The decision to compete for the ORNL contract came after an unpredictable series of events beginning last summer. Lockheed Martin has managed the lab for 15 years and been an excellent partner for us, as we built joint programs unique in the DOE arena. But by last fall, it was clear that DOE would bid rather than renew the contract, and that Lockheed Martin might not compete in this expensive and time-consuming process. UT Senior Vice President Homer Fisher formed a committee of faculty and administrative leaders to investigate UT's options. Tom Callcott and I were appointed to the committee, along with Alex Zucker, a retired ORNL Associate Director who teaches a physics course each spring.

Our committee spent the fall semester in an endless round of meetings with potential partners. It was clear that UT needed a partner in the bid process, preferably a corporation with experience in operating large R&D efforts. We talked to many candidates: companies, research institutes, and university consortia. We ate far too many sweet rolls and drank too much coffee. But the harm to eating habits and loss of physics time were worthwhile, as we learned much about the process and ourselves. For example, it became clear that UT was viewed by all as a favorite partner, in view of our long history of joint programs at ORNL.

The final choice after this exhaustive search was Battelle, a technology development corporation based in Columbus, Ohio. We formed a partnership in early December as DOE was issuing the draft request for proposal (RFP). Battelle is a fine high-tech company, operating its own R&D labs in Columbus and Geneva, running the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for DOE, and serving as an active member on new operating teams for the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Lab. Battelle's operational expertise and UT's science involvement at ORNL make a formidable team for this contest. We will form the UT-Battelle LLC as the managing entity of the laboratory. Our team color is green, the logo has been assigned, and hats have been issued. Now all we need to do is win.

Other important partners have joined our team to round out experience and qualifications being offered to DOE. These include six universities (Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech), the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Duke Engineering and Services, and Babcock and Wilcox. This is an excellent team.

The DOE procurement process is daunting; the competition a marathon. We have spent enormous amounts of time developing our proposal. I lead the science and technology aspects of the proposal, as we work toward a late summer deadline. DOE's final RFP, issued in April, is a 400-page tome. We have worked hard to refine our message of how we plan to manage S&T at ORNL.

So, why should we run this marathon for the ORNL contract? Because we feel that we can help the science future of the laboratory. No institution beyond Oak Ridge is so involved in and so understands the science of ORNL as the University of Tennessee. Indeed, UT science is "tied at the hip" to ORNL. As DOE calls for greater university involvement in its laboratories and more partnerships, we have much to contribute. Our university, especially our department, has built many joint programs at ORNL. The Science Alliance has funded joint faculty and equipment, and increased stipends for graduate students. These partnerships have certainly helped UT and the physics department, and have also brought much to the laboratory. We look forward to increasing these partnerships at Oak Ridge with UT and with other universities and industries.

It will be late fall before this marathon is over and DOE announces the winner. In a process marked by surprise and irony, our recent competition is Lockheed Martin teamed with the Universities Research Association (they run Fermilab). This is a real contest requiring both teams to work hard to sharpen the message of how we will benefit ORNL. The real winner will be the laboratory, and we hope that the winning color is green—UT-Battelle green.

Back to Cross Sections, Spring 1999 issue.