DoE open Pacific Northwest National Laboratory management contracts for bids

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) will seek competitive bids for a contract to manage the Richland, Washington-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNL). The competitive bid follows criticism of the lab for a research error related to cleaning up a contaminated nuclear reservation, though DoE says the decision was not a reflection on Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute, the nonprofit group which has managed and operated the laboratory since its inception in 1965 (DoE was forced to halt proposed shipments of radioactive waste from Ohio to Hanford, Washington, after the laboratory provided inconsistent data about the environmental effects of waste disposal there). Battelle will bid for the contract.

The lab has an annual budget of more than $725 million. It conducts nearly 60 percent of its research for DoE, 18 percent for the DHS, and 7 percent for the Defense Department. Private work accounts for 11 percent of its budget.

The current five-year contract expires 30 September 2007.

-read more about the Lab at PNL Web site