National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Frank Klotz on Tuesday highlighted the Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, staffing incentives, and changes in contractor procedures as factors that will increase the NNSA’s design laboratories’ abilities to recruit and retain top talent.
Asked at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing how the Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories can stay competitive in recruiting qualified personnel despite the pull of the private sector, Klotz said the LDRD program for basic science and exploratory research at the two labs is key. “This is a program which allows the lab directors to have brand new graduates of our top physics, chemistry, [and] engineering programs to do work at the lab while they wait for their security clearances [and] while they’re getting integrated into the work of the laboratory,” he said. He also said employment incentives help lab work appeal to new recruits. These include hiring bonuses, retention bonuses, and opportunities to teach at area universities, such as the University of New Mexico, he said.
Klotz also noted that a new NNSA procedure over the last few years meant to help the labs is to release a draft request for proposal (RFP) before issuing the final version. “That is the opportunity for all stakeholders, whether it’s the local community, local academic institutions, members of Congress and their staff, contractors, [and] potential contractors, to comment on what we have put into the draft RFP before we send it out.”
