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Friday, April 29, 2016
Rumor: LANS staying until 2019
Hearing the opposite, LANS keeps the contract till 2019 and that there are efforts to get a Bechetl-UC-UTexas bid going for the next round.
34 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Ah, Bears and Bulls in the same ring, what a sight to behold!
Well what happens with LANS may well be what happens with LLNLS. In any case LANS is not going anywhere until 2020, and after that some other form of LANS will take over. Perhaps it should it will only be Bechtel, no UC at all, lets see what happens to that dam culture when Bechtel can just let itself go FULL BECHTEL, I would love to see that!
The problem with the LLCs is, they don't care about the mission, they care about the fees. Ca-ching, as long as they don't screw up on compliance and make the headlines, it's money in the bank for the partners, and with minimal risk. Bechtel would have no interest in managing a national laboratory directly, why would they. Instead, full Bechtel would just mean the creation of a new company owned by Bechtel for the purpose of managing the lab, with the same desired result - ca-ching. The only plausible real change and improvement would be, NNSA manages directly and everyone becomes a federal employee.
"National labs don't exist to make money or to be "compliant". They exist to solve problems of national importance."
This is how it USED to be. And SHOULD be.
But since 2006 and 2007, the Labs DO exist to make money for their partners at the expense of taxpayers, AND be compliant, in that order and ONLY for what is covered by a PBI. Solving problems of national importance runs a distant third.
The evidence of what these institutions are for today is clear: bring in LLC partners, lay off and VERIP hundreds of knowledgeable staff to pay the LLC and the taxes triggered by for-profit status, put a constructive freeze on staff pay and hiring for the better part of a decade to keep paying the partners, and then watch as the capability withers with the attrition.
Today we see the scramble to TRY to hire thousands people in the next several years to make up for the lost decade and talent. Good luck with that.
It is now tragic comedy to see them expect to hire the best and brightest people with an absurdly ponderous hiring process (unless you're a partner employee who needs parking for a couple of years on the taxpayer dime--then it's FAST and EASY), average benefits and compensation (unless you're a partner employee--they're rewarded with rich employment contracts and six figure bonuses), with uncompensated personal burdens including clearances, drug testing, polygraph testing and incompetent micromanagement of every activity by the Feds.
Precious little nationally important problem solving goes on in this environment.
But a LOT of taxpayer money has been raked in by the partners. This is fertile ground for corruption, which there is a solid record of, and lot of corruption not yet in the daylight.
Taxpayers should wonder, how have the partners' campaign contributions and favors tracked their cash flow?
Major undertaking. Lots of downside. Poor PR. Difficult customer. Ignorant sponsor. Impossible safety risk. When UC drops, there will be no scientific leader Lousy mountain to climb. New talent will not apply. Poor contact begats poor culture.
UC (Regents) will not give up LLNL - a lab that's named after UC's first Nobel Prize laureate. If Bechtel is no longer involved in LANL then UCOP is more likely to drop them from LLNS and restructure it into a solely UC owned LLC. It would look very similar to LLNS in that it has a board of Governors appointed by UC and LLNL employees work for the LLC not UC.
Remember the last bidding there was originally no one other than UC interested in the LLNL contract until NNSA doubled the fee from the original RFP. So if NNSA lowers the management fees by 50% for LANL and LLNL as is expected, and UC-Bechtel is out at LANL, then why would UC continue with Bechtel in a 2020 bid for LLNL.
Major undertaking. Lots of downside. Poor PR. Difficult customer. Ignorant sponsor. Impossible safety risk. When UC drops, there will be no scientific leader Lousy mountain to climb. New talent will not apply. Poor contact begats poor culture.
May 1, 2016 at 5:31 AM
Poster ignorant, inadequate, and confused. No one will employ, bitter and jealous. Poster dishonest and stupid.
Major undertaking. Lots of downside. Poor PR. Difficult customer. Ignorant sponsor. Impossible safety risk. When UC drops, there will be no scientific leader Lousy mountain to climb. New talent will not apply. Poor contact begats poor culture.
May 1, 2016 at 5:31 AM
Major denial. Lots of delusion. Poor self awareness. Difficult patient. Ignorant guardian. Impossible to reason with. When reality drops, there will be no accountability. Lousy person. Never was talent why was fired. Blame others for personal failures. Bitterness is all has, cling too, hate LANL, hate LANL. No sleep at 5:30AM. Crazy, denial denial denial....off line.... .. .
Don't try to respond to the crazies, it only keeps them thinking they are relevant to the world, which they aren't. Let them go off into the sunset and disappear.
