January 2013

Review of the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Black-Cell and Hard-To-Reach Pipe Spools Procurement Process and the Office of River Protection Audit of That Process

The Office of Enforcement and Oversight (Independent Oversight), within the Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS), conducted a concurrent independent review with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of River Protection (ORP) of selected aspects of the Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) Hanford Site Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) procurement processes for WTP black-cell (BC) and hard-to-reach (HtR) pipe spools. The Independent Oversight review was performed by the HSS Office of Safety and Emergency Management Evaluations and included assessment of the more detailed and broader-scope ORP audit, which was performed by a six-member ORP team that assessed the same BNI procurement processes.

The purpose of this Independent Oversight activity was to assess the adequacy of the contractor’s procurement processes for safety-related pipe spools fabricated from quality and commercial grade materials, and to assess the adequacy of the DOE site office’s audit processes and performance in oversight of the contractor’s procurement program, activities, and documentation. Independent Oversight conducted the review from March 12 through August 26, 2012, in coordination with ORP. Supplemental information about the Independent Oversight review is provided in Appendix A.