LLNL - The True Story -

OK folks, assuming Scooby lets this post stand, here's the issue: Scooby says his rules are: Stay on topic! No foul or Inflammatory language! No name calling! That's it. After long experience reading (and occasionally posting on) this blog, I'd say that 90% of the posts that violate Scooby's rules stay posted, and 90% of the posts he deletes do not violate his rules. This arbitrary behavior suggests a couple of issues: 1) Scooby doesn't really give a rat's ass about this blog and is just muddling through for whatever reason; or 2) Scooby gets motivated by complaints about egregious posts, or gets pissed about complaints that he doesn't moderate the blog; or 3) he is unable to focus application of his "rules" and just deletes, when he gets pissed or just feels like it, whatever posts he doesn't like the tone or subject of, regardless of the rules. I would submit that a clear, and clearly applied, set of blog rules that tightens up the slop in ...

LLNL Public Affairs Thursday, March 28, 2013 Proposed salary reduction/closure day implementation postponed The Laboratory will delay implementation of the proposed salary reduction/closure day program until mid-June at the earliest. The impacts of the Continuing Resolution that was recently approved by Congress and signed by the President for the rest of the fiscal year are being assessed. It also is essential to fully understand the information that will come when the President submits his FY14 budget, tentatively set for the week of April 8, before making a decision on LLNL's path forward. The Laboratory's senior management team has been instructed to look at their remaining FY13 indirect budgets to seek additional savings to lessen the impact of any needed closure on employees. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available. Director Parney Albright understands that the uncertainty is difficult and he is committed to communicating information as...

Worth reading: * Why You Should Quit Your Job Now * Yahoo Finance, Mar 28, 2013 More than 12 million Americans are jobless and 40% of these individuals have been out of work for more than six months. The U.S. economy overall may be improving but many Americans still cannot find a job. This trend will only continue in the foreseeable future says James Altucher, managing director of Formula Capital, an asset management firm. The author and venture capitalist tells The Daily Ticker’s Aaron Task that the U.S. is moving toward an “employee-less society.” “If you’re just sitting still, shuffling paper, they’re going to fire you,” he argues. “Cubicles have become commodities. You’re like the walking dead if you have a job.” .... “If you’re stuck in a cubicle you have a target on your back…the CEO is looking to cut you out,” he declares. “Temp staffing is sweeping the nation.” The changing employment climate has made Altucher an advocate of employees quitting their jobs. He lists...

Your Favorite Blog Topic: NIF Hey the reprieve you non-NIF programs got from discriminatory overhead rates (even 2 years after the build was complete), well you can do your duty and give it right back to NIF. Oh wait, you don't have a choice. You non-NIF people should just go to Silicon Valley. Google hires good people all the time. The bad ones can stay as government contractors at a national lab as part of the white collar welfare program.  Weapons Complex Monitor March 27, 2013 NNSA Seeking To Shift $138 Million In Funds For National Ignition Facility With Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility set to run out of funding next month, the Department of Energy says it will need to reprogram $138 million to compensate for higher overhead rates that are being charged to the facility. In a reprogramming request sent to House and Senate authorizers and appropriators last week, DOE Deputy Chief Financial Officer Alison Doone said the Depa...

A posting from another thread that is worthy of some discussion: Anonymous said... I just have one question for folks who decided to take TCP1: If your pension is to be paid by LANS/LLNS, and they lose the DOE/NNSA contract at some point after you retire, what happens? The LLCs were created for the sole purpose of running the labs, and and will dissolve as corporate entities after that purpose ends. Do you trust that DOE/NNSA will effectively transfer the pension responsibilities to the new contractor with no detrimental changes?

HAPC assumption At the end of an older thread was this comment. Possibly interesting to many. Anonymous said... The HAPC is "frozen" at the start of a furlough claim has the faulty assumption that month 1 (most recent) of pay, X, is lower than month 36, Y. Even with a 10% reduction that is not true for many staff members. At the point in time when month 1 pay X*0.9<=Y, the highest HAPC is in the past.

