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Lab bid may pose struggle

Written by Connie Yu

Monday, 02 February 2004 11:00 PM

Getting the go-ahead from the Board of Regents may be the easiest part in the UT System’s quest to win the multi-billion dollar management contract for the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Lockheed Martin Corp. and the University of Colorado have expressed interest, but the system’s biggest competitor may be the University of California, which has managed the facility since its establishment more than 60 years ago.

Regents will decide Wednesday whether to pursue the contract, which the U.S. Department of Energy said would open for bids. The department is expected to issue a request for proposals soon.

A department evaluation report issued in April could foreshadow an uphill-battle for the UT System if it decides to pursue the contract. Despite two security breaches at the lab and a series of financial frauds in the past two years, the report says California remains a vital part of the research community of the facility. While recommending the contract be opened for bids, the report urges the university to compete for the contract but partner with an outside business management firm.

“It is important to note that a decision to compete is not a repudiation of the university,” the report says of California, “but simply a recognition that the university’s performance in the area of business management did not rise to the exceptionally high standards required to override the presumption of competition in department orders.”

California is expected to bid for the contract, but a spokesperson said Monday they were awaiting the issuance of the official proposal request.

The UT System’s special engineering adviser, Charles Sorber, who served as an interim president here until Friday, said he would be appointed to head the Los Alamos bid if regents approve pursuing it. Chancellor Mark Yudof declined to comment on the prospect last week, and a system spokesperson said Monday that there would be no comment until the regents decide.

If the system does pursue Los Alamos, Sorber may be facing some difficult challenges.

University of California laboratory management has largely improved its business practices, states the report by the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Reforms in the university management were cited as “effective” after an internal shake-up, which resulted in the resignation of the then-laboratory director and the firing, and penalizing, of some 17 top officials in areas of finance, audit and security.

The report further recommends the department base some of its contract modifications on the university’s initiatives.

“It is difficult to see how any organization could have done more to deal with the problem than [the university] has done…,” the report says. “Further, the university brings substantial value to the mission of Los Alamos in science, recruiting, retention and fostering a culture of scientific skepticism and peer review.”

Many research staff members at the facility have also expressed their strong connection with the university’s management team. The report cited 2,500 employees, including some of its senior fellows, have signed a petition to stress the value of its association with California.
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