LANL: The Real Story

[...]

Beddin' the bombers

On Nov. 30, students and community groups from the University of Colorado, UC Berkley, Purdue University, as well as Tri-Valley CAREs and the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Coalition, along with many others, will protest the universities' involvement in the Department of Energy bid to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), one of the primary labs responsible for designing those hated nuclear weapons. The day of action has been organized by the Coalition to Demilitarize Education and is scheduled about one week before LANL will announce the winner of the bid. If effective, Eye guess the fallout won't come as soon as the doomsdaysayers claim. Too bad, Eye was really looking forward to a nice, cozy nuclear winter.

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By James W. Brosnan
Scripps Howard News Service
November 30, 2005

WASHINGTON - Many American soldiers and Iraqis could have been spared death or injury if the Defense Department had moved faster to develop an energy weapon that gives an enemy the full-body version of a hotfoot, a former Kirtland Air Force Base researcher contends.

"Hundreds, if not thousands, of lives could have been saved if science and technology had been properly applied and used," Doug Beason, an Albuquerque resident and currently director of threat reduction at Los Alamos National Laboratory, said Tuesday at a Heritage Foundation lecture.

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By Andy Lenderman The New Mexican |
November 30, 2005

A draft report questions whether the University of California should have charged the federal government $6 million that the school gave to a nonprofit charity.

A UC spokesman maintains the university has done nothing wrong.

A copy of the incomplete report first appeared Monday on an independent Web site where Los Alamos National Laboratory employees air concerns about the lab and the pending management change.

The report concerns the university’s management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, a separate nonprofit group that gave about $3.47 million to schools, social programs and college scholarships last year in Northern New Mexico.

The draft apparently found its way to the Web site “LANL — The Real Story” on the same day it was issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Inspector General Office.

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Some 661 pounds of plutonium is unaccounted for and may be missing from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, an activist group says.

There is no evidence the plutonium -- enough to make dozens of nuclear bombs -- was stolen or diverted, the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research said.

The Takoma Park, Md., institute said its report used documents from 1996 to 2004 to reach its conclusions, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

"The University (of California) obviously has a responsibility in this," said report co-author Arjun Makhijani. "It should be a grave embarrassment for the university to be sitting on numbers like this and discrepancies like this, and not have resolved them."

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Current intel has it that Senator Dominici will be on travel Dec 6 - 13, for whatever impact this will have on the announcement date.

-Doug

600-plus pounds unaccounted for, activist group says

Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer
Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Enough plutonium to make dozens of nuclear bombs hasn't been accounted for at the UC-run Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and may be missing, an activist group says in a new report.

There is no evidence that the weapons-grade plutonium has been stolen or diverted for illegal purposes, the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research said. However, the amount of unaccounted-for plutonium -- more than 600 pounds, and possibly several times that -- is so great that it raises "a vast security issue," the group said in a report to be made public today.

The institute, which is based in Takoma Park, Md., says it compared data from five publicly available reports and documents issued by the U.S. Energy Department and Los Alamos from 1996 to 2004 and found inconsistencies in them. It says the records aren't clear on what the lab did with the plutonium, a byproduct of nuclear bomb research at Los Alamos.

A spokesman for UC, which manages the national laboratories at Los Alamos and Livermore for the Energy Department, did not address the report's specifics but said the New Mexico lab tracks nuclear material "to a minute quantity."

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By John Arnold
Journal Staff Report

A federal audit shows that Los Alamos National Laboratory's manager, the University of California, made contributions to the lab's nonprofit foundation and then "inappropriately" charged the federal government for $6 million in reimbursements.

A draft of the audit findings, issued by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General, was posted this week on a popular Web log that deals with lab issues.

A final report hasn't been released, but UC spokesman Chris Harrington confirmed Tuesday that the university was in the process of addressing the report's findings. He said the draft was "out for comment" and that "we're going to provide our information to the department and go through the proper channels in terms of responding to the report."

Harrington added that UC's response to the report will show that reimbursements it received for contributions to the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation were allowed under UC's management contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.

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SANTA FE (2005-11-29) -- At the Los Alamos national lab, they're wondering whether there could be yet another delay in the announcement of the winning contract to run the lab.

The energy department had promised to name the contract-winner by December 1st, but then slipped that date to the 9th, saying the team reviewing the bids hadn't completed its work.

Now comes word that the local federal office in charge of overseeing the Los Alamos lab is not prepared to do its job in overseeing a new contract. The federal agency making that conclusion says the Los Alamos federal office lacks staff and hasn't got policies together for how to manage the transition to a new contract.

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Something for a change of pace on the blog.

