Saturday, October 27, 2012
Another Los Alamos managed project over budget and behind schedule
Another Los Alamos managed project over budget and behind schedule.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coming on the heels of the recent LANL radiation safety incident this can only be bad news.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/10/26/north/213m-project-not-working.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
Will the contractor for Los Alamos get a contract extension in light of the events of the past year?
Doesn't matter. They've stacked up several years of extensions already. By the time they're all gone, this will be but a distant hazy memory that a few well-placed campaign contributions will take care of.
Actually, this is a Los Alamos project managed by Livermore flunkouts, with the help of Bechtel.
So whats new? Standard operating procedure, 4 Billion to 6 Billion for the CMRR, hey whats a few billion in cost over-runs.
What a sad state of affairs at this once prestigious lab.
NNSA has a site office at Los Alamos, wonder what they do?
NNSA has a site office at Los Alamos, wonder what they do?
October 27, 2012 6:37 PM
There is no one at the Los Alamos Site Office who has any technical competence in any field; weapons, science, safety, security, they are all totally incompetent pencil-pushers. They actually rely on the Santa Fe - based anti-nukes to tell them what to look for and care about. Absolutely atrocious, and no one seems to care, especially not DC-based NNSA. THe failures at LANL are in my opinion almost completely traceable to LASO incompetence. They wield their authority like a hammer, require nonsensical actions, and refuse to recognize the value of real competence at LANL. They relish their authoritative interactions with LANL underlings whom they can intimidate, and stay away from the upper management.
Sure, there's enough blame to share - with both local and headquarters NNSA - on the government side, but, in the end, the government is only a small part of the larger problem. The larger part is the leadership of the local contractor.
NNSA will have new leadership, but the problems will be enduring - unless there is a major change in the contractor. The UC influence that permitted the scandals, that in turn led to the creation of NNSA, is still strongly present today.
The solution to the current mess is not as simple as shuffling personnell in NNSA, which looks a lot like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Does anyone know who the Sub Contractors are, who installed the fiber optic cables? or who the Inspector was that approved the installation? Project Manager maybe?
Does anyone know who the Sub Contractors are, who installed the fiber optic cables? or who the Inspector was that approved the installation? Project Manager maybe?
October 28, 2012 9:58 AM
Interesting questions, but not relevant to addressing the key issue. If you want true and lasting change, look at what Gates did in the Air Force weapons case. He fired the top two leaders, as well as a couple dozen high ranking officers, about half of them General officers.
Ironic that this particular thread dovetails into the thread posted below it..."lack of qualifications"
McMillan quickly informed Lab employees that they had "self-informed" NNSA this issue. That's a poor excuse for having cost the taxpayers several million of dollars on this cluster-f**k. Let see if McMillan can slither himself out this one. Why not, slime is good at this.
Kiewit New Mexico is one contractor
The NNSA statment indicated that the problem had been known since 2010, so 'self report' doesn't cut it.
Being Lab Director is about more than buying the most expensive house in the county and holding all- hands meetings to present slide shows of summer trips. At least it used to be about more.
If you use NNSAs own formula for 50% contingency funds in a construction project, then what happened to the 70M here? The contractor now needs more time than the 7 years that have already been spent and another 25M!!!
Seven years to build a fence that doesn't work.
With credibility like this, wonder what else doesn't work?
Its a fence around the perimeter of TA 55, with a few camera and sensors. 7 years and 213 million later all of the rats abandoned the ship, didnt have the balls to tell NNSA, and ran away. Left some poor sucker there to take the blame. I hope Congress has a hearing on this one. LANS should show cause as to why they should continue with the contract.
"Being Lab Director is about more than buying the most expensive house in the county and holding all- hands meetings to present slide shows of summer trips."
Since Bechtel took over management of the labs for a fat annual profit in 2006 things have really changed, haven't they?
Just wait until Brett Knapp is crowned LANL Director in a couple of years after Charlie leaves with his fat pension and run back to California for the good life.
Does Charlie "MIT" McMillan really think that "self-reporting" solved the problem!
Come on, give Charlie a break.
He is doing the best he can. It is not his fault that he has neither background nor experience in the issues that keep popping up. He was the result, after all, of an exhaustive search process.
Just imagine what it would be like under someone else, and then be sure to properly thank those that selected him.
Just wait until Brett Knapp is crowned LANL Director in a couple of years after Charlie leaves with his fat pension and run back to California for the good life.
October 29, 2012 11:01 PM
Thank God I'll be retired when this "clown" takes over. The Pueblos and surrounding communities will love this bigot!
Post a Comment