Good news about Argonne National Laboratory

<p>The Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that a new team assembled by the University of Chicago has been selected to manage Argonne National Laboratory, one of the DOE’s major multi-program national laboratories known for its world-class innovations in energy, science, technology, biomedicine and national security.</p>

<p><a href="http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/060731.argonne.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/060731.argonne.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/06/060801.argonne-ap.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/06/060801.argonne-ap.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Woot. I'm sure President Zimmer is really happy.</p>

<p>It's not really a great surprise - there were no other bidders...</p>

<p>Way to slaughter the hype, newmassdad</p>

<p>well, wasnt there some talk that Lockheed was wanting to buy it all?</p>

<p>Here's a really corny joke that I heard at this year's Vorris and Vox circus. Feel free to kick me off CC after I tell it.</p>

<p>Q: What's a pirate's favorite national laboratory?
A: ARRRR-gonne!</p>

<p>feli, </p>

<p>you can't buy a national lab. Not for sale. </p>

<p>You can bid on the management contract. </p>

<p>Lockheed was part (with U. Texas) of a failed bid for the Los Alamos contract. They were so confident of success that they mentioned an additonal 70 mil per year profit due to the contract. Then they lost.</p>

<p>Did Chicago know they were the only bidder? And, if the government was not satisfied with the proposal, I'm sure they could have sent out another RFP. I think there was some relief that this had been secured for the foreseeable future. </p>

<p>Are there additional bidders for the Fermilab contract?</p>

<p>Yes, Chicago knew the situation. There was always a risk that some stealth bidder would appear, but since DOD had lots of meetings for prospects, it was easy to look around...</p>

<p>And yes, I believe DOD had the ability to reject all bids, even if only one.</p>

<p>Although the National Lab management approach changed a few years ago to allow a much greater profit component, for Argonne, it just was not enough, especially since its future hangs in a balance. Whereas Los Alamos went from no profit to a guaranteed 70 mill per year or so, Argonne only had a few million in profit under the new approach. Sounds like a lot, but I bet UofC sees very little of it. Remember that UofC is part of an LLC that includes two companies.</p>

<p>Don't know about Fermilab, but the academic benefits from fermilab have been minimal for any local institutions, so it seems less critical. Fermilab is so focused technically, whereas Argonne is not.</p>

<p>I understand that the Fermilab is one of sites under consideration for the new (if funded) linear accelerator. That would be very good to have connected to the University.</p>