Huntington Ingalls-BWXT JV wins $1B Los Alamos site cleanup contract

A joint venture led by Huntington Ingalls Industries and BWX Technologies has won a potential $1.39 billion contract to carry out an environmental cleanup job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory that houses nuclear weapons research-and-development work.

DOE said Tuesday the Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract is for up to 10 years and three months. That term includes 90-day transition period followed by five base years, then a three-year option and another two-year option. The current contract held by the Los Alamos National Security LLC consortium expires on March 31, 2018.

Broomfield, Colo.-based joint venture N3B’s leaders are Huntington Ingalls’ Stoller Newport News Nuclear subsidiary also known as SN3 and BWXT. The venture will work to clean up both the Los Alamos site itself and surrounding private- and government-owned lands.

SN3 is one of seven businesses within Huntington Ingalls’ technical solutions segment alongside Newport News Industrial that provide environmental-related services to the Energy Department and customers in the nuclear and commercial power industries.

Newport News, Va.-based shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls sees DOE as a growth engine for its technical solutions segment that offers IT and professional services to agencies, the group’s president Andy Green recently told Washington Technology.

The company saw success for the DOE business in August when another joint venture it participates in was confirmed as the winner of potential 10-year, $5 billion contract to manage the department’s Nevada National Security Site. Honeywell leads the Mission Support and Test Services venture that includes Huntington Ingalls’ SN3 arm and Jacobs Engineering Group.

Lynchburg, Va.-based BWXT supplies nuclear components and fuel to the U.S. government and also performs technical, management and site services for agencies to help operate complex facilities and conduct environmental remediation projects.

BWXT is also a partner in the Los Alamos National Security LLC group that has managed the laboratory since 2006. DOE is in the process of selecting a new manager and proposals were due Dec. 11 for the follow-on contract.

Deltek data indicates that follow-on contract has a $23 billion ceiling value and is due for award in August 2018.

The Los Alamos lab started in 1943 via the Manhattan Project to develop the first-ever atomic bomb. Los Alamos, Sandia and Lawrence Livermore are the three designated national laboratories with responsibilities over the country's nuclear weapons stockpiles.