--Doug

WASHINGTON— Americans have been migrating south and west for decades, but it appears they've been leaving some high-paying jobs behind. While there are many pockets of wealth in the South and West, the states with the highest wage earners line the East Coast, according to Census data released Tuesday.

Connecticut, with a median household income of $56,409, supplanted New Jersey as the country's highest wage state in 2003, the most recent year available. New Jersey slid to second, at $56,356, followed by Maryland, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Mississippi had the lowest median income, at $32,397. West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and Montana rounded out the bottom five.

The median household income for the nation was $43,318.

Census figures show that Southern and Western states have been growing in population much faster than those in the Northeast and Midwest.

But despite those population shifts, the list of wealthiest - and poorest - states in 2003 looks a lot like the list from a decade before.

"You're going to see those areas - Mississippi, Appalachia - those are just characteristically, throughout history, poorer areas," said David Waddington, chief of the Census Bureau's small area estimates branch.

The wage gap among counties was even more pronounced than the one for states.

Los Alamos County in New Mexico, home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, had the nation's highest median income, at $93,089. It was followed by Douglas County in Colorado and Loudoun County in northern Virginia.

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Does this remind you of the incompetence of FEMA?


Publication: Santa Fe New Mexican; Date: Nov 29, 2005; Section: Local News; Page: 15


LANL
Report: Nuclear agency not ready for new contract
By Andy Lenderman The New Mexican



A federal safety inspector says the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos office is not ready to manage a new operating contract for Los Alamos National Laboratory.

A shortage of qualified employees, lack of focus and staff turnover were among concerns mentioned by the federal Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in a series of recent weekly reports.

The NNSA’s Los Alamos office “has issues that hamper effective oversight and is not ready to manage contract transition or the new contract,” an Oct. 28 report reads.

A spokesman for the NNSA’s Los Alamos office said his group is working to address the concerns raised by the board, which is an independent agency that aims to hold the country’s nuclear facilities accountable for safety issues.

The NNSA and a new contractor, which will be announced in December, will oversee the lab for the federal government. The contractor will manage the lab, and the NNSA’s local office will provide oversight on issues like security management, environmental stewardship and safety and health issues.

“We’ll continue to work very, very diligently and ensure that were going to have everything in place to have this contract ready,” said Bernie Pleau, a spokesman for the NNSA’s Los Alamos Site Office.

The Oct. 28 report also said the NNSA office will enter a three-month “strategic pause” in December for “an organizational reboot.”

Staffing needs, formalizing policies, training and qualifications would be covered during that time, the report said.

Pleau said his office is in the process of hiring 10 to 15 new people. There are about 131 NNSA employees working in the Los Alamos Site Office now, according to the office’s Web site. “We do think there is a staffing shortage right now,” Pleau said. NNSA is also analyzing how to do its job. “Everything is on the table,” Pleau said, “from public affairs clear on down to security management. And we’re trying to determine and focus on those areas where we think the work is most needed.”

Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, a nucleardisarmament watchdog group, said there’s no excuse for the government not to be ready for the contract transition.

After December’s contract announcement, the lab will enter a six-month transition period. The new contractor is scheduled to take over management of the lab on June 1, 2006.

Two coalitions are competing to manage the lab, which has a $2.2 billion budget and more than 15,000 employees and contractors. The University of California has teamed with Bechtel National, and the University of Texas has joined Lockheed Martin Corp. in the competition. The winner could earn up to $79 million a year to run the lab, which has been managed by the University of California alone since 1943.

Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General is investigating whether the University of California improperly charged the federal government $6 million to support a New Mexico foundation that provides scholarships and other aid to teachers and students.

UC spokesman Chris Harrington said Monday that the university was guilty of no wrongdoing -- "none whatsoever, absolutely not."

The accusations are contained in a draft audit by George Collard, an assistant inspector general. The report says the Energy Department approved UC's proposal in 1997 to establish the nonprofit Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, which works with schools and community groups in northern New Mexico.

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[Note: Rep. Cunningham is one member of the California delegation that threw its weight behind the UC consortium. See

http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/2005/11/delegation-supports-uc-bechtel-lab-bid.html

-Doug]

By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and tax charges and tearfully resigned from office, admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes to steer defense contracts to conspirators.

Cunningham, 63, entered pleas in U.S. District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004.

Cunningham answered "yes, Your Honor" when asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted bribes from someone in exchange for his performance of official duties.

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Someone sent in a revised version of the LANS advert.

--Doug

"The University did not make its annual contributions for educational outreach and
community investment to the Foundation in accordance with the funding sources
specified in contract requirements. Except for FYs 1998 and 1999, the University
inappropriately charged its annual contributions as an allowable General and
Administration expense to the Department instead of incurring the costs as a University
expense as required by the contract modification.