Since that is exactly what has been happening since 2006, I'd guess you are wrong about that. Regardless of what the corporate roster says, Bechtel is and has been in charge all along. And they have royally screwed it up.
How egalitarian of you. I guess you liked it when the entire class got punished because one kid misbehaved. Anything else requires actual knowledge, thought and judgement.
Run along 2:59 PM and play with the other children in the yard. There is serious work to be done, and you are just in the way.
May 3, 2016 at 3:54 PM
Kids say the damndest things. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes the grownups are just wrong, and stupid, because they have learned nothing new in many years, unlike kids.
Kids say the damndest things. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes the grownups are just wrong, and stupid, because they have learned nothing new in many years, unlike kids.
May 3, 2016 at 8:49 PM
May Bechtel crush you arrogant ants. They could not get the job done in 10 years because of UC, but in the next round it will only be Bechtel and the gloves come off, I cant wait to see it.
I heard Rich Marquez is making a comeback...flying cats land on feet
May 3, 2016 at 7:58 PM
No surprise here. All the "fat cats" at LANL have no intention of leaving until they are absolutely forced to. These cats have enjoyed the huge salaries, tax free bonuses, and lack of accountability since LANS took over in 2006.
Kids say the damndest things. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes the grownups are just wrong, and stupid, because they have learned nothing new in many years, unlike kids.
May 3, 2016 at 8:49 PM
Sometimes, maybe. But, the other 99.99% of the time, all they do is mess in their diapers and cry.
34 comments:
Ah, Bears and Bulls in the same ring, what a sight to behold!
What percentage of DOD and DOE contracts does Bechtel have now compared to Lockheed and others?
No one cares about LANS.
No one cares about LANS.
April 29, 2016 at 5:08 PM
True enough. But many people, including many who frequent this blog, care about LANL.
No one cares about LANS.
April 29, 2016 at 5:08 PM
Well what happens with LANS may well be what happens with LLNLS. In any case LANS is not going anywhere until 2020, and after that some other form of LANS will take over. Perhaps it should it will only be Bechtel, no UC at all, lets see what happens to that dam culture when Bechtel can just let itself go FULL BECHTEL, I would love to see that!
The problem with the LLCs is, they don't care about the mission, they care about the fees. Ca-ching, as long as they don't screw up on compliance and make the headlines, it's money in the bank for the partners, and with minimal risk. Bechtel would have no interest in managing a national laboratory directly, why would they. Instead, full Bechtel would just mean the creation of a new company owned by Bechtel for the purpose of managing the lab, with the same desired result - ca-ching. The only plausible real change and improvement would be, NNSA manages directly and everyone becomes a federal employee.
National labs don't exist to make money or to be "compliant". They exist to solve problems of national importance.
"National labs don't exist to make money or to be "compliant". They exist to solve problems of national importance."
This is how it USED to be. And SHOULD be.
But since 2006 and 2007, the Labs DO exist to make money for their partners at the expense of taxpayers, AND be compliant, in that order and ONLY for what is covered by a PBI. Solving problems of national importance runs a distant third.
The evidence of what these institutions are for today is clear: bring in LLC partners, lay off and VERIP hundreds of knowledgeable staff to pay the LLC and the taxes triggered by for-profit status, put a constructive freeze on staff pay and hiring for the better part of a decade to keep paying the partners, and then watch as the capability withers with the attrition.
Today we see the scramble to TRY to hire thousands people in the next several years to make up for the lost decade and talent. Good luck with that.
It is now tragic comedy to see them expect to hire the best and brightest people with an absurdly ponderous hiring process (unless you're a partner employee who needs parking for a couple of years on the taxpayer dime--then it's FAST and EASY), average benefits and compensation (unless you're a partner employee--they're rewarded with rich employment contracts and six figure bonuses), with uncompensated personal burdens including clearances, drug testing, polygraph testing and incompetent micromanagement of every activity by the Feds.
Precious little nationally important problem solving goes on in this environment.
But a LOT of taxpayer money has been raked in by the partners. This is fertile ground for corruption, which there is a solid record of, and lot of corruption not yet in the daylight.
Taxpayers should wonder, how have the partners' campaign contributions and favors tracked their cash flow?
10:44. Yes! Exactly.
Major undertaking. Lots of downside. Poor PR. Difficult customer. Ignorant sponsor. Impossible safety risk. When UC drops, there will be no scientific leader Lousy mountain to climb. New talent will not apply. Poor contact begats poor culture.
April 29, 2016 at 9:13 PM
UC (Regents) will not give up LLNL - a lab that's named after UC's first Nobel Prize laureate. If Bechtel is no longer involved in LANL then UCOP is more likely to drop them from LLNS and restructure it into a solely UC owned LLC. It would look very similar to LLNS in that it has a board of Governors appointed by UC and LLNL employees work for the LLC not UC.
