UT-Battelle will provide ORNL security starting in December

 

Starting in December, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex will both manage their own security forces to protect their sites.

Y-12 has been managing its own protective force for about six years, ever since a former contractor, B&W Y-12, terminated a contract with WSI Oak Ridge after a security breach at the 811-acre plant. The current Y-12 contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, confirmed this month that it has been responsible for security and security police officers since it began managing and operating the plant in July 2014.

On Friday, UT-Battelle, which manages and operates ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy, said it is assuming responsibility for providing protective force services at the laboratory starting December 30. That’s when a new security contractor will take over at some federal sites in Oak Ridge.

ORNL Media Relations Manager Morgan McCorkle said about 90 employees who have been providing security services at ORNL under a contract with National Strategic Protective Services LLC will transition from NSPS to UT-Battelle.

NSPS was awarded a five-year protective force contract in January 2013. It included ORNL but not Y-12. NSPS replaced WSI Oak Ridge, which had provided protective force services in Oak Ridge since 2000.

The new protective force contract with Golden SVCS LLC of Kingston does not include either ORNL or Y-12. It’s not clear why ORNL was included in the old contract but not the new one.

The new contract with Golden SVCS could be worth close to $66 million and be in place for five years. It has a two-month transition period, which is now under way; a 10-month base period; and four one-year options. It includes protection services at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal Building Complex, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, and Transuranic Waste Processing Center, among other duties.