[...]

As a result, since FY 1998, the Department reimbursed the University $6 million for
unallowable contributions. Such funds could have been used for other Los Alamos
mission priorities."

Link to draft audit report

James Sterngold, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, November 28, 2005

After struggling in recent years to redefine U.S. nuclear policy, Congress turned the country in a new direction this month by giving millions of dollars for a program aimed at producing a smaller arsenal of more reliable warheads.

Lawmakers killed the widely criticized nuclear "bunker buster" concept, which critics regarded as too aggressive, and instead appropriated $25 million for research on what is called the reliable replacement warhead, or RRW. Though that initial sum is relatively modest, it signifies an important policy shift that could end up costing many billions of dollars.

Even some arms control advocates have applauded the decision, because many see the new program as a sharp scaling back of the Bush administration's once soaring nuclear ambitions.

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Displayed at the B3 gate at the Albuquerque Sunport.

By Emily Crawford
Journal Staff Writer

The Los Alamos real estate market has slowed this year, affecting home prices and leaving properties to sit empty longer as buyers and sellers anticipate a decision in the competition to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory, local real estate agents say.

With the winner of the bid originally scheduled to be announced on or around Dec. 1, some agents predicted that the market would pick up. But the U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that the announcement would be delayed, and although that delay was not expected to be significant, no deadline was announced.

"I think people will finally know what direction the lab is going in and what they want to do, whether to stay or to go," said Colleen Van Tiem, a qualifying broker with Los Alamos Properties, a new company in the city. "They will be more willing to make a permanent decision."

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Comment from the

http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/2005/11/survey-lab-workers-feel-vulnerable.html

post:
___________________________

I'm well aware that google is hiring -- I am doing a fair amount of work with those guys.

Don't think you can get hired at google just because you are good at CS. I know very smart people who have not made it through the interview process. Yeah, they're hiring like crazy, I see the 'new employee signup' lines are quite long. They still don't just take anyone, however. Their hiring pool is the world. So you have a pool that is somewhat larger than LANL is willing to look at. Google is not (yet) at the point of compromising quality for quantity.

And yes, like most of you, I've had offers, just not offers that have made me interested in leaving -- yet. Lotsa jobs out there, but not lotsa jobs that let me do the work I'm doing now. I've been able to do things here at LANL that I could have done few other places.

What I'm more interested in is this: we hear people are leaving. Where are they going? I think they're going to some pretty neat places. It would be interesting to have a headline on the web page, with a "where are they now" section. My list was a start.

Since the salary report just came out in the papers, I also expect to see people complaining about how much more LANL employees earn than NM average. Guess what, folks -- in most cases, when they leave, it's for a bigger paycheck! Good people can leave LANL any time they want, and earn more to boot. In fact, good people can make a phone call and have a new job in 15 minutes, in many cases. Note to New Mexico: these are not people you want to chase out of state!

ron

Albuquerque Journal
Sunday, November 27, 2005

Lab Debate Rooted In Assorted Scandals

By John Arnold
Journal Northern Bureau
SANTA FE— The historic competition for the contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory has been a long time in the making.
While security and management lapses in recent years were cited in a 2003 DOE report recommending that the lab contract be put up for bid this year, those who study the lab's history say it's important to put the pending change in historical context. It has roots in assorted scandals dating back more than two decades. Bit cultural changes and the end of the Cold War have significantly affected the lab's mission, opening it to scrutiny and criticism, according to lab watchdogs, scholars and government investigators.
The University of California has been LANL manager since 1943, when the lab was organized to build the world's first atomic bomb.
Now, two teams of academic and industrial partners are competing for the contract and a management fee of up to a $79 million. The winner of the bid was expected to be announced this week, but the National Nuclear Security Administration recently announced that the decision would be delayed. No new decision date for the contract has been set.
The University of Texas, which has expressed interest in running the lab for years, has teamed up with Lockheed-Martin. And the University of California has chosen to partner with Bechtel Corporation in an effort to keep its long-standing affiliation with the lab.
That baffles Hugh Gusterson, an MIT anthropology professor who is working on a new book about the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories in the post-Cold War era.
"I have to say, the greatest mystery to me with the whole thing is why the University of California is so committed to hanging on to the contract," he said. "Increasingly, it's become a millstone around their neck."

