Hanford contractor earns $18.8 million in incentive pay

Mission Support Alliance has earned $18.8 million in incentive pay by the Department of Energy for providing sitewide services at Hanford in fiscal 2015, DOE announced Monday.

It earned 89 percent of the $21 million in incentive pay possible for the fiscal year that ended September 2015. That was up from 87 percent for the previous year.

“Overall, I am pleased with the progress attained this past fiscal year,” said Stacy Charboneau, manager of the DOE Richland Operations Office, in a letter to the contractor.

For meeting DOE targets for completed work, Mission Support Alliance earned 94 percent of pay available, or almost $13.9 million, and a rating of “excellent.”

It was rated “very good” in subjective categories, earning 78 percent of the pay available, or $4.9 million.

The only negatives listed in a scorecard released by DOE were costs that DOE said were inappropriately charged to the federal government. The current payment will not be released until the issue is resolved.

Last week an Office of Investigator General audit report revealed that DOE had accused Mission Support Alliance of charging $63.5 million in profit from 2010-14 for a subcontractor with which it shared ownership ties. Lockheed Martin is a principal owner of Mission Support Alliance, and Mission Support Alliance subcontracted information technologies to Lockheed Martin Services.

Mission Support Alliance was already receiving profit payments under its contract. The profit payments to Lockheed Martin Services amounted to double payments, according to DOE.

The scorecard also listed a second dispute over unallowable costs. Mission Support Alliance’s purchase of Homeland Protector Insurance did not comply with the terms of its contract. DOE notified Mission Support Alliance in August that it could not claim $1.3 million in costs for the first five years of its contract.

The contractor purchased the insurance to meet requirements of the Department of Homeland Security for anti-terrorism activity at Hanford. DOE did not release further information on why the insurance was not an allowed cost.

“These unallowable charges to DOE are significant, and DOE is seeking recovery and resolving through appropriate channels,” the scorecard said. “Currently, these two issues are in dispute and MSA has appealed to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals.”

The scorecard mostly had praise for Mission Support Alliance.

It did an outstanding job in its maintenance management program, meeting all 45 goals. It continued to consolidate information technology data centers at Hanford, which improved cybersecurity and reduced maintenance.

It completed a draft land planning document ahead of schedule and under budget for the area along the Columbia River, where much of the environmental cleanup has been completed.

The contractor worked with DOE to review sitewide spending forecasts, including planning for appropriate carryover funds when Congress failed to pass a detailed budget. It also excelled in meeting small business subcontracting goals, especially in specialized categories like women-owned businesses.

The HAMMER training center it manages worked quickly to identify a suspected problem in new safety masks ordered for the Hanford tank farms. It confirmed that the harnesses on the masks were not made to specifications, allowing work to resume at the tank farms, according to the scorecard.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Hanford contractor earns $18.8 million in incentive pay."