Avisco, a DOE contractor, to wind down operations after 30 years

Avisco, a long-term U.S. Department of Energy contractor based in Oak Ridge, has announced a plan to phase out of their existing contracts and eventually close the company after 30 years of operations.

In a Tuesday press release, company owner Avis A. Phillips said she decided it was time to wind down Avisco after long discussions with her family.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed all the years we’ve worked with a terrific group of clients and a wonderful team of employees,” Phillips said. “It’s the association with our great staff that makes this decision particularly difficult. I can never thank them enough.”

Avisco has had a diverse client list, including B&W Y-12, CNS, UT-Battelle, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Knight/Jacobs, Bechtel Jacobs, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and many more, the release said. Projects have included the Uranium Processing Facility, Spallation Neutron Source, Environmental Management Waste Management Facility Landfills and Weldon Springs Remedial Action.

Phillips, who is also Avisco president and chief executive officer, founded the company in 1986. It’s a woman-owned business specializing in heavy civil construction. The company has a corporate office on Clarence Larsen Drive in Oak Ridge and offices in Piketon, Ohio, and Aiken, South Carolina.

A number of Avisco employees will begin a new federal services group offering specialized construction services to federal markets, including establishing an Oak Ridge office, Knoxville-based Phillips and Jordan Inc. announced in Tuesday’s press release.

Phillips and Jordan Chief Executive Officer W.T. Phillips Jr. has announced that Avisco veteran Mitch Carpenter will lead the division. Carpenter has more than 25 years experience in directing construction operations, including on U.S. Department of Energy facilities.

“Mitch is well known and respected in the industry,” Phillips said in the release. “I am sure he is the right man to help us start this new federal service division.”

Phillips and Jordan Inc. is a 63-year-old privately held corporation that specializes in heavy civil construction with a focus on six key markets: oil and gas, power, water resources, industrial and commercial, disaster recovery, and federal services. Phillips and Jordan is a national contractor that is licensed in all 50 states and has performed work in over 40 states during the past decade, the release said.

Headquartered in Knoxville, Phillips and Jordan currently employs a workforce of about 1,000 people, and it maintains regional and project offices throughout the United States.

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