Probing security
That burdensome aspect of the contract dates back to the early 1980s, when members of Congress began to more carefully scrutinize lab management and security, said Pete Stockton, a former congressional staffer who in the 1980s and 1990s worked on a House subcommittee that investigated lab problems.
Beginning in 1982 and continuing into the 1990s, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, led by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., conducted investigation after investigation into security and management of facilities across the weapons complex.
LANL and sister lab Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, figured prominently in the subcommittee's work, which included inquiries into illegal drug use at the two facilities in 1988; a 10-week security force strike at LANL in 1989; and allegations of environmental, health and safety problems at LANL in 1991.
But while some congressional leaders like Dingell publicly questioned lab management, "the gloves never came off," said Gusterson. "And then in the late '90s, the gloves came off, particularly in the Wen Ho Lee case and around the series of missing (computer) disks."
Lee, a Taiwan-born U.S. citizen, was indicted on 59 counts of mishandling nuclear secrets. After spending nine months in solitary confinement, Lee pleaded guilty to a single count and was released. The story drew huge media attention, especially when U.S. District Judge James Parker, who presided over the case, apologized to Lee, saying the government's handling of the case was an embarrassment.
"Months and months and months of that kind of intense media coverage of an institution really takes its toll," Gusterson said, adding that the temporary disappearance in May 2000 of two computer hard-drives containing nuclear weapons designs "just re-enforced this idea that Los Alamos had a broken security culture."

The final straw
The last straw came in 2002, when LANL mangers fired two lab whistle-blowers who revealed weak purchasing and property control systems at the lab.
The following year, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the lab's contract would be put up for bid. The DOE review recommending the competition called the 2002 fiascoes "the precipitating incidents."
But Gusterson says bigger cultural shifts outside the lab were also factors in the decision. For example, globalization and modern business practices make UC's 63-year-old contract seem outdated and the idea of competition more acceptable, he said.
"There's a way in which Los Alamos and Livermore are sort of a holdover, not just from the Cold War, but from an era where people felt that you got a job in your 20s and you stayed in it until you retired. Now everything is being competed."
The end of the Cold War and nuclear testing has played a role in changing lab culture as well, calling into question LANL's mission, lab watchdogs say.
"Right after the Cold War, there was a period of time where the (weapons) labs lost their way. They lost their identity," said Greg Mello, director of the Albuquerque-based Los Alamos Study Group. "Then they came up with the so-called stockpile stewardship program."
Stockpile stewardship is the DOE effort to keep the nation's nuclear stockpile reliable in the absence of underground tests.

Calls for competition
Despite the security lapses, plus employee discrimination complaints and several worker accidents in the mid- and late 1990s, former energy secretaries Hazel O'Leary and Bill Richardson extended the University of California's contract, citing the need for continuity and stability. University of California supporters have argued that the school's long-time hold on the contract has been an important tool in recruiting and retaining top scientists, who are attracted by the institution's academic prestige and generous benefits package.
"The truth of the matter is the University of California, if everything is going well, it is a really terrific institution from the scientific end to be affiliated with," said U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who supported UC's past contract extensions but has also been supportive of the 2003 decision to put the contract up for bid.
O'Leary's and Richardson's decisions to extend UC's contract came after repeated calls to put the contract up for bid. The University of Texas had expressed interest in running the lab as far back as 1996. A congressman at that time, Richardson himself urged O'Leary to approve a contract competition. U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., also supported a competition in 1996.
"So it's not a new idea, and it's something that should have been done," said Stockton, now a senior investigator with the Project on Government Oversight.


[This is the entire article, the genuine article. UC is "hanging on," as are most LANL staff members, against all reasonable odds. I include myself, because the real reason we are under attack is the Neo-conservative agenda, which cares nothing about science, but only about projected power. The inevitableness of all this incredible nonsense is exemplified by the last sentence above. And this from "The Enemy."]

By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican
November 27, 2005

Los Alamos National Laboratory employees could send their children to University of Texas schools at a discounted tuition rate if that school is successful in its effort to take over management of the lab.

A similar program is already in place for employees at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, which has an agreement with the University of Texas system.

Sandia employees pay in-state tuition rates for their children attending UT schools. For example, a full-time, undergraduate business student at the University of Texas at Austin would pay $3,856 for the spring 2006 semester. Normally, an out-of-state resident would pay $8,680.

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By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican
November 26, 2005

Average yearly salaries at Los Alamos National Laboratory are more than twice what the average job in New Mexico pays, lab and state figures show.

Lab technicians make an average salary of $63,377, support staffers are paid $73,228, and technical staff members, a group that includes scientists, earn $119,777, a lab spokesman said.

Twenty-eight people make between $200,000 and $290,000, the top salary at the lab, according to a November salary list posted on the employee-association Web site.

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Submitted by "Bob Dynes":
_________________________________

[Note: I suspect that this was not written by the real Bob Dynes. --Doug]


Dear LANL Staff,

Some of you have questioned the wisdom of my having approved the expenditure of $871 million this past year on unreported "bonuses" and other monetary perks to my favored upper managers within our little UC family. To help forestall any further criticism of my management skills, I wanted to take this opportunity to let all of you at LANL know a few things.

