AIKEN, S.C. – The four main Savannah River Site (SRS) contractors supporting EM recently earned at least 95% of total award fees available to them from the cleanup program.

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.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions

SRS management-and-operations (M&O) contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) earned nearly $34.8 million, or 96% of the total award fee available for the evaluation period of Dec. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021, according to an award fee determination scorecard.

“SRS is recognized throughout the Department for its highly skilled and experienced workforce,” said Mike Budney, DOE Savannah River Site manager. “SRNS, as the M&O contractor, is a key component to our long history of supporting national defense while maintaining the highest safety and security standards. SRS’ future success relies on our ability to continue developing innovative technologies and performing unique operations in a safe and compliant manner.”

One key area of achievement was the contractor’s exceptional performance in managing the COVID-19 pandemic with the infectious disease response team and other members of a “war room” continuously revising SRS COVID-19 response plans to maintain compliance with DOE’s evolving safety plan and COVID-19 protocols.

The evaluation noted SRNS has made substantial improvements, resolved several issues and continues to develop a strong contractor assurance system program. It also noted opportunities for the contractor to improve the quality of issue reviews and fact findings.

Centerra-SRS

SRS protective force services contractor Centerra-SRS earned an overall “excellent” performance rating and $6.4 million or 95% of the available fee for the evaluation period of Oct. 8, 2020 through Oct. 7, 2021, according to an award fee determination scorecard.

Centerra effectively and competently executed the SRS security mission in law enforcement operations, perimeter protection at the site barricades and at sensitive national security facilities in protection of special nuclear materials, according to the scorecard.

The evaluation noted that a few deficiencies were identified during this period, and each of them were thoroughly addressed with appropriate investigation, causal analysis, and corrective action.

Savannah River Remediation

SRS liquid-waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) earned an overall “excellent” performance rating and about $43.8 million or 98% of the available fee for the evaluation period of Oct. 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021, according to an award fee determination scorecard.

“SRR management demonstrated a significantly high level of involvement in achieving key milestones toward increasing the level of operational activities,” Budney said.

Among its achievements, SRR completed conversion of tanks 41 and 42 to prepare high volumes of salt feed to the Salt Waste Processing Facility, and completed Saltstone Disposal Unit 7 construction and turnover to EM ahead of schedule and under budget, providing significant additional capacity for the onsite disposal of low-activity process waste.

Areas for improvement for SRR include worker safety incidents, multiple equipment maintenance and waste tank pump failure issues, and hoisting and rigging weaknesses, according to the scorecard.

Battelle Savannah River Alliance

At Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), new M&O contractor Battelle Savannah River Alliance (BSRA) earned $1.14 million or 95% of the total award fee available of $1.2 million for the evaluation period of June 21, 2021 to Sept. 30, 2021, according to an award fee determination scorecard.

“Although this award fee represents only three months of laboratory operations by the new SRNL contractor, BSRA is off to a very strong start.” Budney said. “I anticipate a great partnership with BSRA that will focus on growing the laboratory’s enduring research and development programs to support the overarching mission of the DOE and the nation through efforts in environmental science and technology, national nuclear and energy security, and fundamental science.”

BSRA earned an overall “excellent” performance rating for the evaluation period. BSRA management demonstrated a high level of attention, successfully integrated new management and structure, and applied appropriate resources following contract transition to meet the subjective evaluation criteria for the three-month period and in almost all instances demonstrated excellent performance.

The evaluation noted BSRA had some delays on deliverables and had opportunities for improvement in contractor assurance, specifically, the quality of issue reviews and fact findings to effectively identify corrective actions that prevent future recurrences.

View the scorecards for all four contractors here.