The Continuing Resolution for FY13 has been approved and sent to the President. NNSA gets its full funding for FY13, no sequester cuts. Is this good news for the Lab? Does it mean furlough won't be necessary is year? ----------------------- House Approves Full Funding for NNSA Nuke Work March 21, 2013 By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives on Thursday approved full funding for nuclear weapons operations at a branch of the Energy Department in a budget that will keep the federal government operating through the rest of this fiscal year. The Senate voted for the continuing resolution legislation on Wednesday, leaving only President Obama's signature necessary for it to become law. National Nuclear Security Administration operations to maintain a safe, secure and reliable nuclear arsenal are to receive $7.6 billion in fiscal 2013, which ends on Sept. 30. That is the amount sought by the Obama administration. Another ...

The foreign national scientist issue at the NNSA labs is likely to become a significant flash-point once again. Anyone still remember Rep. Christopher Cox and the Wen Ho Lee fiasco from the mid-1990s? --- GOP REP: OBAMA ADMIN ALLOWS HUNDREDS OF CHINESE NATIONALS TO ACCESS SENSITIVE NASA FACILITY ... Hosts Brian Wilson and Larry O'Connor pressed the congressman on the details of the program that allows hundreds of Chinese nationals who work directly with the Chinese Liberation Army to access the Hampton, Va. facility for the National Institute of Aerospace. Wolf revealed that the program is not meant to be a cultural exchange as Americans are not invited to work in Beijing's counterpart facilities. Furthermore, when asked who was responsible for allowing the questionable access to Chinese nationals, Wolf responded simply, "The Obama Administration." www.breitbart.com/ Big-Government/2013/03/19/ GOP-Rep-Obama-Administration -Responsible-For-Chinese-National-...

An interesting piece concerning science and sequestration http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/03/the-sequester-is-going-to-devastate-us-science-research-for-decades/273925/

 With FY13 Funding Still Uncertain, Contractors Pause Sequester Plans Todd Jacobson – Weapons & Complex Monitor March 15, 2013 Massive across-the-board cuts still loom for the weapons complex, but contractors have appeared to pause any implementation plans until early next month. While weapons complex contractors have made various plans to deal with the cuts, with the potential impacts ranging from furloughs and layoffs to nothing, the added uncertainty of a Continuing Resolution that expires March 27 has driven contractors to take a wait-and-see attitude on implementing any plans. Nowhere is that more evident than at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which could be among the hardest hit of any NNSA site by the sequestration cuts. The lab has said it is facing a $120 million shortfall because of sequestration, and has said it will use a salary reduction and closure day plan to address the shortfall. Livermore Director Parney Albright could have pulled the tri...

Courtesy: Janice Sinclaire  Internet Outreach Coordinator We have several items that may interest you: The Fissile Materials Working Group has an interesting post about potential effects of budget cuts on nonproliferation programs; our Nuclear Suppliers Group roundtable is completed, and our roundtable on highly enriched uranium conversion is close to completion, with 7 articles posted. . These are great resources and I hope you find them of interest! Best, Janice Nonproliferation in a time of austerity: http://www.thebulletin.org/ web-edition/columnists/ fissile-materials-working- group/nonproliferation-time- of-austerity Paths forward for the Nuclear Suppliers Group: http://www.thebulletin.org/ web-edition/roundtables/paths- forward-the-nuclear-suppliers- group Highly enriched uranium: Less is more: http://www.thebulletin.org/ web-edition/roundtables/ highly-enriched-uranium-less- more -- Janice Sinclaire Internet Outreach Coordinator

   Something new has been added to the requirements for severance pay in a RIF: "Severance Program payments will not be made if the employee does not sign a mutual waiver and release of claims in a form provided by LLNS." Given the lawsuits that are now in court, it would seem that LLNS has learned a lesson.  Give those that are let go a severance package in exchange for the promise not to make claims.  It would be interesting to see what the wording of the release form contains, but that is probably company proprietary information.