First, I would like you to know that that we have been keeping a list back here in in comfortable El Sobrante, CA, and we have checked it twice.

Secondly, let me just say, it's my $871 million, and I can slide it under the table to my friends if I want to.

Thirdly, as to the UC brotherhood continuing to pay your previous director that nice, fat sum of $235,000 per year to stay hidden somewhere in DTRA: what's the problem with that? He only has a little more than a year to go before he will have his five years in the UC system, and then we will vest him, as a continued reward for his services.

Finally, back to that list I mentioned. Through careful examination of its contents, we know who's been naughty and who's been nice, and I'm here to tell you that if WE win the contract, the naughty ones can just take a hike. Especially that blog guy. We've had our eye on him for a while now. We managed to "lose" his laboratory associate paperwork for just long enough to cause his clearance to expire. But now that the paperwork got "found" again, I think we can drag out the approval process long enough that he'll never be back again, if WE win.

So, in closing please let me assure you that I've got mine; I gave some of it to my friends, and the rest of you can go pound sand.

Sincerely,

"Bob" Dynes

In first-of-kind pact, schools could join weapons research at Los Alamos

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For Los Alamos' anxious residents, the lab is a way of life

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I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the people who have supported me and Todd and, after his passing, Todd's family. This has been a difficult year and the encouragement that we received from so many of you was invaluable.

As we give thanks to God today I ask you to please keep Sara, John, and Tia, Todd's parents John and Marie, brother Dave, and sister Diana, in your prayers. This is the time of year when such a profound loss becomes even more palpable. As we continue to search for justice in this situation knowing that so many of you support us in this effort is inspiring.

I pray for God's blessings for all of you in the community and for the nation.

Thank you again,

John N. Horne

By Sue Vorenberg
Tribune Reporter
November 24, 2005

Two words: government paperwork.

That's why the National Nuclear Security Agency expects a short delay before it's ready to announce who will operate Los Alamos National Laboratory, agency spokesman Al Stotts said.

The decision was originally scheduled for Dec. 1, but on Wednesday Stotts said the agency pushed it back to better prepare its report analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the two bidders: Lockheed Martin and the University of Texas team or the University of California and Bechtel.

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A comment by "lucky" from the

http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/2005/11/doe-wont-meet-deadline-to-announce-los.html

post:
_______________________________________

DOE can't announce yet because they haven't been told the answer. Senator Domenici, who supports UC, and Representative Hobson, who despises UC haven't resolved it yet. Same players with the RFP. Pete insisted that the bid "must not discriminate" against the current contractor, UC. This meant the UC must agree that the RFP was something they would bid on; which allowed them to dictate a lot of the RFP's key features. The RFP was then such a slanted POS that no one but UC would bid it. Hobson intervened, and insisted that there couldn't be a "competition" with only one bidder. This led to the major revisions of the RFP, though it was still so slanted that only LM/Sandia (an insider) bid.

This "non political" competition is nothing but politics. Left to their own resources DOE would go with LM/Sandia, but they won't get to make the decision. No surprise there.

I hope Hobson wins this one, but its a tough call. Hobson has a plan for the future of the weapons complex, Domenici simply wants pork. Domenici loaded up the DOE piece of the Energy Appropriations bill, just passed, with $450 million in pure pork, splattered around with a shot gun, so he has lot of favors due him. He's good at this game. Too bad he doesn't care about bringing the best management possible to LANL, and serving the interests of the nation. Sometimes our "democracy" makes me shake my head.

By MATT WILLIAMS Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 23, 2005 5:49 PM MST

CU-Boulder engineering student John Shelton doesn't work with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, but he said he and other engineering students favor a proposed CU-Los Alamos partnership.

“Most of us consider this a boon, something that will help us when we graduate,” Shelton said about projected internships, jobs and relationships that likely would be generated at “LANL.”

Shelton, a junior, is among what one student leader called a “vast majority” of students in physics and engineering who support CU's joining an academic network of 19 prominent universities to conduct research at LANL. It's a supporting project in a bid led by the University of Texas and defense contractor Lockheed Martin to operate the New Mexico-based lab.

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ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor

Employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory are pessimistic about future job-related issues, according to a recent survey by the Coalition for LANL Excellence, an ad hoc community organization.

A week before the anticipated announcement about the fate of the contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory, CLE members said their survey reflected a skeptical view by workers at all levels of the laboratory.

"There is a critical time from now to one year from now to influence how many people go out the door," said Joe Ladish of the coalition.

