A defense contractor has been awarded a $200 million contract for five years to guard a former nuclear proving ground outside Las Vegas.
SOC LLC will take over security at the former Nevada Test Site.
Mission Support and Test Services was awarded a $5 billion contract in May to manage and operate the 1,360-square-mile federal reservation and its related Nevada Field Office in North Las Vegas.
U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Darwin Morgan said the 10-year management contract still needs to clear a challenge period.
National Security Technologies LLC previously operated the test site 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas for more than a decade.
The takeover date is July 31,
As the Nevada Test Site, the area hosted more than 1,000 nuclear detonations from 1951 to 1992. It now hosts non-nuclear experiments and safety training related to the nation's nuclear stockpile.
Officials said the move came after they learned Nevada Site Science Support and Technologies Corp. had been sold by Lockheed Martin to another company.