RICHLAND, Wash. – EM Office of River Protection (ORP) Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) contractor Bechtel National Inc. improved its performance slightly in calendar year 2015 compared to the last half of 2014, earning 66 percent of its possible award fee, or $8.31 million out of a possible $12.6 million.  

   Each year, EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments — earned by completing the work called for in the contracts — to further transparency in its cleanup program.

   Bechtel’s performance evaluation and measurement plan was changed from a semiannual award fee determination to an annual one in 2015.  

   The company received an overall “good” rating in the award fee categories of project management and cost.   

   The project management category objectives include the One System integrated team; environmental/safety/health and safety conscious work environment; quality assurance program and quality of performance; and nuclear safety and technical issue resolution.

   The company was rated at 100 percent for its work in the One System objective and 97 percent in environmental/safety/health and safety conscious work environment objective.

   In the One System objective, Bechtel was recognized for leading “efforts to align U.S. Department of Energy orders and directives between Tank Farms and WTP contracts.”    

   The cost category covers one award fee objective: project performance, which includes cost, schedule, and efficiencies. Bechtel received a 75-percent award in this objective.

   Bechtel was recognized for its high productivity in the High-Level Waste Facility, “with 22 total concrete placements, exceeding (the) goal of 20,” among other areas.  

   The company was also recognized for initiating an independent expert review team that assessed all managed improvement plan initiatives. The team concluded that the “health of its program is improving.”

   View Bechtel’s full scorecard here.