The study, developed by coalition members with professional consultation, was conducted between June and September. It maps a sample of employees' perceptions about the coming changes.

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WASHINGTON - The Energy Department said Wednesday that it won't meet the Dec. 1 deadline to announce a winner of the contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory.

According to a posting on the National Nuclear Safety Administration's Web site, the leader of the contract selection board asked for more time to complete its report.

The official "does not anticipate a significant delay in the selection decision," according to the NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency that's part of the DOE. No new deadline was announced.

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By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican
November 23, 2005

The National Nuclear Security Administration has delayed an announcement of who will take over management of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Tyler Przybylek, who chairs a group of NNSA employees studying the matter, has requested more time to analyze proposals from two groups competing to take over the labs management.

A decision on the selection of a contractor to manage and operate Los Alamos National Laboratory will not be announced on Dec. 1 as previously projected, a Wednesday morning news release from NNSA said.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: MATT LETOURNEAU

NOVEMBER 23, 2005
(202) 224-7098



DOMENICI STATEMENT ON DELAY OF LOS ALAMOS LAB CONTRACT DECISION


WASHINGTON – In response to news that the Department of
Energy will not announce the winning bid to operate Los Alamos
National Laboratory on Dec. 1, as previously expected, U.S. Senator
Pete Domenici issued the following statement:


"I have been notified that there will be a brief delay in announcing
the winning bid to operate Los Alamos National Laboratory.


"I continue to have faith that DOE is conducting a fair, thorough and
exhaustive evaluation of the two bids, and I'm confident that no
matter what the outcome, the lab will have an excellent management
team and the employees will be well treated. I do not expect this
delay to inhibit lab operations."


Domenici serves as chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Development
Appropriations Committee which funds the DOE national laboratories.



--30--

Several people have alerted me to the following. New estimate of the announcement date is December 9.

--Doug


From:

http://www.doeal.gov/lanlcontractrecompete/New.htm

November 23, 2005:
A decision on the selection of a contractor to manage and operate Los Alamos National Laboratory will not be announced on December 1 as previously projected. The Chairman of the Source Evaluation Board has requested more time for the board to complete its report to the Source Selection Official.
The Source Evaluation Board Chairman said that he does not anticipate a significant delay in the selection decision.

By Shaun Bishop
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
sbishop@media.ucla.edu

University of California President Robert Dynes – who insists people call him "Bob" – has long sought to cultivate an image of accessibility.

During his 15 years as chancellor of UC San Diego, he headlined a "Chancellor's Challenge" in which he ran with students to raise money for scholarships. When he visited UCLA two years ago, he did an informal run around the campus perimeter with students, faculty and staff. He met with UCLA student-leaders over breakfast in May 2004.

Ben Margot/The Associated Aress UC President Robert Dynes reacts during the Board of Regents’ meeting last week in Berkeley, during which he pledged to improve UC policies on public notification about employee salaries.

But last week the reputation for openness in the university he leads took a hit when the San Francisco Chronicle revealed previously unreported compensation bonuses for UC employees totalling $871 million last year. The figures were not included in a consultant's report in September, which said UC salaries lagged behind market rates.

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Why isn't NNSA jumpng all over this story? Is it because it was perpetrated by a Federal Employee instead of an incompetent M&O contractor?

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/11/22/build/nation/45-bomb-guard.inc

If you wish to post please post anonomously.

Shouldn't LANL (or DOE) have a stake in this?


Monday, November 21, 2005
Peak Oil resolution in U.S. House of Representaives

Global Public Media

In Brief: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States, in collaboration with other international allies, should establish an energy project with the magnitude, creativity, and sense of urgency that was incorporated in the `Man on the Moon' project to address the inevitable challenges of `Peak Oil'.

A peak oil bill has been filed in the House of Representatives with the support of the newly formed Peak Oil Caucus, founded by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (Rep, MD) and a number of co-sponsors. The members of the caucus are James McGovern, Vern Ehlers, TOM UDALL, Mark Udall, Raul Grijalva, Wayne Gilchrest, Jim Moran, Dennis Moore.

Co-sponsors are TOM UDALL, Virgil Goode, Raul Grijalva, Walter Jones, Tom Tancredo, Phil Gingrey, Randy Kuhl, Steve Israel, G.K. Butterfield, Mark Udall, Chris Van Hollen, Wayne Gilchrest, Al Wynn, John McHugh, Jim Moran, and Dennis Moore.

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States, in collaboration with other international allies, should establish an energy project with the magnitude, creativity, and sense of urgency that was incorporated in the `Man on the Moon' project to address the inevitable challenges of `Peak Oil'.

