Why the secrecy?

Why is there so much secrecy around who is and who is not bidding. It seems very difference from 2006 when we knew immediately after the bids were submitted that it was LANS (and who was in the LLC) vs Lockheed Martin-UT. This is a public contract for a publicly owned facility, releasing the names of actually bidders should be required. University of California submits bid for LANL contract Los Alamos Monitor December 12, 2017 The University of California was the only organization to confirm Monday it had submitted a bid to manage and operate Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next five years. Bids were due to the National Nuclear Security Administration Monday. The NNSA would not release information about the contractors that submitted bids and would not say when bids would be opened. The UC system confirmed its submission in an email to the Los Alamos Monitor. “I can confirm that UC submitted a proposal today for the Los Alamos National Laboratory management contract.