GAO upholds B&W protest of NNSA contract

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has sustained a protest filed by Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W; Charlotte, NC) against the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) award of a five-year contract for the management and operations (M&O) of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and DOE’s Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, to a team led by Bechtel Corp. (San Francisco, CA). “B&W and our Nuclear Production Partners team believe the GAO’s decision supports our concerns about the initial award of this contract,” said E. James Ferland, president and CEO of B&W. “While we await a final decision on the path forward from NNSA, B&W remains focused on operating both sites safely and securely.” The Nuclear Production Partners team includes URS, Northrop Grumman, and Honeywell.