Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
10/23/2015
A newly released version of a Department of Energy (DOE) Inspector General’s Office (IG) report on coordinated efforts between the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMC) to secure a noncompetitive extension of the management and operating contract at SNL reveals the role of former National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials in an alleged lobbying strategy. The original IG report released last November revealed SNL’s use of federal contract funds to lobby federal and congressional officials to extend LMC subsidiary Sandia Corp.’s contract, in violation of federal regulations.
The efforts began in 2009 with the creation of a contract strategy team consisting of three consultants who provided guidance on outreach to federal officials and members of Congress. The newly released report, prior versions of which were redacted, notes that Everet Beckner, a former NNSA deputy administrator and onetime Lockheed Martin vice president, was one of three paid consultants on the team. Beckner initially “did not believe that he was providing advice to SNL employees concerning contract extension strategy, but rather believed that the discussions were solely with LMC personnel,” the report says. He believed the team’s goal “was to assist LMC on their strategy to retain the contract. His role was to provide guidance on NNSA priorities if the contract was recompeted,” it adds.
Heather Wilson, a former member of the House of Representatives, was another one of the consultants. Among her recommendations, Wilson advised that former NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks and Beckner “be contacted for advice and insights into means of influencing the NNSA.” The third consultant was an unidentified NNSA site office official who “believed that the ‘critical actions’ the Strategy Team performed to achieve their goals were mainly to produce a brochure to document the accomplishments that Sandia had achieved.”
Wilson asked if then-Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) “thought highly” of LMC’s management of SNL and whether then-Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) would call then-Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to advise against a contract recompete, according to the report. It also cites an August 2009 meeting with then-Rep. (and now Senator) Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) “where part of the meeting was devoted to questions about the M&O Contract.” A December 2010 email with redacted names notes that “you would be speaking imminently w/ Dan Poneman [Deputy Secretary of Energy] to gauge the temperature of the water in the office.” A January 2011 email says, “Did I tell you that I met with both Bingaman and Heinrich on this issue?”
In a March 2004 email, SNL legal counsel said it “believed that segregating LMC ‘Business Development’ from the ‘M&O of Sandia’ would be appropriate” and added, “Neither Sandia nor NNSA could tolerate even the suspicion that Sandia was assisting in the competition at prime contract expense.” However, some emails between SNL and LMC officials highlighted the contractor’s 1998 and 2003 contract extensions as a precedent for the use of federal funding to secure extensions.
Sandia Corp. is required to pay $4.78 million to settle the lobbying claims, which a lab spokeswoman previously said “will be paid from fee earned for operating the labs.” The DOE in May posted a “full and open competition” notice for management of the facility. The current contract expires in April 2016, but the NNSA has exercised an additional one-year option that will extend the period of performance to April 2017.
