RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) -
The Department of Energy at Hanford downgraded its performance assessment of the contractor building the site’s $`17 billion vitrification plant because of ongoing criminal and civil investigations, according to a recently released report.
An official assessing the performance of the contractor, Bechtel National, said the company would not be recommended for similar work in the future given its performance, according to the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General’s latest semiannual report to Congress.
The report said it was Bechtel’s performance rating for 2018 and early 2019 that was downgraded as a result of the Office of Inspector General’s ongoing criminal and civil investigations.
However, the Department of Justice did tell vitrification plant workers in 2017 to preserve all information and emails regarding charging for labor, recording time worked, overtime and related matters.
The emailed instructions came after the Justice Department reached settlements with the two most recent Hanford tank farm contractors over allegations of time card fraud, with that investigation continuing over several years. The contractors denied wrongdoing.
Bechtel: We will meet deadline
Because of the Bechtel investigations DOE Hanford officials issued downgraded Contractor Performance Assessment Ratings for the period that ended early this year, according to the IG report to Congress.
DOE declined to make public its document with the ratings, saying it was business sensitive.
“Bechtel National remains fully committed to and accountable for the successful delivery of the vitrification plant project,” said Bechtel spokeswoman Staci West. “We are aligned with DOE in safely bringing the vit plant online and treating low-activity (radioactive) tank waste by the end of 2023.”
Bechtel was downgraded from “satisfactory” to “marginal” in the “schedule” category, according to the latest IG report.
The “cost control” category remained at a “marginal” rating. The rating had been downgraded from “satisfactory” to “marginal” in the DOE rating for 2017, also because of the ongoing investigations by the Office of Inspector General.
The earlier seminannual report to Congress, which covered the six months ending in March 2019, said that downgraded ratings for 2017 resulted in about $80 million in provisional and also incentive payments for performance being withheld from Bechtel.
Provisional payments are made as a contractor makes progress toward meeting a goal, with any adjustments made when the contractor meets or misses the goal.
Bechtel building Hanford Plant
Bechtel was awarded a contract to build the Hanford nuclear reservation’s vitrification plant in late 2000 and is working toward a deadline set in a federal court consent decree to start treating, or glassifying, waste at the plant by the end of 2023.
Hanford has 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous chemical waste stored in underground tanks from the past production of plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program. The vitrification plant will treat much of the tank waste for disposal.
“Our progress and momentum continued to build this year toward commissioning, with receiving the final piece of permanent plant equipment, completing construction of our support facilities and Analytical Laboratory, and bringing the Low Activity Waste Facility control room online,” West said.
Both of the latest IG semiannual reports to Congress said that given DOE’s knowledge of Bechtel’s ability through early this year to “perform in accordance with the contract or order’s most significant requirements” DOE would not recommend Bechtel National for similar requirements in the future.
Although DOE does not make public its Hanford Contractor Performance Assessment Ratings, they form part of the basis for incentive pay Bechtel is awarded for each year of work.
For 2018 it received about 48 percent of the pay possible. Bechtel is reimbursed for costs and can earn incentive pay - or its “fee” as it is called by DOE - to make a profit for its work to design, build and start up the vitrification plant.
It also earned about 48 percent of its possible incentive pay in 2017.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.