Another one of the University of California’s potential
competitors withdrew last week from a possible bid for the
management contract of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The Battelle Memorial Institute decided not to bid for the lab
after considering its current management of five other Department
of Energy labs.
Battelle spokesman Mark Berry said the institute decided it
needed to concentrate its energies on managing its other labs after
reviewing the draft request for proposals for the management
contract.
Despite the shrinking pool of potential competitors, the UC has
not announced whether it would submit a bid for the lab.
UC spokesman Chris Harrington declined to comment on how
Battelle’s withdrawal will affect the UC’s decision to
bid on the lab.
“We are not watching the competitive playing field. We are
focusing on our ongoing preparations and management of our national
labs,” Harrington said.
The UC Board of Regents is not expected to make a decision until
the final request for proposals is released by the DOE. Harrington
said the board’s final decision will be based on a variety of
factors, including a thorough evaluation of the final request for
proposals.
The board is waiting for the request to be released before
making a decision because it wants to be certain of what it is
bidding on, Harrington said.
UC’s current management contract for Los Alamos ends late
in September and a new contractor is expected to be chosen in the
summer.
The DOE opened the Los Alamos contract to the public after over
half a century of operation under the UC due to a series of
management and security issues.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Texas A&M University and the
University of Texas had all expressed interest in competing for the
lab contract before announcing their decisions to drop their bids
late last year and earlier this year.
Al Stotts, spokesman for the Nuclear Security Administration, a
division of the DOE overseeing nuclear labs, said multiple bids are
expected for the lab despite the withdrawals of many public
competitors.
Stotts said Tyler Przybylek, the chairman of the board
overseeing the competitive process for the lab, has met with
multiple interested parties who have chosen to remain private.