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News

After a months-long competitive bid process, the USA fleet-wide valve services agreement was awarded to incumbent Crane Nuclear. The scope of the agreement includes on-site maintenance and testing of motor-operated valves, air-operated valves, and other types of valves in the primary and secondary systems of the plant.

This agreement is important to the USA fleet as it represents one of the two largest fleet-wide spend categories in the portfolio of agreements and provides millions of dollars of savings each year.

“The renewal of our agreement with Crane Nuclear is a great accomplishment for both our Supply Chain and Valve Teams,” stated Carl Parry, USA’s president and chief operating officer. “I expect this partnership to yield significant benefits to both our using members and for Crane. I want to express my ‘thanks’ to everyone who worked so hard to get this agreement put into place.”

Crane Nuclear, a four-time USA Services Supplier of the Year winner, has brought much value to the fleet over the years with their expertise.

After the 2011 and 2013 outages, Columbia gained eight megawatts in output, with much of the credit going to the improved performance of the valves Crane worked during those outages.

Crane’s relationship-building efforts were also the subject of one of the most popular presentations at the 2013 USA Executive Summit, where Crane and Susquehanna discussed how they turned their past rocky relationship into a true partnership.

“Crane is a long-term, highly valued, USA supplier,” explained Jim Kitchens, USA’s director of supply chain. “They truly understand what it means to be an fleet partner, as demonstrated by the awards our members have bestowed on them over the years. It has been a privilege for us at USA to participate with the valve team and Crane as we worked through the bid process and negotiated an agreement that will serve our members very well. We have great appreciation for the expertise and collaboration on both sides that resulted in the final agreement.”

“Crane Nuclear is pleased to be awarded the Valve Services Agreement for the next five years, and continue our relationship with USA and the participating companies that began in 2005,” stated Kirk Kelhofer, president of Crane Nuclear. “We appreciate the culture of continuous improvement in USA and the participating companies, and look forward to working with both to improve valve and outage performance. I want to express my ‘thanks’ to all of the Crane Nuclear, USA, and participating company personnel who worked so hard to get this agreement put into place.”

Carl Parry, USA President and CEO, left, shakes hands with Crane’s President Kirk Kelhofer after signing the agreement on Aug 8.

The USA Valve Team and Crane Nuclear employees meet at the end of July to work out the final details of the agreement. From left to right, Tim Teske, Crane, Billy Gore, Crane, Greg Duvall, Fermi, Dan Downs, Susquehanna, John Wygant, Cook, Jim Kitchens, USA, Bob Barbin, Crane, Brian Kibler, Xcel Energy, Justin Keim, Wolf Creek, Tim Scoggins, USA, and Ricky Busha, STP.