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’ ability to recruit and retain top talent.
Asked at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing how the Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico 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.” Stakeholder feedback can therefore be incorporated into the finalized RFP.
GAO Official Outlines NNSA Management Challenges
David Trimble, director of natural resources and environment at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), testified at the hearing that the NNSA faces “ongoing challenges in modernizing the nuclear security enterprise, including challenges in managing life extension programs (LEP), contracts and major projects, and the alignment of plans with future budgets.”
Trimble pointed to concerns previously raised by the GAO regarding cost, schedule, and staffing changes in life-extension programs such as the B61-12 warhead, ineffective contract and major project management within original cost and schedule estimates, and problems with aligning the agency’s future budget estimates with those of the president’s budget request. In particular, Trimble noted that DOE’s 10-year budget estimate of $56.4 billion for nuclear modernization activities was found to have exceeded the president’s budget estimate by $4.2 billion.
