The University of California on Wednesday made all but official what has until now been merely “likely”: that the longtime Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) manager plans to compete for the next contract to manage that critical Energy Department facility.
“It is anticipated that Regents’ approval for the formal bid submission will be requested at the November 2017 Regents meeting or earlier, depending on the timing of the release of the final RFP [request for proposal],” Janet Napolitano, the university’s president, wrote in a memo to members of the Board of Regents’ national laboratories subcommittee.
The memo was posted online ahead of a Wednesday regents meeting at the University of California, San Diego. Until the memo, the university had said only it was “likely” to bid on the next LANL management contract.
Since 2006, University of California has been a senior partner in Los Alamos National Security: prime management and operations contractor for LANL. The team also includes senior industry partner Bechtel National, along with AECOM and BWX Technologies. The consortium holds a $2-billion-per-year management contract that expires Sept. 30, 2018.
DOE decided not to pick up additional options on the incumbent’s contract after a 2014 underground radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant transuranic waste disposal facility near Carlsbad, N.M. The leak was blamed on a container of waste from LANL.
The University of California had managed LANL on its own before 2006.
Besides the University of California, the University of Texas plans to lead a bid for the next LANL management contract. The University of New Mexico is also in the hunt, though it has not confirmed whether it will lead its own bid or join someone else’s.