Remember the last bidding there was originally no one other than UC interested in the LLNL contract until NNSA doubled the fee from the original RFP. So if NNSA lowers the management fees by 50% for LANL and LLNL as is expected, and UC-Bechtel is out at LANL, then why would UC continue with Bechtel in a 2020 bid for LLNL.
Major undertaking. Lots of downside. Poor PR. Difficult customer. Ignorant sponsor. Impossible safety risk. When UC drops, there will be no scientific leader Lousy mountain to climb. New talent will not apply. Poor contact begats poor culture.
May 1, 2016 at 5:31 AM
Poster ignorant, inadequate, and confused. No one will employ, bitter and jealous. Poster dishonest and stupid.
Major undertaking. Lots of downside. Poor PR. Difficult customer. Ignorant sponsor. Impossible safety risk. When UC drops, there will be no scientific leader Lousy mountain to climb. New talent will not apply. Poor contact begats poor culture.
May 1, 2016 at 5:31 AM
Major denial. Lots of delusion. Poor self awareness. Difficult patient. Ignorant guardian. Impossible to reason with. When reality drops, there will be no accountability. Lousy person. Never was talent why was fired. Blame others for personal failures. Bitterness is all has, cling too, hate LANL, hate LANL. No sleep at 5:30AM. Crazy, denial denial denial....off line.... .. .
Don't try to respond to the crazies, it only keeps them thinking they are relevant to the world, which they aren't. Let them go off into the sunset and disappear.
LANL sure has some crazies, as post after crazy-person post on this site shows. Could be the altitude, or maybe the meth in the drinking water.
If the new team was Bechtel led, and had UC playing a minor role, then progress might be possible toward turning LANL around.
May 2, 2016 at 9:35 AM
Since that is exactly what has been happening since 2006, I'd guess you are wrong about that. Regardless of what the corporate roster says, Bechtel is and has been in charge all along. And they have royally screwed it up.
10:38 AM sounds like someone attempting to shift blame for the LANL debacle off of UC.
The blame lies with LANS, a partnership that is neither UC nor Bechtel, and that either does or does not work. All partners share equal blame.
All partners share equal blame.
May 2, 2016 at 12:17 PM
How egalitarian of you. I guess you liked it when the entire class got punished because one kid misbehaved. Anything else requires actual knowledge, thought and judgement.
And freedom from the "bitter" LANL staff who keep cluttering up this place.
It's the LANL blog now, get used to it.
When the ship runs aground and capsizes, the captain is always at fault. UC is the captain of the good ship LANS.
When the ship runs aground and capsizes, the captain is always at fault. UC is the captain of the good ship LANS.
May 3, 2016 at 7:55 AM
It's a rule that lousy navigators and incompetent engine room mechanics really love.
Any captain worth their salt could identify and fix any issues with the navigators.
So UC could just "fix" Bechtel?? Who knew?
Run along 2:59 PM and play with the other children in the yard. There is serious work to be done, and you are just in the way.
I heard Rich Marquez is making a comeback...flying cats land on feet
Run along 2:59 PM and play with the other children in the yard. There is serious work to be done, and you are just in the way.
May 3, 2016 at 3:54 PM
Kids say the damndest things. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes the grownups are just wrong, and stupid, because they have learned nothing new in many years, unlike kids.
Kids say the damndest things. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes the grownups are just wrong, and stupid, because they have learned nothing new in many years, unlike kids.
May 3, 2016 at 8:49 PM
May Bechtel crush you arrogant ants. They could not get the job done in 10 years because of UC, but in the next round it will only be Bechtel and the gloves come off, I cant wait to see it.
I heard Rich Marquez is making a comeback...flying cats land on feet
May 3, 2016 at 7:58 PM
No surprise here. All the "fat cats" at LANL have no intention of leaving until they are absolutely forced to. These cats have enjoyed the huge salaries, tax free bonuses, and lack of accountability since LANS took over in 2006.
Kids say the damndest things. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes the grownups are just wrong, and stupid, because they have learned nothing new in many years, unlike kids.
May 3, 2016 at 8:49 PM
Sometimes, maybe. But, the other 99.99% of the time, all they do is mess in their diapers and cry.
LANS is incorporated in the State of Delaware as a "small business"...go check! ...go figure...
And freedom from the "bitter" LANL staff who keep cluttering up this place.
May 2, 2016 at 4:56 PM
I hate to be pedantic, but you misspelled "better."
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