[See first Comment for text of Resolution]

Doug, I was browsing through October's posts, and came across this gem of a comment from Finknottle on the

http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/2005/10/kuckuck-lauds-improvements-by-lab.html

post.

I wonder if you could consider it for "comment of the week", albeit a bit late. Congratulations on the exclusive deal, by the way!

:-)
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In a stunning deal which shook the media industry, "Baghdad Bob" Jim Fallin and Doug Roberts of "LANL, The Real Story" fame put their former acrimony behind them as they inked a deal wherein the popular Real Story web log, or blog, will be given exclusive rights for daily communications on the transition.

More details on this surprise merger to follow.

By Patricia Bobek — Staff Writer
Published Monday November 21, 2005

While the fate of the University of California’s contract with the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) remains undecided, students opposing the UC’s role in the lab will host “The University’s Role In War and Peace” presentation tonight in the MultiCultural Center Theater at 7.

The free event includes a four-scene original play titled, “I Went to the University of California and All I Got Was This Stupid Thermo-Nuclear Weapon,” and features interpretive dances, as well as a dramatization of a UC Regents meeting.

Will Parish, one of the event’s organizers and a coordinator for the UC Nuclear Free campaign at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in Santa Barbara, said fellow activists will wear nuclear warhead costumes today in the Arbor as advertisement for tonight’s event. He said the group is also hosting a rally against UC lab management tomorrow in Storke Plaza at noon.

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From John Fleck's Albuquerque Journal Science blog:

02:44pm MST, 21 Nov 2005 A common question I hear these days: "Who do you think will get the Los Alamos contract?" The question is based on a false premise: that because I've been covering the nuclear weapons complex for a while, I might have some knowledge with regard to this question. That misunderstands a journalist's expertise. We don't really know much ourselves, so much as know who to ask. But I do ask, and almost all the smart people I know think the Lockheed Martin/University of Texas team is a sure bet. That doesn't mean LM/UT is a sure bet. That's just the overwhelming conventional wisdom. Ralph Haurwitz did a good job in a Cox News Service story this morning of

getting the conventional wisdom down on paper:

"People at the lab are more comfortable with UC because they know it," but conventional wisdom holds that the incumbent is at a disadvantage, said Tom Bowles, the lab's chief science officer and a member of its executive board.

After all, Bowles and other University of California employees acknowledge, if the government was satisfied with current management, why would it have opened the contract to competition?

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Could you please post anonymously from TryingToUnderstand.
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From the Albuquerque Journal's Article, "LANL Deal May Mean Windfall," when asked about paying GRT, "The gross receipts tax will be paid. That's understood," said UT/Lockheed spokesman Rod Geer."
"A UC/Bechtel spokesman said he didn't have enough information to comment." In my opinion, incompetence is not the driver for this response as suggested by an earlier post by Snake Lips. Rather it is an attempt to not disclose the truth.

For the past six months, UC officials have been actively lobbying the state for the UC portion (approximately 2/3) of the bid to be tax-exempt. This can be confirmed by contacting the New Mexico State Tax and Revenue Department. UC continues to behave in a way that suggests little regard for our community.

Perhaps to not think about what has been going on at the Lab for the last year, I've taken an interest in local government and will try to relay information as accurately as possible:

(1) The County obviously does not receive GRT from the current Lab contract nor does it receive property taxes from most of the land in the County since it is owned by DOE. Therefore its tax base is GRT from Lab subcontractors, GRT from construction, GRT from limited retail and property taxes from individual and commercial property owners. When the Admiral instituted changes in the contingent work force program, he did so with total disregard to the impact of the local economy. Therefore, if you use the Library or Aquatic Center, you will have noticed reduced operating hours.
(2) The County used to get DOE support payments like the schools do now. Sometime in the last 10 years, the County received a one-time payment and the promise that DOE would transfer thousands and thousands of acres to the County for housing and development. The DOE has only transferred a few hundred acres to date.
(3) The infrastructure in this town is OLD as are the buildings. If UC is successful at its lobbying efforts as well as the rebid, the only way to pay for replacement will be through substantial property tax increases to those of us who own homes here.
(4) I contacted a County Council person regarding the rumor about Lockheed buying property from the County. This appears to be untrue but what he did tell me is that the County and schools are attempting to move its facilities (old Quonset huts) from the area across from Smith's so that a retailer like Target can be brought to town. The problem may be that there is not enough money to move and build new facilities unless the GRT base is increased.

IN SPITE of rumors flying around town last week, the decision regarding who will run the Los Alamos National Laboratory probably will not be made before the Dec. 1 deadline. We join almost the entire California congressional delegation in backing the bid of the partnership of the University of California and Bechtel Corp.

