The consortium managing Los Alamos National Laboratory earned 68 percent of its potential performance-based fee last year. Although that level could have triggered new bidding for the work, the National Nuclear Security Administration granted Los Alamos National Security an exception to extend its contract through this year.
LANS – composed of Bechtel National, Babcock & Wilcox, URS and the University of California – earned $27.9 million in fixed fees for its work at the lab in 2012 and $31.6 million out of $46.5 million in so-called at-risk fees, the Albuquerque Journal reported Friday, citing the Nuclear Weapons and Materials Monitor.
Using public records requests, the Los Alamos Monitor newspaper reported that LANS' performance did not qualify it for a one-year contract extension, but the requirement that the contractor earn at least 80 percent of the at-risk fee was waived by NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Neile Miller. In a letter, she cited LANS' accepting responsibility for a flawed security enhancement program at the site as a reason for granting the exception.
That project, known as Nuclear Materials Safeguards and Security Upgrades Phase II, and an incident in August involving employees contaminated with technetium-99, contributed to the reduced at-risk fee, the Journal reported.