Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
6/6/2014
Michael Lempke, the senior National Nuclear Security Administration official who served as the Source Selection Authority for the agency’s first Y-12/Pantex contract decision, is leaving the agency for a position as vice president at Systems Planning & Analysis. Lempke most recently served as the NNSA’s Associate Principal Deputy Administrator and its Chief Security Officer, where he moved after helping stand up the agency’s Office of Infrastructure and Operations when he moved from his slot as the head of the Naval Reactors Field Office in 2012.
Lempke’s last day will be June 13. His successor has not yet been named. "I know that my experiences here, as all experiences ultimately do, will shape me as I move to the next step in my professional journey. … My exploration of alternatives began some months ago and led me to an opportunity to once again work with one of the best leaders I have ever had the pleasure to work for," Lempke said in a June 2 message to colleagues, referring to Systems Planning & Analysis President & CEO Kirkland Donald, the former head of the NNSA’s Office of Naval Reactors.
Lempke: Departure Not Because of Klotz
Lempke came from the Office of Naval Reactors to help stand up the NNSA’s Office of Infrastructure and Operations, which was designed to strengthen the link between headquarters and the field, and to serve as the direct link between the NNSA’s field offices and headquarters, where he also held the role of Associate Principal Deputy Administrator. Lempke also served as the Source Selection Authority (SSA) for the agency’s much-scrutinized Y-12/Pantex decision, selecting Bechtel-led Consolidated Nuclear Security for the contract after elevating the team’s scores based on his experience with Bechtel during the management consolidation of the Bettis and Knolls atomic power laboratories. Lempke’s decision was scrutinized during protests by a team led Y-12 and Pantex incumbent Babcock & Wilcox (and a separate team led by Jacobs/Fluor), and he was replaced as the SSA when the NNSA reaffirmed its selection of Bechtel in November.
In his farewell message, Lempke made a point of noting that his decision was not related to new NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz. "I want to stress that my decision to leave is in no way reflective on Frank Klotz’s leadership—quite to the contrary," he said. "In each of my conversations with him, before and after his swearing in as our Administrator, I have been extremely impressed. As I told him, I believe he is exactly what the NNSA needs."
