Mission Support Alliance: Supporting Hanford cleanup

Hanford’s evolution over the past 70 years has become a legacy for our community and our nation. MSA is proud to serve the Department of Energy (DOE) and this legacy as we assist in the preservation of its history while we enable cleanup, help reduce the 586-square-mile footprint and support post-cleanup land use.

MSA’s role is fundamental and distinct. Being the site integrator for Hanford is similar to the services we all depend on from a city government — reliable access to power, water, safe roads and emergency response crews. Without these basic needs — in any industry — everything shuts down.

While we manage and modernize these services for Hanford’s aging infrastructure, MSA does much more. Through collaboration with cleanup contractors and partnership with DOE, we continue to support our community.

Key 2015 accomplishments include:

▪ Supporting DOE as they signed over 1,641 acres of Hanford land to the Hanford Community Reuse Organization, supporting the economic prosperity of our community.

▪ Exceeding all socioeconomic and small-business goals with $96 million in small-business contracts, an increase of $14 million from 2014.

▪ Safely completing re-entry into five cocooned reactors for periodic inspections — a first-of-its-kind for DOE — and a demonstration of our mutual commitment to protect the environment.

▪ Facilitating the first of many B Reactor events with the designation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park as the Department of Energy opened the doors to more than 250 area fourth-graders.

▪ Providing additional fire crews to respond to wildfires on site and support local and adjacent counties to protect the welfare of citizens, while also proactively responding to wildfires on site.

While these accomplishments benefit the Tri-Cities, the management and execution of MSA’s scope also benefit taxpayer investments:

▪ Realizing an additional $78 million in cost savings and avoidance for DOE, for a total accumulation of over $300 million since contract inception

▪ Achieving the best safety record since contract inception with a 50 percent reduction in injury rates from 2014 and reaching 1.2 million hours worked without a lost-time injury.

▪ Reducing the footprint and consolidating resources such as the HPMC data center that also mitigates cybersecurity threats and protects the private data of the Hanford work force.

▪ Automating our service delivery model with a 115 percent increase in service requests since 2010 as we support cleanup contractor’s need while averaging 96 percent satisfaction ratings through fiscal 2015.

MSA employees go above and beyond to help create a stronger and more vibrant Tri-Cities outside of Hanford. In 2015, our work force made a difference in many ways. Employees served as Junior Achievement classroom consultants and led the third-largest and third-highest fundraising team in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. Our United Way campaign saw an increase in giving of 31 percent, with a 61 percent increase in the number of employees donating.

As we look toward 2016, MSA will continue to demonstrate our commitment to a brighter future, for the Hanford Site and our community. We will remain focused on providing the necessary services to DOE and other Hanford contractors that allow for continued safe and effective cleanup operations, and the restoration of Hanford lands for future, controlled access and use.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 10:33 PM with the headline "Mission Support Alliance: Supporting Hanford cleanup."