Let bidders compete for SRS contract

I am not a nuclear scientist, but it doesn't take one to spot gaps in the logic of your Oct. 30 editorial, "One SRS contractor is enough."

I recall that Westinghouse was the only bidder for the contract it has now, and probably will be the only bidder if the one contract is written again. What happened to the idea of competition?

The editorial sort of dismissed the one point that I think is major. You wrote that DOE "has interviewed 40 companies interested in bidding on providing various services."

That tells me that 40 companies want to call Aiken home. They should not be denied the opportunity of moving here and bringing jobs here if they can provide good service at low cost to the taxpayers!

Forty companies want to bid on contracts. One company wants to avoid competition. It seems to me that our community wins with the multiple contracts that bring new companies, new blood and new opportunities to the Aiken/Augusta area. I vote for competition.

Amy E. Gregory, Aiken, S.C.