work.

Washington River Protection Solutions, which has held the Hanford site’s tank farm contract since 2008, earned 87% of its available incentive pay, or fee, as it is called by DOE.

The company, which is owned by Amentum and Atkins, will be awarded nearly $46 million for its work at Hanford in fiscal 2022.

It’s rating is down from the previous fiscal year, when it earned 94% of the pay available.

But two newer contractors showed improvement, according to DOE.

Hanford Mission Integration Solutions earned nearly 90% of its available pay, up from 87% in its past award which was for its initial eight months at Hanford. It will be awarded $20 million for its year’s work.

Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration earned 92% of pay available, up from 75% in its past award for its first four months at the nuclear reservation. It will receive just under $2.5 million for its year’s work.

Rather than releasing the complete annual reviews for the three contractors, DOE in recent years has made public a scorecard that lists the fee earned and a brief recap of work that was done well and also areas needing improvement.

Not included in the fee awards announced Tuesday was Bechtel National, the DOE contractor building and starting up the Hanford vitrification plant. It is on a calendar year, rather than a fiscal year, schedule.

Central Plateau Cleanup Co., which is responsible for most Hanford cleanup other than underground waste tanks, also did not receive a fee award. It has a new type of contract with incentive fee awarded for completing specific work rather than on an annual basis.

The Hanford site adjacent to Richland in Eastern Washington was used from World War II through the Cold War to produce about two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program.

DOE contracts out most of the work at the site. Taxpayers spend about $2.5 billion a year on environmental cleanup of radioactive and other hazardous chemical waste and contamination at the site.

Washington River Protection Solutions

Washington River Protection Solutions, the Hanford tank farm contractor, is responsible for 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in underground tanks, some of them prone to leaking.

It also is preparing to feed pretreated waste to the nearby vitrification plant to be turned into a stable glass form for disposal as soon as the end of next year.

DOE praised it for starting pretreatment of tank waste. It processed 380,000 gallons of waste that will be ready for vitrification when the plant starts operating.

The contractor also made progress on other work, including a project to prevent rain and snow melt from carrying contamination deeper underground at the group of underground tanks called the U Tank Farm.

But the contractor needs to more rigor in its event investigation process, which could improve work planning and lead to better performance, DOE said.

DOE also called for better quality assurance oversight in purchasing and better integration of design, purchasing and construction to increase the pace of waste treatment.

Despite the tank farm contractor’s lower grade this year, the contractor president had positive words on performance.

Wes Bryan told employees that progress at the tank farms was “an excellent demonstration of our values and expectations of teamwork and perseverance that allowed us to safely meet our cost, schedule and project commitments.”

The contractor received a rating of “very good” in DOE’s subjective review and met 96% of specific goals set by DOE.

Hanford Mission Integration Solutions

Hanford Mission Integration Solutions is owned by Leidos Integrated Technology, Centerra Group and Parsons Government Services and provides services across the site. Services include information technology, firefighting, security, utilities, road maintenance, management of the HAMMER training center and preservation of cultural artifacts.

DOE praised it for integrating and coordinating services across the Hanford site.

Its strong execution of site integration allowed efficient and effect decisions to be made, DOE said.

“Our success and progress this past year are certainly something we can be proud of,” said contractor President Bob Wilkinson and Chief Operations Officer Amy Basche in a message to employees.

Areas needing improvement include financial management controls and contract administration management, according to DOE.

Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration

The contractor for the 222-S Laboratory, Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration, was praised by DOE for its work to analyze highly radioactive samples.

It installed a new lab information management system and was recognized by other Hanford contractors for lab performance improvements.

DOE said it needed to work on its pace of planning facility improvements and capabilities and to work on quality.

DOE rated the contractor ”very good” in its subjective review and said it completed 100% of specific goals set by DOE.

The contractor was formed by two small businesses, Navarro Research and Engineering and Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International.

This story was originally published December 20, 2022 at 6:49 PM.