The University of Texas has not suspended work on its bid to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a spokesperson for the Austin-based institution said Friday.
“Bid preparation is in progress and will be reviewed by the Board of Regents later this month,” a University of Texas spokesperson wrote in an email to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
The UT Board of Regents raised some eyebrows last week when, instead of voting as scheduled to approve the university’s bid to manage the laboratory, it postponed any action on the plan to Nov. 27.
Bids are due Dec. 11. The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) solicited proposals for the next LANL management contract Oct. 18. The University of Texas is spending $4.5 million to prepare its offer.
The lab-management portion of the contract calls for more than $20 billion in work, including options, over 10 years. Annual lab-management fees for the winning bidder could be as high as $50 million, according to the NNSA’s final solicitation.
Los Alamos is now run by Los Alamos National Security: a coalition led by longtime lab manager University of California, senior industry partner Bechtel National, and industry teammates AECOM and BWXT Technologies. The NNSA decided not to renew the incumbent’s contract after a number of safety failures, including an underground radiation leak in 2014 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. The Department of Energy blamed the leak on a poorly packaged drum of waste from LANL.
The University of California’s Board of Regents is set to approve its bid for the follow-on LANL management contract Wednesday.