It is really amazing that the top posts here that involve the major concerns of the NNSA labs (i.e., nuclear weapons, proliferation, test ban treaties, nuclear strategy, nuclear material inventories, etc., get few if any comments, but let a comment appear that involves unions, the lab upper management, LLC contractors, benefits, salary, furloughs, etc appear, and all of a sudden, the blogosphere explodes! So much for the national laboratory employees being proud of or wanting to preserve their time-honored history of serving this country's national security, or concern for the direction our national security is taking. It's all about their personal gripes and desires for retribution, just a microcosm of US society of today. Sad.

http://m.washingtonpost.com/ politics/gsa-executive-fired- after-las-vegas-scandal- ordered-to-get-his-job-back/ 2013/03/13/279ad318-8b5b-11e2- b63f-f53fb9f2fcb4_story.html but the travel restrictions resulting from all this no doubt remain in place.

From Riki Gay, SPSE: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9eIrcyRIQxyTWZIbF9DOEpTMTA/edit?usp=sharing

Rumor has it, April 12, 2013. First day off with out pay The story below has no direct connection with LLNL. http://wtvr.com/2013/02/17/federal-worker-furloughs-could-start-in-april/

Eyes On, Hands Off This policy of NNSA is getting a lot of press recently, as the momentum is shifting from less oversight of lab contractors to more oversight by federal groups. Somewhere it was mentioned that this policy came from Don Cook when the local sites reported to him, before this function was shifted to some other box in NNSA. As the policy is now history, when will Cook also be history?

Our new Nuclear Notebook focuses on US Forces. Hans Christensen and Stan Norris discuss New START, the Obama administrations long-awaited nuclear weapons targeting review, and much more in this free article from our March/April digital Journal. I hope you find it of interest! Best, Janice Nuclear Notebook: US nuclear forces, 2013: http://bos.sagepub.com/ content/69/2/77.full -- Janice Sinclaire Internet Outreach Coordinator Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

This month the SPSE-UPTE board sent a letter to Director Parney Albright voicing our concerns regarding recent changes in LLNS personnel policies and the direction of the Laboratory in general. You can read it at our Website:     http://www.upte.org/spse/ Parney20130301finalns.pdf Also, in our March Memo, we discuss how LLNS has reached a settlement with the nine SPSE-UPTE-represented skilled trades employees wrongly laid off in 2008:     http://www.upte.org/spse/ 201303MonthlyMemoFinal.pdf As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments. Thanks, Riki Gay, President, SPSE-UPTE Local 11 spse@spse.org 925-449-4846 ~~~~~~~~~~~

SHRM send out an email stating they are offering 3 Career Strategy workshops. The attachment says "As part of the Laboratory’s continued commitment to support employee development, there will be a series of informal workshops offered that center around career management." The courses are resume development, interview prep, & networking for career growth. Hmmmm....in these times of wage reductions, furloughs that are not furloughs, and all other budget uncertainty, this is a perfect way to further degrade our morale. Unless management is just thinking about our needs..

Email from SHRM stating: SHRM is offering 3 Career Strategy workshops sponsored by the T&DD in March and April. Please post and distribute the attached information to your organizations. The attachment says "As part of the Laboratory’s continued commitment to support employee development, there will be a series of informal workshops offered that center around career management." Then lists courses in resume development, interview preparation & networking. Hmmm.... looks suspiciously like they are helping us plan for when we are layed off? Or are they just that stupid to think we don't connect the dots? Way to boost morale even more.

So is an actually shooting War with North Korea on the horizon?... N. Korea Declares War Truce Deal Dead March 11, 2013 Global Security Newswire North Korea on Monday declared it would no longer be bound by the truce agreement that ended fighting in the Korean War, Kyodo News reported. The 1953 armistice is "completely nullified from today" and North Korea's weapons are primed for use at any moment, the state-controlled Rodong Sinmun newspaper said. Pyongyang is upset with new U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on last week that take aim at the North's currency smuggling and other criminal enterprises as well as its ability to acquire materials for its WMD programs. The economic penalties were punishment for the country's February nuclear test -- its third in less than a decade. North Korea since 1991 has threatened on more than six occasions to void the truce or questioned its validity, Peterson Institute for International Economics North Korea e...

