Sunday, January 3, 2016
Speculations
Some talk that the plan for the new LANL contract is to get rid of the last of the TCP1 people and close out the pensions. They are also looking for ways to save money by reduced benefits or making the lab more of two-tired systems where large portions of the lab will be external contractors with their own benefits. It is all speculation but some people might be thinking that with the new contract that LANL could be the first NNSA lab to be truly brought into modern large businesses project management.
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15 comments:
External contractors already cost too much under LANS because of the overhead and burden.
Not to mention the brain dead top management
It isn't obvious who gets stuck with the bill for TCP-1; however, the new M&O contractor after the transition at LANL will not likely be the source of the money. It might be UC, it might be DoE, it might be sold to an insurnace company, or there are other viable options as well. No new contractor would accept the mortgage, and it is highly unlikely that DoE would be in a position to insist.
Once TCP-! is 'off the books' then the new contractor can budget to run the operation in a more rational manner.
Why was there a contract change at LANL?
"It isn't obvious who gets stuck with the bill for TCP-1; however, the new M&O contractor after the transition at LANL will not likely be the source of the money. It might be UC, it might be DoE, it might be sold to an insurnace company, or there are other viable options as well. No new contractor would accept the mortgage, and it is highly unlikely that DoE would be in a position to insist.
Once TCP-1 is 'off the books' then the new contractor can budget to run the operation in a more rational manner."
I don't know the future of TCP-1 at LANL, but this is complete and utter nonsense. You haven't the slightest idea how TCP-1 is structured.
TCP-1 is a plan and, just like all plans, it can be sold or assigned to a new owner. The real question is what group will wind up holding the bag when the last payments have been made from the plan's assets. If there is negative equity in the plan at that point then the owners get stuck with a bill; however, if there are surplus assets at that stage the owners get to retain them as gains. Money is made or lost every day on calculations just like this.
TCP-1 is like an island unto itself, the plan can be traded or re-worked to the benefit of the "Owner" of the plan, in this case LANs . the new owner can buy the plan and make changes to save money by cutting benefits as they deem beneficial to their bottom line.
It's called " doing business in America" the new corporate greed has hit Los Alamos. remember follow the money...
11:54 PM appears to be ignorant of settled pension plan law in the US.
Many US corporations have off-loaded their pension risks by buying insurance company annuities for their pension holders. If the insurance company goes broke making risky investments then the corporation are off the hook. Corporations love that. They mitigate the fear of top executives to the greater pension risks by buying them special pension insurance so all the top corporate executives can avoid the risks of a future annuity failure. If the insurance company does really well with their investments then the insurance company can pocket some of the "extra" cash. Insurance companies love that.
That's the most likely path for the TCP1 pensions. NNSA is probably working out the details right now. It will be part of the next contract for running LANL. The part that will really hurt is coverage for medical retirement. That is not a guaranteed benefit and most corporations are canceling this benefit even for current retirees. LANL may do likewise. As far as accumulated severance goes, count on it being completely wiped out at the next contract handover. Future severance may be greatly limited, say to 2 weeks maximum. Vacation and sick leave will also be cut way back.
If you want to know what will happen at LANL just look at what has been going on in the private economy over the last decade to see the future of retirement payouts and benefits. It's not pretty. Unions can help salvage some of the damage but unions have been eliminated in most of corporate America and LANL employees (esp. the scientists) are mostly anti-union.
January 5, 2016 at 10:22 PM
Thanks for a good summary of the crappy situation that has trapped LANL employees. No matter what you thought of LANS as the Lab operator, as long as they held the contract, TCP-1 wasn't going away. It seems pretty clear now that the next operator will not have to worry about TCP-1.
TCP-1 aside, I find it hard to believe that ANY external contractor or consortium would want to pick up the liability and bad press that is/will be associated with LANL. Watch for a new "experiment": the contract will not be competed, and LANL will be put under some "arm of the government".
11:22 AM makes a good point - at this stage, it is highly unlikely that ANY contractor would be willing to take on LANL. The risk just isn't worth the potential payoff. Thanks to the last four years of Charlie and the PADS inept management, LANL may soon find itself federalized.
Federalize !
Federalize !
January 6, 2016 at 3:52 PM
That would work much better than what we have now.
TCP-1 is officially dead. Watch what they do at Sandia. The government has been getting out of pensions for almost two decades. The labs are the last place for the shoe to drop. I think they will split up the contract like they have done at other sites. Operations and Laboratory. Check out the oak ridge campus, Hanford, kinda Savannah river. Look for multiple contractors in the future.
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