A joint venture of Bechtel National Inc. and Jacob Engineering Group Inc. was awarded a 5 1/2-year, $2.5 billion contract to manage the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge facility and two smaller sites, Bechtel announced Thursday.

Joseph Nemec, Bechtel Hanford Inc.'s president from spring 1995 to fall 1996, is president of the joint venture, Bechtel Jacobs Co.

The contract calls for Bechtel Jacobs to manage environmental restoration at DOE facilities at Oak Ridge, Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio.

"It's a source of pride to us that our work here may have contributed to the awarding of the contract," said Steve Liedle, president to Bechtel Hanford.

Liedle said the Oak Ridge contract would likely "not have a direct ripple effect" Bechtel Hanford, which supervises environmental restoration work.

He noted such work at Oak Ridge and Hanford involves similar problems with contaminated soils, ground water and facilities. And he expects an increased exchange of people and "lessons learned " between sites.

Bechtel Jacobs will replace Lockheed Martin Energy Systems at Oak Ridge on April 1.

Bechtel Jacobs will act as the coordinating contractor in much the same manner as Fluor Daniel does at Hanford. The actual field work will be performed by subcontractors.