138th Year... and
still on the job!
Tuesday May 23, 2006
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138th Year... and
still on the job!
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Tuesday May 23, 2006 |
The director of a program that will destroy 2,611 tons of mustard agent at the Pueblo Chemical Depot said this week that his agency would welcome the ability to use incentives to speed up the process.
Gary Anderson, the top local manager for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, told Colorado officials that incentives already are paying off. Anderson was speaking at the regular meeting of the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens' Advisory Commission.
The Senate version of the 2007 Defense Authorization Bill contains language that would allow ACWA to grant Bechtel, the prime contractor here and at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, financial rewards for finishing work ahead of schedule. That is something that has to be included in legislation.
Anderson said that Bechtel already has received rewards in the current year for developing a new life-cycle cost estimate before a February deadline and also moving more quickly than expected through permitting and design work.
Anderson said that ACWA allows Bechtel to keep 25 cents out of every dollar saved by finishing work ahead of time.
He said that incentives would be useful when the weapons neutralization plant gets into operation, too, and when it starts to shut down.
"A two-year process could be cut to 18 months," he said.
Anderson added, however, that speed would not outweigh caution. "We're not going to do that and compromise our safety," he said.
In April, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., asked Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner, R-Va., to add a provision to the 2007 bill that would allow incentives in the chemical demilitarization program.
Sean Conway, Allard's chief of staff, said Thursday that the language is in the bill, which is still in committee, and that it would be unlikely that anything would change that before it came to a floor vote.
"We're extremely pleased it's in there," he said. "We'll be working hard to make sure it stays in the bill."