OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration announced it is once again searching for a contractor to oversee the management of the Y-12 National Security Complex after canceling a recently-awarded contract over objections brought up during the transition process.
Consolidated Nuclear Security will continue to oversee the management and operations of the Y-12 and Pantex plants in the interim after the NNSA's $10 billion contract with NPOne fell through. The NNSA said CNS' contract will be extended as needed to allow time for new competitions.
According to the NNSA, the Government Accountability Office received protests over the new contract last December due to alleged conflicts of interest and proprieties. The NNSA began reviewing the claims, and said it was necessary to cancel the contract with NPOne to "safeguard the integrity of the procurement process."
The NNSA said it also determined during the review it would be best to split up management of the Y-12 and Pantex sites into two separate contracts, saying the workload at the nuclear production facilities has been accelerating alongside the "challenging geopolitical environment" with Russia and China.
“Just as important, this represents an opportunity to assess our plans for management and operation of these critical facilities. We face rapidly accelerating mission requirements and a changing global strategic environment in which China’s nuclear expansion and Russia’s irresponsible behavior makes it more important than ever for NNSA to deliver," said Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby. "The steps we are taking today are tailored to ensure that each facility gets the management time and attention required to deliver on each site’s critically important but significantly different work.”