The Army Chemical Materials Activity (CMA) yesterday said it recently realized a cumulative cost avoidance to taxpayers of more than $290 million by achieving the end of closure operations early at the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (PBCDF) located at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark.
The savings came by offering systems contractor URS Corp. [URS] incentives to complete both the chemical agent destruction operations and facility closure operations ahead of contractual schedules while adhering to strict environmental and safety standards, a statement from the facility said.
Demolition of structures at the PBCDF was completed Dec. 20 and the Army subsequently accepted URS Corp.’s Facility Closure Certification Report–the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit document that has been submitted to state regulatory authorities to close out the regulatory permit.
Using contract incentives, CMA provided URS an opportunity to earn monetary incentives by accelerating PBCDF operations and closure phases. URS accelerated the PBCDF activities and trimmed nearly two and a half years off the project’s lifecycle schedule, providing the Army a total cost avoidance of approximately $457.5 million.
URS will be awarded $165 million of incentives, yielding a cost avoidance of approximately $292.5 million.
Construction began on the PBCDF in January 1999 and was completed in November 2002. Chemical agent disposal operations began in March 2005, and in the ensuing five years the facility destroyed 123,100 munitions containing approximately seven million pounds of chemical agent.
The PBCDF completed chemical agent disposal operations in November 2010. Once agent disposal operations were complete, the facility was decontaminated and dismantled in accordance with applicable permits and in close coordination with Pine Bluff Arsenal.
Additional cost avoidance comes as 24 structures associated with the PBCDF were left standing. They will be turned over to Pine Bluff Arsenal for reuse.
The land formerly occupied by the PBCDF remains the property of Pine Bluff Arsenal.
CMA will continue closing the contract that supported the PBCDF, which is expected to take approximately 18 months.