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So that's where all the overhead is going.....

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By scooby

"The Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico spent $1.6 million to review similar travel and conference requests during one fiscal year, an increase of $1.4 million from the previous one.

And Los Alamos officials poured $708,500 into updating a travel and expense management system so they could track all the paperwork."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/03/23/consequences-of-the-federal-travel-clampdown-more-costs/

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yeah this must be like 2-3 FTE equivalent total. For LANL, that sounds about right. Huge overhead, little productivity.
3/24/2015 2:31 PM
Anonymous said…
Slow, broken and very costly.... the LANS model of operation. It's how the management seems to like it.
3/26/2015 6:51 PM
Anonymous said…
Layers upon layers of highly bloated overhead and management people who have no real purpose other than to sit around finding ways to justify their high salaries. It's what the NNSA labs have become. Very little productive work gets done anymore.
3/26/2015 7:10 PM
Anonymous said…
If a job could be done by one person, LANL will find a way to pay three. What a waste of overhead!

Take a look at the Strategic Outcomes Office as another useless black hole for overhead.
3/27/2015 7:03 AM
Anonymous said…
Yeah, Strategic Outcomes Office. Doesn't matter if the outcome is good or bad, as long as it is "strategic." What a joke.
3/27/2015 8:54 AM
Anonymous said…
The Strategic Outcomes Office has several accomplishments to brag about. For example it was successful in enlarging Wallace's empire, ticking off almost every sponsor in DC, and most importantly, decreasing WFO. Yep, the sweet smell of success is in the air!!
3/27/2015 12:03 PM
Anonymous said…
Wallace's empire? C'mon dude, an AD with one division? What kind of "empire" is that?
3/29/2015 3:57 PM
Anonymous said…
Wallace is still in line to be the next LANL director so best to get in line and kiss his rear end now before he takes up the crown after Charlie leaves and heads back to California.

And anyone who thinks LANS will be kicked out of the management contract is badly mistaken. In fact, glowing reports of "improvements" will be released in the next few years by NNSA allowing them to extend the LANS contract for many years to come. Kudos and back-pats will be generously handed out to the whole LANS management team as the annual scores improve from almost zero.

Everyone loves a good turn around story and LANS is heavily committed to seeing that is exactly what happens. Of course, to get to that point we'll need to have most work put aside to ensure absolute safety and zero risks. LANL will also need more managers for the purposes of greater oversight, too. And policies will need to be extended along with tons of more paperwork for CYA forms to be signed by everyone.

The future is clearer than it has been in years. Only problem is the path forward sucks for most of the scientific staff.



3/30/2015 9:08 PM
Anonymous said…
" Wallace is still in line to be the next LANL director so best to get in line and kiss his rear end now before he takes up the crown after Charlie leaves and heads back to California."

Na, Wallace looks like he is on his last legs. I think he will be done before long. Not sure what happened to him but he is looking pretty bad lately. Broken man.
3/31/2015 10:30 PM
Anonymous said…
Adam Rowen (who does not have a Ph.D.) is no longer the manager of the materials chemistry department at Sandia.
5/13/2015 1:06 AM
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