By George Lobsenz
The Energy Department and the Navy announced last week that they will jointly seek competitive bids from industry for complementary contracts under which one company will operate both the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory and the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, which currently are run by separate contractors.
In a Feb. 26 announcement on DoE’s procurement Web site, DoE’s Naval Reactors Laboratory Field Office in conjunction with the Naval Sea System Command said they would award separate contracts to one entity to run the labs, which both support the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.
“The mission of the two laboratories will not change under the proposed new contract,” the agencies said in a statement. “The Department of Energy and the Department of the Navy plan to issue a joint solicitation which will result in award of two contracts to a single offeror–a Department of Energy contract for management and operation of the laboratories, and a Department of the Navy contract for design, development, improvement, maintenance and training for operation of naval nuclear propulsion plants.”
The Bettis lab, headquartered at West Mifflin, Pa., has been run by Bechtel Bettis, a subsidiary of Bechtel Corp., since 1999. It previously was run by Westinghouse.
The Knolls lab, located at Schenectady, N.Y., has been operated by KAPL Inc., a Lockheed Martin [LMT] subsidiary, since 1993. It previously was run by General Electric.
The announcement comes amid a broader DoE effort to consolidate operations in its nuclear weapons complex, including reducing the number of contractors to improve efficiency.
DoE and the Navy said the winning bidder would be required to establish a separate, wholly-owned subsidiary owned solely by the bidder to run each lab. Further, it said management responsibility for the two labs should remain with the general manager positions at Bettis and Knolls, and that corporate involvement in operations should be limited to that necessary to satisfy corporate fiduciary duties.
In evaluating bids, DoE and the Navy said they would give weight to bidders’ efforts to use small business. The agencies said they had set small business goals for the contract calling for 46 percent of the work to be performed by small businesses, 5 percent by small disadvantaged businesses, 5 percent by women-owned small businesses concerns and 3 percent by service-disabled, veteran-owned small business concerns.
The contracts resulting from this solicitation will run from date of award, on or about Oct. 1, 2008, through Sept. 30, 2013, and will contain an option for an additional five- year period.
The joint solicitation is expected to be issued by DoE and the Navy in mid-March.