WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said he is pleased to learn that the University of California is partnering with Bechtel Corp., BWX Technologies, Inc., and Washington Group International in preparation for the Los Alamos National Laboratory management contract. 

“I am very pleased to learn that the University of California is preparing a team to compete for the LANL contract.  UC’s 60-year affiliation with LANL is the reason the lab has been a premier place for science,” Bingaman said.

Bingaman said the integration of industrial partners into each of the bidding teams can be an important way of providing good business management to the lab, but he added that each bidder must keep in mind that the lab’s main goal is to produce good science. 

“Each of the teams competing for the contract must keep in mind that the primary reason to have a national laboratory is to address important national priorities through scientific and technical achievements,” Bingaman said. 

Bingaman also said he is particularly pleased with the team’s plan to create an Institute of Advanced Studies.  Bingaman has been pressing for the creation of such an institute.