A joint venture consisting of several New Mexico-headquartered small businesses will support the recently awarded management and operations contract for the Sandia National Laboratories, contractor Sandia Technical Partners (STP) announced Tuesday.
The new firm was formed “to enhance small business participation” in the contract, which the National Nuclear Security Administration in December awarded to National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia (NTESS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International.
STP is managed by Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA) and also includes member entities Strategic Management Solutions LLC, Innovative Technology Partnerships LLC, and Sigma Science Inc. The companies offer technical support, project management, consulting, engineering, nuclear safety, and environmental management services.
Innovative Technology Partnerships lists on its website teaming partners that currently support other NNSA sites and projects; those teaming companies include Centerra Group, Honeywell FM&T, Lockheed Martin, and Longenecker & Associates.
LATA has appointed Carl Beard to lead the joint venture, the announcement said. Beard most recently served as group vice president of AECOM’s nuclear and environment branch.
NTESS last month received NNSA approval to begin transition activities to take over management of the site on May 1. STP said it is helping NTESS in the transition and that it will then assist the prime contractor “in developing and implementing its small business outreach programs that enhance opportunities for the New Mexico small business community to support the SNL mission.”
Sandia will be led by DOE veteran Stephen Younger as director. The M&O contract is worth $2.6 billion per year over a decade, including all options. STP did not respond to a request for more information on its arrangement with NTESS.
The United States should continue modernizing its nuclear arsenal while it considers pursuing new nuclear capabilities, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said Monday at the American Enterprise Institute.
“We need to modernize our nuclear arsenal and missile defenses,” Cotton said at an event on renewing American strength abroad, where he also called for rebuilding the U.S. military and increasing the defense budget.
Cotton noted that President Donald Trump has ordered a new Nuclear Posture Review to set the nation’s nuclear policy in the coming years. The previous Obama administration last crafted a Nuclear Posture Review in 2010.
Since then, Cotton said, “Russia has developed extended range cruise missiles, violating its treaty agreements, and faced no consequences, and this is while Russia reportedly has a 10-to-1 advantage over us and our NATO allies in tactical nuclear warheads.”
Cotton was referring to Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibits the two countries from fielding surface-to-surface ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
The Congressional Research Service has said that while the United States has roughly 760 tactical nuclear weapons – about 200 of which are deployed in Europe – Russia is believed to have between 1,000 and 6,000 such nonstrategic nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
“We must at a minimum study new nuclear capabilities while we fully fund current modernization plans,” Cotton also said at the event, though he did not specify the type or purpose of such capabilities. He added that “nuclear strategy can no longer be solely bilateral,” noting that China’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal should also be addressed. Cotton’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
