Battelle, the managing contractor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2000, needs to prepare for the "likelihood" that the U.S. Department of Energy will put the contract up for bids before it expires next year, ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a message to the lab staff.
Mason said UT-Battelle - a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Battelle Memorial Institute - could make a strong case for a contract extension, based on its work the past nine years and the challenging times facing ORNL. The lab may take on dozens of new projects in coming months as part of the government's economic stimulus package, he said.
"Nonetheless, we must make every preparation to compete vigorously and win a competition," he said in a memo distributed to lab staff on Friday.
Mason's sentiments echoed those of Battelle CEO Jeff Wadsworth, who said he expected the DOE to put the Oak Ridge contract up for bids.
"Unless we hear something, we fully anticipate that," he said. "We will compete as vigorously as you can imagine to keep that contract. We think we've been a great team working there. I think everyone agrees with that. It's a source of pride for both institutions, UT and Battelle."
The current contract expires at the end of March 2010, and DOE typically makes a decision on whether to recompete major contracts about a year before expiration.
DOE's Oak Ridge manager, Gerald Boyd, earlier this year said he'd made a recommendation on the ORNL contract package and sent it to DOE headquarters in Washington, but he wouldn't say whether or not he recommended a contract extension for UT-Battelle.
Source: Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Battelle, the managing contractor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2000, needs to prepare for the "likelihood" that the U.S. Department of Energy will put the contract up for bids before it expires next year, ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a message to the lab staff.
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