Two Savannah River Site (SRS) contractors recently earned 95 percent or more of award fees available to them.
Office of Environmental Management
January 14, 2020
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Two Savannah River Site (SRS) contractors recently earned 95 percent or more of award fees available to them.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the SRS management and operations contractor, received an overall “very good” rating and more than $25.5 million — or 95 percent of the available award fee — for its performance from Aug. 1, 2018 through July 31, 2019.
Centerra-SRS received an overall “excellent” performance rating for the evaluation period of April 1, 2019 through Sept. 30, 2019 and an award of more than $3.1 million, or 97 percent of the available award fee.
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
Mike Budney, the DOE-Savannah River (DOE-SR) manager and fee determining official, noted SRNS safely performed its missions and pointed to the contractor’s illness and injury rates, which are well below EM's established goals.
“SRS has enjoyed a long history of supporting national defense, while maintaining the highest possible safety and security standards,” Budney said. “The site’s future success relies on our ability to continue developing innovative technologies and performing unique operations in a safe and compliant manner.”
Additional SRNS achievements noted in the fee determination scorecard include:
- Completed an accelerated deactivation strategy for Building 235-F and addressed the H Canyon exhaust tunnel.
- Finished a road culvert replacement and repavement project ahead of schedule and within budget.
- Renovated a building for a “one-stop shop” combining employee training, badging, and medical testing.
- Completed all regulatory milestones and commitments on or ahead of schedule, including management of over 560 site permits, and collection, analysis, and reporting of more than 10,000 environmental samples.
- Implemented a new streamlined process for managing regulatory compliance, replacing seven databases and tools and resulting in an estimated cost savings of $80,000 in the first year.
- Reached more than 30,000 students and educators through 14 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs and events.
- Exceeded small business awards goals and received 12 small business achievement awards.
DOE-SR identified areas for improvement for SRNS:
- SRNS did not verify that subcontractor safety and health documentation was compliant with an amendment to regulatory requirements. SRNS requested subcontractors submit changes to relevant safety documentation based on the new regulatory requirements. No subcontractors provided modified documentation to reflect the amendment updates.
- Issues with equipment failures delayed an accelerated readiness assessment schedule.
View the SRNS fee determination scorecard for SRNS here.
Centerra-SRS
The protective force services contractor demonstrated the effective and competent execution of the SRS security mission at the site perimeter barricades, in law enforcement operations, and at sensitive national security facilities in protection of special nuclear materials, according to the Centerra-SRS fee determination scorecard.
Budney said the Centerra-SRS achievements demonstrate overall excellent practices in protection of SRS national security interests and resources.
“Centerra-SRS has demonstrated a commitment to excellence in meeting the challenges ahead in support of ongoing critical missions,” he said.
Following are Centerra-SRS achievements noted in the scorecard:
Officers conducted effective traffic enforcement and accident investigations; responded to over 2,600 calls for service; and issued just over 1,000 traffic citations and warning tickets.
The aviation operations department was awarded the 2018 Jeff Snow Memorial Aviation Program Award, honoring the department as the top program within the DOE complex based on excellence, innovation, compliance, maintenance, training, and safety.
Centerra-SRS safely and effectively conducted an exercise to assess safeguards and security elements employed in response to site-specific threats and over 160 other tests; supported nine facility emergency management drills; and conducted an annual drill to ensure compliance with emergency management response actions.
The evaluation noted performance deficiencies in the area of protective force operations and training that included three individual single point failures involving inefficient entry control inspections or inattention to duty, and housekeeping matters associated with excess equipment and ammunition. Each of the deficiencies were thoroughly addressed with appropriate investigation and corrective actions, according to the scorecard.
View the Centerra-SRS fee determination scorecard here.