The long process to determine who will manage the Los Alamos
National Laboratory will conclude in the coming weeks.
The University of California has bid for continued management of
the New Mexico lab in consortium with Bechtel National, BWXT and
Washington Group International.
Their chief rival for the contract is a group led by
Lockheed-Martin and the University of Texas.
Though there have been rumors that a decision would be announced
today or in the coming days, UC Vice President Robert Foley said
Thursday an imminent decision is unlikely.
Al Stotts, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security
Administration in Albuquerque, which is conducting the bid
competition, said the announcement would not come until on or
around Dec. 1, as scheduled.
A series of mishaps at the lab led the Department of Energy to
put the contract for management up for bid.
UC officials have repeatedly said they have taken steps to
ensure such occurrences do not happen again, but even since the UC
Board of Regents voted on May 26 to bid for continued management,
problems have continued to plague the lab.
In May, there were two injuries when a beaker exploded. In June,
two employees inhaled toxic fumes that resulted in the
hospitalization of one, but lab management was not informed of the
incident until August.
The NNSA acts as a semi-autonomous agency of the Department of
Energy, and its service center in Albuquerque has become the
headquarters of the source evaluation board, which has conducted
the competition of the lab’s management.
The board has been putting together an evaluation report
analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the bids and sent its
recommendations to the selecting official, acting deputy
administrator for defense programs Tom D’Agostino, said
Stotts.
The criteria in evaluation involves “federal procurement
requirements,” but this information is not available to the
public, Stotts said.
Despite the continued problems, there is optimism on the side of
the UC regarding the strength of its bid.
Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the group composed of the UC
and its consortium bidding for the lab, feels it is “able to
meet the Department of Energy’s mission for the lab,”
said spokesman Jeff Berger.
The conglomerate addresses the relevant security, business and
safety issues in its proposal, but because of the continued
competition, it cannot reveal specifics, Berger said.
The upcoming decision was discussed at the regents’
meeting Thursday in Berkeley.
“We believe the federal government will agree with our
assessment of the scientific achievement of these labs,”
Foley said.
UC Board of Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky expressed confidence
in the UC’s bid, saying that if the thrust of competition is
still what it has been represented as ““ for science and
research ““ “then we have the opportunity to win the
bid.”
Thursday’s meeting also drew the presence of a number of
groups protesting UC involvement in the nuclear laboratory.
With reports from Nancy Su, Bruin reporter.