Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
7/17/2015
The relationship between the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the contractors managing its laboratories must be made stronger to benefit the U.S. nuclear modernization program, according to Thomas D’Agostino, former NNSA administrator.
“In order to effectively modernize our infrastructure, we need to have a different type of relationship between the federal government and contractors,” D’Agostino, now senior vice president of strategic planning and development at Fluor Corporation’s Government Group, said yesterday at a Peter Huessy breakfast seminar. “We have to strengthen our federal-contractor relationships,” he said. Calling for continued investments in nuclear modernization programs, particularly in the national laboratory system, D’Agostino said, “to not modernize, in my view, means a weaker America.”
D’Agostino emphasized scheduling, corporate reach back, and communications as the aspects of the relationship that require the most attention. Frequent program schedule changes could cause teams to “fall apart,” D’Agostino said. He noted that in order to facilitate the hiring of personnel to fill specific roles, also known as corporate reach back, the federal government must have “full access” to the companies operating its facilities. He added that an “open and fluid environment” of communication between contractors and federal personnel should be developed to streamline the contracting process between the two sides and address concerns regarding the ongoing friction in government-contractor relationships.
Asked by NS&D Monitor about the aging out of the nuclear weapons program knowledge base, D’Agostino called it “a real concern” that is being “addressed by real, meaningful work at the laboratories themselves.” The engineers at the national labs are “looking for a challenge that makes a difference” and should be provided with the resources and infrastructure necessary for technical work, he added. “The most important piece of this is the sense that there’s a national commitment behind doing something important,” D’Agostino said. “That’s what brought a lot of people into the program to begin with.”
