A bid protest by a Bechtel Corp.-led team that challenged the award of a $10-billion, 10-year plutonium production cleanup contract at the federal Hanford nuclear site in Washington state awarded to a team formerly led by AECOM was rejected by the Government Accountability Office, which publicly released its ruling on May 13.
GAO, the federal watchdog agency reporting to Congress, said the U.S.Energy Dept. was justified in picking the more expensive but technically superior bid.