I have heard from HR that in response to the sequester, LANS/LLNS may end (suspend) employer matching contributions to TCP2 401k plans. So I'm curious what folks generally have saved in their 401k accounts and how close they're to retirement from the Labs. Last month Fidelity reported - "The average account balances for participants in 401(k) plans for which Fidelity Investments is record keeper reached a record high of $77,300 for the quarter ended Dec. 31, confirmed Michael Shamrell, a Fidelity spokesman." This doesn't seem like much to retire on. March 10, 2013 at 10:21 AM Anonymous said... March 10, 2013 at 10:21 AM Most people on TCP-2 will NOT be retiring until the are 65 due to piss poor performace inthe stock market and chump change for contributions. So if you are young and hoping for a slot to fill think again. Most people close to retirment have about 7 years to go if the lab last that long. March 10, 2013 at 11:04 AM Ano...

thief said: . Other than the financial aspects...will anyone shed a tear at being let go from either of the labs (I'm not slighting the others it's just that this has been primarily a LLNL/LANL discussion)? Who still gets all pumped up making the drive in in the morning?

Here an interesting article for all of you who think DoD can do such a better job. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/f-35s-ability-to-evade-budget-cuts-illustrates-challenge-of-paring-defense-spending/2013/03/09/42a6085a-8776-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html?hpid=z1

By Gary Gwilliam of Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso, Cavalli, & Brewer “Andrews vs. LLNS: Five Plaintiffs Go to Trial Against Lawrence Livermore Lab March 11, 2013”:    http://gwilliamlawfirm.com/ 2013/03/andrews-v-llns-five- plaintiffs-go-to-trial- against-lawrence-livermore- lab-march-11-2013/  

North Korea amplified its threatening rhetoric as the U.N. Security Council approved new sweeping sanctions, vowing to launch a first-strike nuclear attack against the United States and threatening to engulf Washington in a “sea of fire.” An unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for “a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors” because Washington is pushing to start a nuclear war against the North. At a mass rally in Pyongyang on Thursday, Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong told the crowd that North Korea is ready to fire long-range nuclear-armed missiles at Washington. “Intercontinental ballistic missiles and various other missiles, which have already set their striking targets, are now armed with lighter, smaller and diversified nuclear warheads and are placed on a standby status,” Kang said. “When we shell (the missiles), Washington, which is the stronghold of evils, …. will be engulfed in a sea...

http://www.forbes.com/2010/11/19/sociopath-boss-work-forbes-woman-leadership-office-evil_3.html Great article March 8, 2013 at 6:59 AM Anonymous said... March 8, 2013 at 6:59 AM Ya we have a few of these at the labs for sure. The problem is that there is no way to get rid of them.

Can a well unionized workforce effectively prevent employer wage reductions and furloughs because the working conditions have been bargained and put into a binding contract? Also, when this contract expires and new biddders are sought, shouldnder the workforce be completely unionized under a written contract to prevent new bidders from taking away wages and benefits? Not a union member now. But not afraid either. March 7, 2013 at 11:25 PM Anonymous said... just join the union. They are good people who will help.

* NORTH Korea led by tyrant Kim Jong-un has sensationally vowed to launch a NUCLEAR attack on the USA - The UK Sun, Mar 7th * The provocative statement comes weeks after the country conducted underground nuclear tests which caused a massive earthquake. America’s west coast cities on Los Angeles and San Francisco are feared to be in Kim’s sights. A foreign ministry spokesman said: "Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be exercising our right to pre-emptive nuclear attack against the headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest." www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4829035 /north-korea-says-it-will-launch-nuclear-attack -on-america.html March 7, 2013 at 6:49 PM Anonymous said... America’s west coast cities on Los Angeles and San Francisco are feared to be in Kim’s sights. March 7, 2013 at 6:49 PM Yep, and not from missiles. Think boats. March 7, 2013 at 10:09 PM

Horse of a Different Color The management company should tread gently with this “pseudo furlough” concept. This may come back to haunt them. Employees are not being furloughed, drop the language. Employees are to be subjected to a de facto “administrative leave without pay” action (LWOP). Specifically, one day LWOP each pay period (on that payday). That is their legal status. Legal parameters of LWOP and other types of "time off" are very different. It would be prudent for management to expressly forbid affected employees from working in any way shape or form on LWOP days. Facilities and employees are different things. The facility may revert to “weekend like” operational status during LWOP days, but not the employees. It is inappropriate to plan work or call in any engineers, scientists, technicians, trade crafts, or any affected employees during LWOP days. If certain people are needed during this time, than don’t place them on LWOP.