The University of California has run the laboratory since 1943. Previously the contract was not open to bids. After a string of management and security problems, the Department of Energy decided to open the contract to bid, raising the possibility UC could lose the lucrative contract.

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After 62 years, contract to run famed weapons lab is up for grabs; UT-Lockheed Martin team finds out winner soon.

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, November 21, 2005

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — It's written on concrete at the entrance to Los Alamos National Laboratory in the mountains of northern New Mexico: "Operated by University of California for the Department of Energy."

Those words could soon be out of date.

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Another good comment, by "dhartman" from the

http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/2005/11/lanl-deal-may-mean-windfall.html

post:
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[I'm giving this one "equal time" at the top. --Doug]

"lucky is misguided with respect to spending money on schools. There is little correlation with spending money and pupil achievement. That is the big lie of the NEA. The primary correlation for student achievement is parental interest and participation. As long as education is denigrated and kids drop out (44% drop out rate in the Santa Fe Public High Schools) in Northern New Mexico, there will be no improvement. If the parents don't care, then neither will the students. Paying higher salaries to the same teachers will have no effect on student performance."

[Especially within the confines of the infamous "No Student Left Behind", or, as they are referred to by teachers, the "No Teacher Left Standing" policies of the current administration. Throwing money at the educational system won't help much until a lot of what is dysfunctional there is repaired. Listening to reports of the paperwork morass the teachers in the Los Alamos school system find themselves buried under is more than just a little bit mindful of the present LANL work environment. However, for those bitching about LANL pay raises in recent time, stop for a moment and look at what the teachers have been getting. --Doug]

By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican
November 20, 2005

The U.S. Department of Energy will spend more than $4.4 billion in New Mexico this year.

As the sun sets on the old way of managing Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of New Mexico's senior economists and two nuclear-disarmament groups argue about whether that's a good thing for the state.

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By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican
November 20, 2005

Tom and Ruth Buhl's three children left Santa Fe and earned college degrees in California. Some scientists quit their jobs and started their own companies. And every day at quitting time, thousands of expensive cars and trucks zip downhill from Los Alamos National Laboratory and spread more than $1 billion into the local economy.

The University of California, which now manages the lab, has made a historic impact on Northern New Mexico over the past 60 years, providing a lifeline between a thriving coastal economy and an isolated mountain state.

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Comment from the

http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/2005/11/lanl-deal-may-mean-windfall.html

post:
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[Well said, Lucky. --Doug]

So, why is paying the GRT a bad thing? Failure to pay it seems to be subsidy to the Federal Government by one of the poorest states. If not for heavy LANL lobbying (illegal by the way) of the state legislature, the GRT would have been collected a long time ago. Sandia pays the GRT and they get along just fine.

The issue should be; how to allocate the money. It would be wonderful if we could use most of it to improve the schools in Northern New Mexico. If this isn't addressed the GRT may just disappear into the general corruption at the Legislature.

By John Arnold
Journal Staff Writer

The pending change in management of Los Alamos National Laboratory will mean money in the bank for the state of New Mexico— as much as $65 million more.

Unlike the lab's current nonprofit manager, the University of California, the new contractor will likely be subject to the state's gross receipts tax, according to Kelly O'Donnell, state Taxation and Revenue Department tax policy director.

The department estimates the new lab manager— to be announced on or around Dec. 1— would generate an additional $65 million in gross receipts taxes for the state's general fund.

Under the state's tax laws, nonprofit organizations are exempt from paying taxes on gross revenues— in the lab's case, federal money to run LANL. The two teams competing for the $2.2 billion contract include both for-profit and nonprofit entities. The University of California is partnering with Bechtel Corp., while the University of Texas is teaming up with Lockheed-Martin.

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By Michelle Locke
The Associated Press

BERKELEY, Calif.— A decision on who will run the Los Alamos National Laboratory probably won't be announced before Dec. 1, University of California Vice President Robert Foley said Thursday.

Rumors have been swirling that an announcement is imminent, but Foley told UC's governing Board of Regents he's not expecting that to happen soon.

In Albuquerque, National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Al Stotts agreed there would be no announcement before Dec. 1.

He said the Source Evaluation Board was still preparing a report analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each team bidding on the contract.

The report will then be sent to the acting deputy administrator for defense programs at the NNSA, Thomas D'Agostino, who will pick the winner, Stotts said.

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Associated Press Writer Heather Clark in Albuquerque contributed to this story.

By Michelle Locke
Associated Press
November 18, 2005

BERKELEY, Calif. - A decision on who will run the Los Alamos National Laboratory probably won't be announced before Dec. 1, University of California Vice President Robert Foley said Thursday.

Rumors have been swirling that an announcement is imminent, but Foley told UC's governing Board of Regents he's not e