LANL Contract to Open for Bid

The contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory will open for competitive bidding in 2005, possibly ending the University of California’s six decades of running the nation’s prime nuclear laboratory. “The university bears responsibility for the systemic management failures that came to light in 2002,” Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in announcing the opening of the bid process.

His decision was based on recommendations in a review ordered last year after two internal investigators at Los Alamos were fired for going public with allegations of widespread fraud and misuse of government funds. Their charges came on the heels of a string of problems at Los Alamos that date back to the Wen Ho Lee security scandal in 1999.

Abraham encouraged UC to bid on the next contract. UC President Richard Atkinson said that “my instinct continues to be to compete” for the contract, but he added that it may not be in UC’s best interest to continue to manage the lab and that the ultimate decision rests with the university’s board of regents.