For immediate release, March 7, 2013 Federal Official “Cooks the Numbers” in Livermore Lab Management Review; $44 Million Bonus and Contract Extension Unwarranted, Charge Watchdogs As the nation faces sequestration and across the board budget cuts, one federal official has made “an adjustment to the recommended incentive fee” for the Limited Liability Company (LLC) that manages and operates the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the U.S. Dept. of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The contractor, Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC, is a consortium made up of Bechtel National, the University of California, Babcock and Wilcox, the Washington Division of URS Corp. and Battelle. The just-released NNSA Fiscal Year 2012 Performance Evaluation Report (PER) shows that the numbers were cooked to benefit the management contractor after the evaluation had been completed, allowing for an increased fee award and an extra year, non-competit...

LLNL News on Line March 7, 2012 Possible LLNL salary reduction plan delayed until April The Laboratory will not begin its salary reduction/closure day program until April at the earliest, Director Parney Albright has announced. With all the uncertainties surrounding the details of the continuing resolution deadline of March 27, impacts as a result of sequestration, and other factors, it was decided to wait until more clarity was provided from Washington, D.C. on the fiscal impact to the Laboratory. Additional updates will be provided as more information becomes available. The Laboratory created a 10 percent salary reduction/closure day program in response to sequestration, which began last Friday. Sequestration refers to a series of automatic, across-the-board budget cuts to address the federal deficit. Sequestration is expected to result in up to $120 million in budget cuts at the Laboratory for the remainder of fiscal year 13.

Sue Seestrom is out as an AD at LANL. Could this be due to the recent LANCE issues?

Weapons & Complex Monitor March 6, 2013 Tauscher Picked For NNSA Governance Panel The Congressionally mandated National Nuclear Security Administration governance panel is beginning to take shape. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has named former California Democratic lawmaker and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher to the 12-person panel, following on the heels of House Speaker John Boehner’s selection of former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.). Tauscher [now a member of the LLNS/LANS Boards of Governors] was instrumental in the creation of the NNSA during her time as the representative for California’s 10th District, and helped create the Strategic Posture Commission while she was the chair of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee. She also famously feuded with Pelosi during the early part of her career in Congress, backing Steny Hoyer instead of Pelosi for House Minority Whip in 2001, but t...

The Truth About National Laboratories If you'r e really interested in the sciences, you've probably been exposed to some labs before. Whether it was during your middle school days when your class dissected a squid or as an intern at medical school, labs are an integral part of the scientific world. From time to time, you've wondered about national laboratories. What exactly is the deal with them? Read on to find out! They Exist Everywhere Well, "everywhere" might be a bit of an overstatement, but they do have a presence across the country. You might assume that they exist only in places in and around Washington D.C., or that they appear only in areas that have huge populations. The fact is that they can pop up in many places, and you might be able to find one near you to go visit. Of course, in order to qualify as a national laboratory, they do have to meet some certain criteria. The Definition So what exactly is the definition of a nationa...

The Importance of Knowing the History of National Laboratories Recently, as you've been driving around your state, you've noticed that some of the national laboratories are offering either tours or bits of information about their history, and you're wondering what knowing the importance of such information could possibly be. Well, read on to find out! Understanding the Experiments When it comes to laboratories, the experiments conducted in such places are obviously at the heart of the operations. If you make the decision to go on a tour of one, you're not only going to learn about the history of the physical building, but you will also learn about the research performed and the knowledge gained in these walls. An important part of a lab's history is the great accomplishments that it has made for society and the world at large. Individuals You likely know of many advancements in medicine or science, but you might not know the source of them. With so m...

Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor March 5, 2013 House Appropriations Releases Continuing Resolution In order to keep government programs running beyond the expiration of current funding legislation near the end of the month, the House Appropriations Committee yesterday unveiled a Continuing Resolution that would fund the federal government until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Under the bill, most government programs would be funded at the current levels minus the across-the-board sequestration cuts that went into effect late last week. However, the CR would keep in place an anomaly for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons programs that allows the agency to spend at the level of President Obama’s FY13 request, $7.58 billion. And like the current CR, the House bill also would allow funding to continue for the Department of Energy’s cost-share program supporting USEC’s American Centrifuge Project. That would be supported until the end of the f...

Ernest Moniz, MIT physicist, is to be nominated as energy secretary http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/ernest-moniz-mit-physicist-is-to-be-nominated-as-energy-secretary/2013/03/04/e3fe68aa-808c-11e2-a350-49866afab584_story.html

LANL neutron center ranked at the bottom of all national facilities by DoE Office of Science BESAC Few Low Grades at DOE Science Facilities as U.S. Prepares to Set Priorities by David Malakoff ScienceInsider 1 March 2013, 5:53 PM Today's ratings of more than a dozen existing and planned DOE facilities—including nanoscience centers, x-ray and ultraviolet light sources, and neutron scattering devices—carried a similar skew. The evaluations came from DOE's Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC), a 25-member panel that helps steer one of the six major research programs within the department's $5 billion Office of Science. It was responding to a request from DOE science chief William Brinkman, who late last year asked BESAC and the five other advisory panels to help out with an effort to develop a 10-year plan that will set spending priorities for new and existing research facilities. In particular, Brinkman's letter asked each advisory panel to conside...

Janice Sinclaire Internet Outreach Coordinator Our March/April edition has just been released and is a must read for anyone interested in US energy issues. These articles, as well as our Nuclear Notebook, are free in the new issue. This is an important edition that is already generating some controversy; I hope you find it of interest! Best, Janice Introduction: US Nuclear Exit? http://bos.sagepub.com/ content/69/2/9.full by John Mecklin How to Close the US Nuclear Industry: Do Nothing: http://bos.sagepub.com/ content/69/2/12.full by former NRC member Peter Bradford The Economics of a US Civilian Nuclear Phase-out: http://bos.sagepub.com/ content/69/2/44.full by Amory Lovins The Limited National Security Implications of Civilian Nuclear Decline: http://bos.sagepub.com/ content/69/2/22.full by Sharon Squassoni Nuclear Exit, the US Energy Mix, and Carbon Dioxide Emissions: http://bos.sagepub.com/ content/69/2/34.full by Henry D. Jacoby and Sergey Paltsev N...

Heather Wilson appointed to NNSA review panel By Michael Coleman  ABQ Journal Washington Bureau  Fri, Mar 1, 2013 POSTED: 11:59 am LAST UPDATED: 1:29 pm U.S. House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday appointed former Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., to a new commission that will recommend ways to improve the performance of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agency that oversees Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. The 12-member commission was established late last year through legislation introduced by Sens. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican who retired at the end of 2012. It was unclear late Thursday who the other 11 commission members will be. The panel will “assess the feasibility and advisability of, and make recommendations with respect to, revising the governance structure of the National Nuclear Security Administration,” according to the bill that created it. The commission will make specific recommendations, including how to...

GAO scolds NNSA for LANL and LLNL contract extensions Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor February 24, 2013 The National Nuclear Security Administration did itself a “tremendous disservice” by granting award term extensions to contractors that run Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories even though the contractors did not meet requirements to trigger the lucrative extensions, a senior Government Accountability Office official said this week at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit. In a speech at the summit, GAO Assistant Director Allison Bawden said the “inconsistent” administration of the laboratory contracts raises questions, not only for existing NNSA contracts but also for a new cost-savings based contract that was awarded for the combined management of Y-12/Pantex last month but is under protest. Bawden suggested that the inconsistent administration of contract incentives could lead companies to “cherry-pick” certain incentives it feels are worth achieving and “count...